Most of what you write (here and elsewhere) is spot on. However, this one is unmitigated baloney (of the "conventional wisdom" sort): "New. Cars. Are. A. Rip. Off."

Here's where I proved with data (rather than following the "everyone knows" crowd) that buying a car new and driving it for 10 years is cheaper per year on average than buying it at 5 years old and driving it until it's 10 years old: https://medium.com/makingofamillionaire/why-buying-a-new-car-makes-more-sense-than-buying-used-daa988908df0.

And here's where I expanded and showed it's cheaper per year to buy a car new than at any age between 1 and 5, if you replace it once it's 10 years old: https://themakingofamillionaire.com/can-buying-your-next-car-new-actually-save-you-money-6803b8774fe8.

In both cases, if you're an amateur (or professional) auto mechanic, all bets are off - buy the oldest car you're willing to drive and maintain!