He sounds just like my uncle man. He bought a car brand new 06 and the second he paid it off started talking about how he wanted a new one and just kept using the dumbest rationale "Oh the upholstery is falling off the roof, the passenger side window switch is unresponsive from time to time, the seats are dirty" Dude went out and bought a new car and just started the cycle of debt over again.
Mind you I own THE SAME MAKE AND MODEL of that car, and you know what I did? Window switch went bad? Went to the junkyard and bought one for $12 and put it in myself. Upholstery is falling off, that costs 100$. Got my seats cleaned, etc etc etc. People just want to stunt too badly for no good reason.
That may very well be the case, but you're just trying too hard to rationalize over extending yourself and putting yourself in more debt that you need to be in just to have what you consider to be a "nice car". Your car is a tool above all else, a means to get from point A to point B. BE PRACTICAL