Buying a new car lets you take advantage of warranties, free maintenance on some brands, having new tech years ahead of what’s otherwise availble (if you’re interested in that), not worrying about a questionable history (I’ve seen cars seriously damaged by driving habits in hundreds of miles of driving by abuse), and a myriad of other factors.

At the end of the day money is not just for hoarding. You can want to buy a new car as a treat, or a reward, and still do it a financial literate way.

Financial literacy != only spending money in the most utilitarian and minimal way possible, otherwise we’d all eat rice and legumes and live in shoeboxes to show how “financially literate” we are.

This is especially true with sports cars.

At one point I was considering buying a Nissan GT-R. I could get a brand new one for $120K, or a 5 year old one with 35k miles for a hair under $70k. You'd think the used one is a no brainer! But we're talking a car with ~550 horsepower, something someone could quite likely have been taking to a race track on a regular basis, putting untold amounts of wear on the engine and drive train.

I admit $50k is a lot to pay for peace of mind, but when you're like me and own a car until it dies, I like to know how it's been treated, and being the only owner is the only way to know that.