My last (used) car shopping experience saw me struggling to get over paying more than $10k for a car, because we really wanted a minivan and they're (IMO) damned expensive. That was a few years ago.

I am... concerned about how painful the next one's going to be, in 3-5 more years. I hate spending money on cars.

EVs don't seem to be helping the price any—quite the opposite, as far as I can tell—even if they're good for TCO. Concerned about what that market's looking like for poor people, these days. No more $2k cars that'll semi-reliably get you to work for the next five years, or to the 50-miles-away grocery store or Wal-Mart for your "big shopping" once every couple weeks, for the rural poor.