I don’t think you necessarily aren’t down to earth just because you drive an expensive car or have nice things. It’s all relative. I consider myself extremely down to earth as well are many of my clients/friends that are what I’d consider affluent.
Yeah, many of them drive around expensive cars, have nice clothes, take expensive trips but the biggest difference is they are living within their means (or below their means when you consider most could go out and buy whatever they wanted in life) and most of them have no debt at all.
There are plenty of truly affluent people in San Diego that are down to earth. There are a lot of pikers/fakers as well that have no net worth and driving around a fancy and expensive car but make no mistake San Diego is full of affluent down to earth people.
I don’t necessarily think driving a cheap car makes you “down to earth”. I think it’s all about living within your means.