How much to spend on a nice first car?

[Jamougha]

Unless you buy an amazing car or a complete pos you will habituate to it within a few weeks and your level of satisfaction will be roughly the same after that.

If you buy an amazing car then you will probably get annoyed with it because it can't ever live up to expectations and end up less happy than if you plumped for something more middle-of-the-road! Sounds stupid, but it's borne out by a lot of scientific research, as well as my on experience of splurging on stuff.

So I would go for an inexpensive decent car. I would choose a classic car, they're cheap but classy.

For me the expense involved in buying and owning a car doesn't seem worth it, and I'd be pretty upset at earning $100k in a year. YMMV.