It is the holiday season once again, and with the holiday season comes the holiday advertising. That means that it’s time for one other holiday tradition- my rant against holiday car commercials. Last year, I wrote that Cars are NOT Gifts, and it’s 27 comments make it my most popular post ever (thanks to The Consumerist for linking to it).

This year, believe it or not, I have yet to see a commercial suggesting that someone give a car to their significant other as a gift. That’s not to say they aren’t being aired (or won’t be aired, we still have 3 weeks until Christmas), but I haven’t seen them. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t commercials to rant about.

Acura’s “Season of Reason” commercials, which have been airing for a few years now, have also gotten to me. I mean, really, you’re trying to pass on the message that buying a new LUXURY car in the midst of the holiday season is a reasonable purchase? When is a luxury car ever really reasonable?

I’m not saying that Acuras are bad cars, or that people should never buy luxury cars if they really, really want one AND can afford one, but please don’t try and sell this as a reasonable, dare I say, practical, decision.

If they were advertising the Acura certified used cars, I might be a little more lenient, but they aren’t. It’s all new cars.

Even so, Acura almost escaped my wrath in favor of the commercials where Santa apparently sends out luxury cars (white ones for the nice people, red for the naughty), but then, I saw this commercial.

That’s right, Suze Orman is shelling for Acura. Now, I know that hating on Suze is pretty standard for us personal finance bloggers, but there’s a reason for it. Suze has made her name claiming to give practical financial advice to people who are struggling financially- and normally not wealthy or upper middle class people who are struggling either. Her core audience is exactly who should NOT be buying an Acura for the holidays.

Like Suze says in the commercial, I have nothing against spending money, but you need to spend that money in a practical manner. For Suze’s core demographic, that most definitely does not equal buying a new car even though Suze is being paid to tell you it’s a reasonable expenditure. It is NOT. But if you feel you must listen to Suze Orman, please instead listen to her long standing advice that purchasing a new car is rarely a good idea.

Let’s listen to Acura on some level and try to make this a Season of Reason. And yes, that means not spending money on a ridiculously expensive holiday party dress or a 20 foot tall frosted Christmas tree (the Dr. Phil commercial), but it also means not buying a car you don’t really need and can’t afford. (And as a side note, has anyone else noticed that all Acura spokespeople appear to be bad drivers- I mean, really, really, endangering the lives of their passengers, bad drivers?)

And if you’re thinking to yourself, why, oh why, would I ever listen to you over Suze Orman, I can at least point out that Forbes is on my side.

So please, be reasonable this season. Don’t buy a new car.