I once worked on a magazine for self-builders (building your own home). The readership was assumed to be entirely aspirational - that is, it wasn't written for self-builders at all, it was written for people who dreamed of being self-builders. A hell of a lot of youtube content fits in the same bucket, IMO.
There's also conspicuous consumption/costly signalling to consider, when it comes to things that are on display like bikes, clothes, cars: in some respects, a car is a piece of jewellery.
This is all in a certain sense irrational behaviour, but in another sense it is more about the feeling. People like to buy things that they can imagine them helping in all life situations.
A car is not a small investment for many and if you have the choice between one that perfectly serves 95% of your trips and might suck at the rest and another that serves 100%, but the 95% are slightly worse/inefficient/expensive, that is a choice one can make. In certain circumstances it could even be the rational choice. E.g. if the charging infrastructure where you live isn't there.