What passenger cars are rated to 3500?
Well here's the first Google search result for "cars with towing capacity": https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/top-10/top-13-best-cars-for-towing-for-2013.html At least 4 passenger cars (e.g. not classified as light truck) that tow 3500 or more. Or, how about some minivans since these are popular on MMM: Honda Odyssey 3500 lbs, Toyota Sienna 3500 lbs, Nissan Quest 3500 lbs, Chrysler Town & Country 3600 lbs. Shall I go on?
The minivans are something else entirely.
And that list of cars. Hmm. All 'foreign' cars, presumably global ones where there is nothing much to do in terms of saying.. yes, this car is rated for X in European markets, it's the same car. The Lincoln doesn't count.
Corolla at 1500 lbs. Above that is either a Volvo, almost-SUV (Toyota Venza), or really expensive (Porsche, which is very cool).
Meh.
You didn't say it had to be domestic. What does it matter as long as it's sold in North America?
Modern crossover SUVs are basically cars that sit a little higher and have AWD...they're essentially minivans w/o sliding doors.
Cars that can tow a lot, handle like a car, and have good fuel economy are expensive because it's not cheap to combine these features. The midsize SUV I'm selling back to VW (dieselgate) drives like a car and rated to tow 7700 lbs and gets about 30mpg...but it was $50k new and apparently they had to cheat on emissions to achieve this.
And just because you don't like the options/price point for cars with towing capacity doesn't mean it's some grand conspiracy. This is not a good reason to just exceed the towing capacity on cheaper cars.
It's not the *being* domestic that matters; it's the fact that they are sold elsewhere and hence have sensible ratings for their size. I'm saying stuff that is ONLY sold here, they put ludicrously low ratings on.
I'm saying it's bullshit; I'm saying it's bullshit because a *Honda Civic* sold in the UK is rated to tow more than a much larger, more powerful, body on frame vehicle here.
I'm not suggesting exceeding anything. I'm saying that the car companies are marketing deceptively, to their own benefit, to push people into buying vehicles that are much larger than they actually need.
Again, look at the EU ratings for the same/similar vehicles. They rate vehicles for twice the amount. (And don't come back with "but America is bigger", doesn't matter, if you're towing for a few hours across mountainous France or Spain or whatever, it's comparable).