I won’t get into a pee pee match over whether or not you should buy a new or used car, but I have a source for trusted financial advice and he says never ever buy a new car unless you are stinking rich and can actually afford the thing. He is not anti-new car, just anti-debt and anti-quick depreciation on investment.
My vote for a good reliable hippy car would be a post-1999 Chevrolet Metro, Prizm, or Corolla.
If you do your homework and search and scour, you can find well-cared for cars from this era that will not break your budget and will last another 150, 000 miles. Seeing that as a hippy you will have this car for a long time, that give you ample opportunity to paint the roof, hood, and trunk with whatever designs you choose!
With that said, if you can afford a car that is newer than 2002, I don’t think I have much to say in that category just yet.
Give me about 4 years and we can talk. That’s my five cents. Happy hunting…oh, well hippies don’t hunt…so happy gathering. (my middle names are marley and lennon, so I have cred to make fun of dirty hippies:-))