Depending on your individual situation. It can be a requirment to have one really reliable car Or not so important.

Reliable cars quite new are a waste of money in many ways but a requirement for most. If they are not driven much the cost per mile is pretty bad. A friend just got rid of a car his wife would not drive much because it hurt her back.

Paid about twenty thousand six years ago. Had about 40k miles on it. Got five thousand eight hundred for it. Thats about forty cents a mile for just depreciation.

There would have been little maintenance cost except oil changes though. Add gas up here in Canada at 15-20 cents per mile and we have 55-60 cents per mile.

I have left out insurance, registration etc as they would apply to any car. If they had driven it 80-100 k miles their cost per mile would have been signifigantly lower as the resale price would have been about the same.

Most of us have to look at cars as a utilitarian expense that is pretty well unavoidable.