Agreed. I usually have to remind the salesperson to stop talking to me in monthly payment terms. I always tell them to talk to me about final price including all interest.

It's a bit of an uphill battle, where you have to tell them over and over. They're just so used to trying to sell the monthly payment. It's really no wonder that people that don't understand interest (many if not most) will fall for this. And if you actually can't really afford the car, it's also understandable why many if not most people will "gladly" fall for it. The alternative is not having the car of their dreams.

That said, financing in general isn't bad. I've financed most of my cars. I wouldn't have had the sort of "emergency fund" to just outright buy the car and financing allowed me to get the car when I needed it instead of buying some "temp beater" and taking even longer to buy the car I really wanted when I needed it and I paid it back with priority (i.e. faster than the financing terms required it).