Don't buy expensive rides.
Expensive is all relative to your income. An "affordable" ride for me is a Lexus, but I'm too cheap to go that route. Higher trim/level Benz or BMW is doable but a stretch. Anything beyond that is unaffordable...or at least it would require too much sacrifice.
I always watch those that work in my industry but are at a higher pay grade. Boss is a VP and he drives a Subaru. Senior Director under her drives a Hyundai SUV. They have nice houses and take nice vacations but they're not dropping money on cars like that.