The reason the pushing down is asymmetric for rich & poor when it comes to cars is that cars have some minimum expenses that can be pretty high relative to a poor person’s income, and below that minimum they lose access to a car (which in reality pushes them down eve further). Someone on the high end might choose to spend more on a car than their income safely allows, but they actually have a choice of how much to spend on a car, whereas someone on the low end might only have the choice to spend slightly more than they can actually afford, in other words very little choice.
Wanting a 5 million dollar car doesn't count as getting pushed down. And its unreliability isn't really in the same context as depending on the $5000 (or $500) beater. If your 5 million dollar car conks out, you are more frustrated than endangered: no thing that you do is seriously at risk, as you'll have alternate ways to get to work etc., including the random acquisition of the same $5000 car, which to you is pocket change, beneath consideration.
Maybe its fun burning money, working a job you hate, spending time away from your friends and family, working till you drop dead. I don't know I'm not rich.
> If your 5 million dollar car conks out, you are more frustrated than endangered: no thing that you do is seriously at risk
You have a very weird perception of things. First, there are no $5 million cars. Have you ever met someone with money? Are they chill about trashing their property? Oh I totaled my $150k car, no big deal! I have an infinite amount of money. People go broke all the time.
Take it from a literal billionaire and former CEO of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein:
> “I can’t imagine how all this is going to come out when you publish,” he says, looking fleetingly concerned…. Blankfein insists he is “well-to-do”, not rich. “I can’t even say ‘rich’,” he insists. “I don’t feel that way. I don’t behave that way.” He says he has an apartment in Miami as well as New York. But he abjures most of the trappings. “If I bought a Ferrari, I’d be worried about it getting scratched,” he jokes.
No one has enough money or doesn't care about burning money.
There are cars selling $4M new from the factory.[0] Because of the scammy economics of these limited edition hypercars, if you are eligible (!), you can buy these and instantly flip them with a million or two in profit.
If you get into vintage collectible cars, there is no real upper limit. Here is a 1955 Mercedes for $140M: [1]
If you think that is ridiculous, you are too mild. But it is real.
[0] https://www.caranddriver.com/bugatti/chiron-2021 [1] https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/19/business/mercedes-worlds-...
Edit for two Examples:
* I want ice cream but I don’t want to actually leave my apartment and none of the grocery stores have delivery slots open for the rest of the day.
* Champagne cork flying damaged my priceless artwork
At the very low end you could be pushed down. If you can only afford $5000 for a car, it'll be expensive in the long run. But its also true that on the high end you get pushed down as well. If you have a lot of money and feel the need to buy an expensive car that's no more reliable than a much cheaper car. Plus you have to pay more for insurance, maintenance, etc.