Isn't the benefit of the car loan that you can have emergency funds? I mean, if you save up $5k and get a car loan for $25k you for years you effectively have a 2 year emergency buffer.

If you pay off the car up front you may run into liquidity issues until you have restored your emergency fund.

No one should consider using their emergency fund for anything other than emergency's, so I am not sure what your point it

The comment I was responding too talked specifically about saving money in a savings account for the purposes of buying expensive things like a car. It should go with out saying one should not use their emergency fund for these purchases (unless they are an emergency)

Once you have the 6mos to 1 year of expenses in your emergency fund you should divert any other cash to other accounts such as Debt Repayment (providing the debt is more than 5-7% interest or current inflation) and/or investments such as tax advantaged retirement accounts