We buy new or nearly new outright and keep them till they drop. One of ours is a 18 year old and still going strong, sails through mot each year and only cost annual services and replacement of the usual brake pads, tyres, spark plugs, one new battery, - nothing major like suspension, exhaust, clutch etc. Still looks good as new as we look after it with regular washes and vacuum & cleaning inside, polishing regularly.
The car before that hit 195k miles before it started needing anything major! It’s the cheapest way to own a car - buy new/demo, have it serviced properly, drive carefully, and they last a long time - average age of cars on the road today is around 13 years. You know it’s history, you know you’ve not abused it or had it serviced on the cheap.
Id never buy one over a year old or with above average mileage as you just don’t know what kind of driver has had it, mounting pavements to park knackering the suspension, heavy right foot causing excessive unnecessary wear and tear, poor gear/clutch control, etc. It’s often a bad prior owner, even for a short period, that sows the seeds of problems later down the line. Especially with lease cars where the driver knows they’ll be swapping it and only need to keep the exterior smart enough not to incur penalties on return - they don’t check state of suspension, clutch, etc.