I do agree that the debate about buying new, leasing, or buying various degrees of used ends up as a circular argument at some point. Between payments, interest, depreciation, opportunity cost, repairs and everything - every option is gonna cost you money. There's no way to have a car for free or close to it.
So either you :
do this expected-value analysis of the cost of expenses incurred for each option, multiplied by the likelihood of each expense occurring, then pick the lowest cost option, even if it's a 2014 Corolla (spoiler alert: it is
)
Or: pick the car you want (or keep it) and just accept that it's going to cost money. But at the same time, educate yourself on the true, total cost of having that particular vehicle and make sure it's both within your means and your appetite for spending money