That speaks of expertise and therefore is poor measure of TCO for the average person. That said, buying a 3-6 year old used car is frequent advice.
Where people fall down is not buying a used car. It's buying a used car they could not afford as a new car. If your buying a used vehicle that was 30+k new, your not actually getting a cheap vehicle, just an old one.
A $6500 Jaguar is probably not a good budget recommendation though... :)
PS: A friend owned a used car for 3 years then sold it for a net profit without doing any repairs. But, good luck retreating that without spending a lot of time looking for great deals.
People love buying new cars though... It’d be a lot more amusing if it weren’t so financially harmful. (I confess to buying a new electric LEAF but only because it came with $10K in government money in the trunk. Even with you guys buying 1/3rd of it for us and Nissan financing it at 0% interest, it’s noticeably more expensive than our other cars. Good car though. Has needed wiper blades and washer fluid in 55 months of ownership.)
We bought my wife’s 2005 CR-V in 2011 for $8500 cash. In 8 years, it’s needed less than $750 in parts and we farmed out only one job (a clutch job which involves a good half-day of labor with a lift or a strenuous weekend without one). Total maintenance expenses have been under $2000 over 8 years and if the clutch job hadn’t been needed would have been under $1000. (Was a bearing failure not clutch wear.)
We’re under $11K into this thing, excluding gas, so $110/mo or so and still totally reliable.
You’re right on the market; it’s great that not everyone wants them: makes them cheap for those who know how smoking a deal they tend to be.