When did you last buy a new car (to you - whether Actually New or not)? How long do you keep a vehicle before replacing it?

Bought a 21 Bronco in December. I plan on driving her into the ground.

Eleven years ago and I keep mine until any single repair is more than the vehicle is worth.

I always buy new cars, not pre-owned cars. I purchase, I don't lease. I always trade my vehicle as it's approaching the end of it's warranty period which is typically 4 years/80,000km. In my case, I hit 80k every 2.5 to 3 years.

My rule of thumb is, a car wears out evenly from bumper to bumper whether we can see that wear or not. The closest indication of a car's overall state of wear and tear are the tires themselves. When the tires need replacing because they would no longer pass a safety inspection if tested, that same state of wear becomes a litmus test for all other components on the vehicle as well.

As soon as you find yourself replacing the very first set of tires which might occur at around 100k, then you've already kept the vehicle TOO long because you are now incurring maintenance expense IN ADDITION TO incurring a steady state of predictable depreciation which began from the day someone drove that vehicle off the car lot brand new. Your expense profile is now double if you are paying both depreciation AND maintenance.

As soon as you start incurring maintenance expenses that are not covered by warranty, your cost to own that vehicle over a long-term period suddenly starts to go up exponentially.

At the end of 15 years and 450k kilometers for example, you will have already paid in maintenance expense what you would have otherwise paid in depreciation expense on a brand new vehicle, which would otherwise have put you in an much newer car instead of driving around in a very old car that essentially retains zero value at 15 years old with very high mileage.