(Just want to clarify that the car isn't important in these two statements, but rather the Spend VS Sell)
For me the two is the same,
Spend vs Sell their are the same that they buy a car.
Your right, spend and sell is basically the same now, as the Bitcoins spend on the car would be most likely instaneously converted to fiat with bitpay or similar service. Im really waiting for the whole commerce to transact in Bitcoin only and not convert to fiat anymore, but this could take very long.
I guess better would be if OP ask whether you holding Bitcoin in the hope to profit from price changes, to get rich from few Bitcoins, or because you see Bitcoin much better than fiat and you actually use it or just store wealth in holding it.