What I wanted to point out is that these people are not too wrong in their assumptions. It is, indeed, impressive to society.
Example, if you look at a shiny new(ish) Mercedes, that's well cleaned, and in perfect shape. What's the first things you attribute to that driver? At least "wealthy/successful to some extent", right? And that's a trait that is impressive in a lot of (capitalist) societies nowadays.
It's not about whether this is a good or bad thing. It's just something that we need to acknowledge and understand when fighting car centricity. We can't just deny the existence of it.