Alot of places in the world you don't really need the car as much, it could be superior to be able to travel without needing to own it permanently.
Certainly I would agree to swap an appreciating asset for depreciation and taxes is not a good deal if you can avoid it but some will argue the car enables work and many other things so is justified, just avoiding finance is for certain.
The notion that if you have the car, you are already somewhere in the middle class. That's true to a lot of countries. Because once you go back to the country side, it is like you are doing good if you have the house as well as your car. But once you are getting older and you have gone thru a lot of struggles, having debt-free life is already a success for you. No one bothering you at the middle of the day just to collect money from you, would be a nice life for you. In short, you re-define your success and it is not all about the money and material things surrounding you.