Borrowing to buy it isn't necessarily more expensive. You could pay $50k for an average new car, or $10K + $40K over 5 years at 5% (~$5k extra in interest) If

Borrowing to buy it isn't necessarily more expensive. You could pay $50k for an average new car, or $10K + $40K over 5 years at 5% (~$5k extra in interest) If you put that $40k into the stock market, average annual returns for the S&P500 are ~10% going back to 1928, so you would have made ~$24k over 5 years on average. That would put you ~$19k ahead after you pay off the loan with interest. You could certainly buy at the wrong time and lose out by taking a loan. There are plenty of +/-30-40% years in those "average" stock market metrics. But historically it's been a pretty good bet if you're a gambling sort.