isnt a car anasset in some sense aswell?

Not all cars decrease in value..
No, not really, a car costs you money and I don't know of anything (other than maybe collectors type cars) that appreciate in value. A car won't get you much value as an asset - I know a couple who wanted to loan (wait for it) $60000 to buy some top of the line commodore or something, even though they were earning pretty good money, bank said no. Had that been a loan for a home, no worries.