If all dude wants for a car is to get to point a and point b, then he's absolutely doing the right thing. People that like his music will still attend the shows... so he doesn't really lose anything of significance other than the ability to impress other people who love shiny trinkets.
Even if he isn't making a ton of money from shows or whatever else he's doing, he can still end up in a better position than a lot of these artists who are spending all of their money at the jewelers buying cartoon jewelry filled with low grade diamonds or fancy cars which lose value the moment you drive them off the lot. Luxury cars are some of the worst offenders of depreciation in value.
Having a huge car payment is the absolute worst, especially in an economic environment like you have right now. Unless you are a car geek and cars are your passion or you need some fancy ride to 'look like you belong' such as some industry where you are picking up clients and your ride needs to impress, then I'd absolutely recommend avoiding spending a lot on a car. That $400+ you'll save on a low car note is so much more liberating, not even considering the more expensive the car, the more expensive the maintenance, and that is extremely true for performance cars.