You're right. But in general when people take out loans to buy cars they do so because it is a big purchase for them and human psychology may favor spending mo

You're right. But in general when people take out loans to buy cars they do so because it is a big purchase for them and human psychology may favor spending more if it comes out of an account in little chunks than all at once. So the "debt is okay" attitude is not good for those who do not know and cannot properly correct for their inherent biases towards spending more in small ways than in one large purchase.