That is totally and absolutely intentional, rest assured.

And that is the right way, yes. Though it might be hard to start if you have nothing, but getting a loan in that case would be either. Dunno about the US, but here you can really get a shitty car for like 300-500 moneyz. It’s surely not fancy and might break 5s later if you’re unlucky, but it also might live 2years and save you 100 a month for the next. At least it’s YOURS. You often see such cars with stickers here that say “Ugly, but paid!” :)