I'll be the contrarian here. I make well in the mid-6 figures and a $400 per month car payment is a drop in the bucket as compared to all the time in shop dealing with problems on a used car. My time is money, literally. I had a used 2008 BMW 328xi, was paid for but towards the end it was like a 90 year old in the nursing home, problems and constant expense. Plus all the niggles you have to deal with like broken electrics, leaks, performance issues..that no one seems to fix. I got a XC60 Volvo crossover with 320hp and all the toys. I love it. My vehicles are my thing and I worked to hard to drive newer more dependable vehicles, kind of done driving 10 year old Honda sh*tboxes around. I know may offend some of you with the old sh*tbox, it's what you can afford, but not for me. I like having all my repairs covered, loaner cars, maintenance paid for, free roadside. I will pay cash again when I can find a 1969 Can-Am 302 Camaro Z-28 under 100k. That is a used car I don;t mind fixing.
Oh I also put 30% of all my earnings into retirement and have a year expenses in the bank. Love Dave Ramsey, I do. But instead of focusing on making the pie slices last longer, get a bigger pie.