Buying brand new cars is not good financial advice either. Instant depreciation, no time for problems to blow up in someone else's face first, tiny longevity gain over buying a 2-3 year old car for drastically less.
I have a friend who is 15 years older than me and very financially savvy. He grew up in India in a poor family and his father spent all his free time repairing their ancient clunker that kept breaking down. That memory is enough that he only buys new cars.