Problem with going 500k around me is they rust apart around you around 200k.
In some places, yes. Not all though. Here in the high desert, there's not much to take them out. Hail is probably the worst thing going around here, but that won't actually take anything off the road, just make it ugly.
But perhaps we sometimes wind up placing too high of a focus and importance on that role of who we are being filled by the vehicle we are seen in? If so, we’ve truly drunk too much of the tasty koolaid sold us by slick media advertising.
I think you're mixing automotive ideologies here. In some instances, I agree completely. In others, not so much. If you base your identity on your car and being seen in it, that's not great. That externalization of one's identity with a material thing that is ultimately fleeting and temporary (more fleeting and temporary than the individual at least) can't be healthy. At some point it will rust, be wrecked, or you'll just grow tired of it. I feel similarly toward tattoos.
On the other hand, if it's approached as a hobby that one enjoys, and has a secondary utilitarian purpose (transportation), it can be a healthy thing. I like cars. I like interesting cars. I DD my interesting cars. Then I sell them to pay for the next interesting car. I don't latch on to any particular one, but learn something from each one. If it can be said to be a part of my identity... I suppose that could be said to some degree, or at least could have been in the past, just not in the way I think you intended it. That said, buying this new car represents a shift in that overall strategy that I outlined a page or two back. I've had enough interesting cars with "soul" and "character" that I have a good feel for what's going to achieve that same quality in a new car, and I can use the skills and tools gained from my past automotive exploits to keep on the road long term.
To your point, the "identity" that comes with owning a particular make/model of vehicle is generally a pretty strong turn off for me. I hesitated to buy my BMW because I don't generally care for the people that think of themselves as BMW people; too douchey. Same with Jeep; too bro-y. Chevy; too blue collar. Yet, as with most things, I ultimately said, "who cares what other people think?" and owned them for at least a short period of time. I genuinely enjoyed each one for what it was, and made it out without any BMW/Jeep/or Chevy/VW/Mazda/Dodge/AM General/Toyota/etc. hats or keychains or anything of the like. Though I do have some Blipshift t-shirts... hmmm....
