I think that many things contribute to this new type of thinking. Here are a couple:

Cars are laden with electronic gimmickry these days at the expense of the basic areas of the platform that give the car longevity so reliability suffers.

Product life cycles are shorter, thus making models seem more dated when they aren’t.

Cars these days are looking more and more the same with each new model run, taking away some of the character of the car and making it boring. Would you want to live with a boring car for 10 years, No.

If you continually lease a car, it is always under warranty. Maintenance costs become a moot point, not to say that maintenance costs are as much as a car payment. It is, however, certainly a contributing factor.

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Jonathan
1998 S600
2001 E430
1994 E320
1991 560SEL
1994 Turbo R