My husband is like you - buy used and drive them til they drop. He’s in the auto parts business so he gets parts wholesale and is a good non-professional mechanic.
When our granddaughter was a baby (she’s 8 now) our daughter HAD to replace her perfectly fine 2001 Corolla with a brand-new Chevy Equinox with all the bells and whistles. She’s finally got it paid off and the dealer keeps emailing her about the great deal she’ll get for a trade-in, and I fear she’s starting to cave. In my house a 2011 model is one you trade up to, not the old car you replace.

You know nothing wrong with that 99 4 runner shit I may buy it for our sons I know the vehicle he my friend has done maintenance on it only 80:000 miles shoot easily get 300000 on it.

Although I think we taught our boys well -- when they bought their "good" first cars they bought them used, Certified. That is what we do. Lots of times they are still under warranty. We are both on the same page as far as don't want to drive a car owned by a bank. We bought our '06 Corolla used 2 yrs. old, and Certified, it had 12,000 miles on it and it was a great deal and I still drive it, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it and I have had zero problems with it, just changing the oil regularly and got new tires. Then there is my sis who complains about never having enough $ to live on (she makes more $ than what Mr. Ohiogal and I live on by about $4000 ) and she bought a brand new Passat and pays $400 a month on it.

But if you are young and you walk into that dealership and see those brand new cars, the sales people pounce on you till you are gone.
I sure see it all the time.

Fortunately it's just a Power Wheels version, since he is only 4.

have been pretty responsible so far. They have a 2000 Corolla that they bought from my sister in law, and he has around a 2012 Ford Explorer that is their travel car.

My youngest still lives at home and drives my 2002 Cavalier to work. We have two cars between the three of us (my wife's car is a 2009 HHR).

My wife and I are going down to one car. Whichever lasts longer between the Cavalier and HHR. The HHR actually has about 30K more miles (lots of dog agility trips).

I am 55 and my wife is 52. We have only owned five cars between the two of us. We have owned almost as many houses (four).

they are adults who work and pay bills and can choose to go into debt for themselves.

We all have to make our own decisions.

Debt scares the hell out of me, and we tried to educate our daughters that it is an invisible monkey on your shoulders for as long as you have it.

Our elder daughter lives in NYC, has moved in with her boyfriend (now fiancé), and together their after-tax income more than covers the rent, as it should be. She ditched her car when she moved to the City, as it made no sense to maintain one there. She just rents on the rare occasions when she needs one.

The younger one took on a few mortgages in Germany, as she is playing around with owning rental properties, but her live-in boyfriend is a real estate expert, and is advising her along the way. She now makes (by my standards, anyway) a tremendous amount of money at her job, and can afford everything she has taken on with plenty of pocket change left over. The one thing she will NOT do is jeopardize her financial status by over-extending herself, something I have refused to do from the day I got out of college, and was expected to either go to grad school or earn my own living (I chose the latter).

I know taking on debt is a way of life these days. But if you don't HAVE to, my advice is: don't.