> Depreciation will determine the average lifespan of most cars.

Depreciation has little relevance to the majority of used-car buyers who need a vehicle, not an investment. They drive it until it can no longer be driven.

What is more relevant to the lifespan of a car is durability and availability of parts. For example Honda shared parts between the Civic, CR-V and Integra so they are relatively easy to obtain even going back to late 90s models.

In fact, depreciation is a great thing for used car buyers. It means they pay less to buy a car.

That doesn't impact how long the cards would have lasted. They're basically moot in this dataset because they were eliminated before wear and tear could kill the car.