I have always been the same way, until recently. Now I realize that sometimes it is nice to have a car that isn't a pile of crap. I have loved all of my vehicles, but now I want something that I don't have to work on constantly and I don't have to worry about on a regular basis. A car that is, at least somewhat, respectable.
I dig. But all cars have problems. I find that the newer the car the more problems (and costly problems) they have. My folks and friends are taking their cars in every other week or month and those are high priced, new cars.
All of my cars, especially the old ones, I could fix myself (no onboard computers, spacious work enviroment, cheap parts), or take it somewhere and have it fixed for cheap in an hour or two. And they RARELY broke down.
No offense, but who cares what you drive? It's a car, they have four wheels and get you from point A to point B, that's all they are for, the rest is just to fluff egos.
Get a $500 used car (you can find nice looking ones), and when it dies on you, no love lost, get another used car. Spend the $13,500 you just saved to buy brewing equiptment.
Also, leaving your car dead on the side of the road is something that certain people do...
I had a good reason. The car belonged to a friend of mine who went crazy and had to go back to his home state. I took care of things for him and his parents said "have the car" (which had been sitting on the side of the road for the past two weeks). I fixed the alternator and gave it a new belt. I couldn't find the title for it, and then I opened the glove compartment and about 15 parking tickets came falling out, all recent and obviously unpaid.
So I went to drive from LA to Big Bear the next week (only had it a week). It overheated. I got the fanbelt replaced at a station (thinking that was the cause), and it overheated again. I left it on the side of the road for dead. Really, it wasn't my problem to begein with. Still have the keys, don't know what happened to the car.