I'm not sure I entirely agree with the posts so far. My last car is old, but for what I initially paid for the car, my car expenses have been less than what someone who leased would usually pay and of course, at the end of "the term," I still owned the car outright! On the other hand, I learned to do my own repair work and I shopped online daily for months for the car, until I got a very good price.
Of course, I still needed a car in those days. However, a family member sold me their well maintained old car for what the dealership would have given them for the trade in, which amounted to less than two thousand dollars. And that was good enough, with the help of an honest and sympathetic mechanic, to save for my "new" car, which was about four years old. Been driving that into the ground, but saving all the while for another car. So, the next one may actually be brand new! (only because with high gas prices and my ability to purchase without borrowing, which by the way will save me around 1500 right off the top - because of the factory incentives -, plus the bank fees and interest, my expenses will be a little bit lower than they would be with an older car, but that is almost entirely because of gas prices, not maintenance).
It isn't easy to do all these things and it certainly isn't required to be a "good person," but I think these are skills that will help you survive and thrive into the future, which looks to me as if it will be even more demanding, than the present.
So, if you lack the discipline, foresight and resources to do what I did, then I would suggest you work on developing those traits, rather than running down to the money lenders for your "easy" money.