Culturally, getting a new car is much more rare so there is less pressure to do it.
I agree, and this isn't just for Gen Y-ers, either. Most of my Gen X friends (I guess I'm a Gen X-er, too) have no interest in purchasing new vehicles. My wife and I have owned exactly one new car (which we then sold after 6 years to purchase our camper van), and our current vehicle is ten years old. Shiny cars just aren't the status symbols they used to be.
Funny, as a Gen X-er I was reading this as a story about somebody else, but you're totally right. I'm 41 and I've only ever owned one new car. We bought it when my wife was pregnant, because I wanted to make sure she had a good reliable car for her 30-minute commute to and from work. That car has lasted five years so far, and fate willing it will last at least another five. (Her commute is only five minutes these days, and the carseat is in our purchased-used minivan.)
It's really a crazy contrast from what I remember a number of adults doing back in the 80s -- a new car every two years, regular as clockwork.
I agree, and this isn't just for Gen Y-ers, either. Most of my Gen X friends (I guess I'm a Gen X-er, too) have no interest in purchasing new vehicles. My wife and I have owned exactly one new car (which we then sold after 6 years to purchase our camper van), and our current vehicle is ten years old. Shiny cars just aren't the status symbols they used to be.