no kidding it’s true. we have a fleet of old and beater cars in the driveway that come with their respective list of repairs needed, A 2000 Jeep that our daughter gave us to recompense for her car insurance costs that just hit 200K miles. A VW Passat2005 diesel baking in the sun that needs work and will not start, A GMC cargo van 92 that has a steering wheel, tires, dash no heat,no AC, no radio but cranks every time and had a transmission rebuild/alignment, new tires. It has lots of cool Trump stickers... then we have a toyota (late nineties) Camry that has half the front bumper missing when 2 dogs ran out in front of us on the highway leaving Tyler. It runs and has AC.
Last car I bought was a 2010 Genesis coupe. Paid 29K, new model but still got it for under sticker. Had approached a chevy dealer about the just released Camaro, in 2009. They wanted sticker plus 10K for the V-8 model or circa 45K. After laughing pointed out the company was in BK and not sure it would honor their warrantee. Now have 52K on car, will keep for another 4-6 years as I do with my cars routinely. My prior car was a 98 Taurus that had 80K; then a 91 T bird with 70k and then a 75 Cordoba with fine corinthian leather with 230K and which I sold for 1K with a new car price of 6K.
I don’t know how anyone making normal money can either buy a home or new vehicle these days.
My wife and I each have cars that are over fifteen years old, and are still in perfect order. They are a pleasure to drive, dependable, and cost less than 500 a year to maintain. The trick is to look around and see what old vehicle model is still on the road in great numbers. Buy a good one, use synthetic oil, and be alert to even the smallest sign of trouble and have it looked at right away.