Which is why…
I will be hanging onto my ’94 Corolla til it drops.
And also because:
>It’s still in good shape, inside and out
>It’s paid for
>State license fees are CHEAP
>So is car insurance
>Gets as good a mileage as anything new on the road outside of a Prius
>I’ve grown fond of the body/interior style and haven’t found another car I like as well

I wind up spending several hundred a year on it for various amusingly-unheard-of repairs (still less than a monthly payment). Stuff like new contacts for the starter (the old ones simply wore down to nubs); new bushings for the brakes (not pads, I am into the 3rd or 4th set of those already); 2nd set of spark plug wires…

I suppose there’s some actuarial/accounting/depreciation/etc reason why this makes it “more affordable” for me to buy a new car instead, but I just don’t see it. I just look at my cash flow into the car and that seems just not that bad.