I share your frustration. Cars are dumb. New cars are shit and dumb. It’s also super bad for the environment - the manufacturing is a huge part of the total carbon emission of a car.

Seems pretty clear to me that it’s a status thing - you’re displaying your access to resources by showing that you can waste them. That’s why I think it’s legitimately useful to insult people’s new or expensive cars to their face. Deny them the social reward they seek and it puts pressure to find a new status token. Maybe instead they can waste money on carbon fibre bikes or the latest overpriced micro-transportation.