50% of users in a Suiss “mustachian” FIRE community: “Get a 60k used car!”
Wait 10 days … - Hey, while we’re talking about it, why not get it new?
Buying a brand new car is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Never can something lose its value faster, so nobody ever wants to do this a second time.
Buying a brand new car at the age 23 was undoubtedly my biggest financial mistake to date. 
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At 23 makes sense, unless your parents are in the fire community or at 23 you think like a 30-40 years old
The other point of view is to buy a new car and keep it 10+ years. You can increase the probabilities to have less issues when it’s getting older (especially because you know how you used the car)
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I bought my car ~37K 12 years ago, and it still runs perfectly and maintenance costs are minimal (~140k km).
If I had to do it all over again, I’d buy a new one. My biggest financial mistake was buying a used car at 11K (~60k km) that cost me a fortune in maintenance… I kept the car for 3 years before sending it for export… a money pit!
For me, knowing the vehicle’s driving and maintenance history is a determining factor.
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Well statistically, buying used and reasonable is a lot more advantageous from a monetary point of view, even if you personally might have had bad luck in one and good luck in the other case.
What I start to realize, looking at the language and arguments used, is that buying cars seems to be more of an emotional than a rational thing for some people.
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I think you are right.
It’s like for a woman to buy a 5k Balenciaga bag.
@wavemotion respectfully, that does sound a very cliché statement.
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Same for a men buying a 60k car with big rims, red brake calipers, huge exhaust, etc?
Totally unnecessary
Yeah, maybe avoid the stereotypes either way 
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Yeah, if you are using >50% of your assets for a new car, then it was probably not very smart to do that.
But thank you for your honesty and sharing your experience - I can fully understand your situation that thime.
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A key aspect of minimalism is to also be happy with what you have; it’s not to find happiness in objects. But that does not mean you cannot allow yourself nice things.
Despite what many will have you believe, cars are a necessity for many of us, especially if we want to do groceries in bigger supermarkets, have hobbies in nature or simply want the comfort of owning a car. Give yourself at least one pleasure; life’s more than just saving up like mad.
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I mean those are not stereotypes, but real life examples
Discrete (single or few data points) real life examples then applied to very broad categories of the population (women/men) for no explained reason.
a.k.a.: stereotypes.
Edit: I would add that if that is the image of men/women going around in your circle of acquaintances, then said circle may be part of the problem when it comes to striking a good life balance in relation to frugalism. 
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“A man” - “A woman” it’s not “all”
Anyway if someone feels offended I can remove it
I knew it