Car Shopping = More Debt!

Car shopping (see Car Woes post) has been on my mind for awhile. I decided to listen to some of the call-ins on Dave Ramsey's show regarding cars. I thought this call was pretty appropriate. Call into Dave Ramsey's show "Wanna get back into debt". Actual call.
Currently I have no car debt. Why get back into car debt? There was another call regarding paying a large amount of cash for a truck and draining savings.
Call into Dave Ramsey's show "Trashing the truck".
So why do so many people buy new cars? Status, keeping up with the Jones. What is the motivation? I have leased two cars, bought/ financed two cars and paid cash for one car. All of these were new cars. I wonder what the total $ outlay would be on all these cars?