Thanks folks for your answers.
Here and other places I hear the brand new car thing used as a reductio ad absurdum in response to suggestions of helping other people. “Those people are starving. We should get them some help!” “Yah, next thing you’ll want us to give them a car. Can’t save everyone pal.” Sound familiar?
I was curious to see how generous people actually are.
I just gave a friend my 92 Saab 9000 for a dollar. I upgraded to a 99 9-5. She has not had a car since her car died and someone once gave me a car and I used it for years. Pay it forward.
There are some good programs out there for donating your older car to help the poor. Good News Garage is one of them. I think you can write it off on your taxes?
I would give away a new car if I was wealthy.
I’m not sure why you think your question gets at how generous people are. To me, it’s like asking “Is there any circumstance under which you would jump off a cliff?” The answers don’t indicate how suicidal the answerer is, because there are many situations in which I would jump off a cliff even though I did not intend to kill myself.
Do tell. 
Bungie jumping?
Yipes. Upon HS graduation, we took our son to the Toyota dealer and let him order his new car (within $$ limits). 3 years later, he’s had no accidents nor noticeable damage. I figure parking dings are a little outside his control, unless he’s to skip class and guard the car all day. :rolleyes:
Seriously, you dislike people for this?
Hmm. Maybe you’d only jump off a cliff if you were being chased by a herd of rabid hippos. And only then. That’d tell me that it is really hard to persuade you to jump off a cliff and we could take the notion as effectively absurd in your case, even if there is an exception.
As for giving away cars, well, some people (possibly) think that you really ought to get off your lazy ass and earn that car yourself. No way they’d give away a new car. Others are more, um, ‘generous’ for lack of a better word. I think the varied responses suggest a sort of spectrum of generosity.