Re
tsq's point about the bike and cobblestone street: Now I wish I had a link to that clip from Top Gear when James May tried to explain "the fizzing sensation somewhere behind the gentleman's area" when he drove a really good car
To answer the op's question: yes. Very much so. Most nice and high end cars around here are driven by people with way more money then manners and sense. Then there are of course the guys like me, who really love cars, but most of the time just can not afford these nice cars.
Even so, I'm not sure I'd much like a woman who just liked me for my nice car. Unless I was driving a Camaro, and she was a Camaro fan, then she's a keeper.
But to help you more in your situation: if the car costs too much to repair, sell it or scrap it. I know it's hard to do, I had to sell my first car this past November. It sucked, but needed to be done. And now I have an even better almost new car that's way more fun and way more environmentally friendly.
My point is, there are loads of great cars, both new and used, that you can get instead of wasting money and time on a car that may be quite past its prime. Changing the engine is a bid and expensive thing, and most of the time you're well on the way to a new car for that money.