You are comparing new car to new car, which is fair to you, but you probably aren't in the class getting squeezed yet.
At least my country, the issue is with used car prices. The first car i bought, i bought for 300€ (+200€ of repair i knew about beforehand), in a garage, around 2010. If i want to buy a car in a garage (not using the craiglist equivalent), the minimum i have to pay is 4k, and 1k of repairs. The inflation in europe is _not_ close to x10 in 15 year. Even if i use the local craiglist, the first option i have is a car that can't start at 1.3k (it's a nice model though, easily 12k if it worked).
I can easily afford to buy a 22k new car, so i'm not the one who really suffer from it (i need cargo space for my windurf, and i got it), but for those who are still working minimum wage jobs, and need a car to go to that job, you can't bet on a 5k car. You will either have to go to a very basic new car (9-10k) or a 6-7k used car that you're sure don't need any work for the next 15 months (so that you will have finished paying your car before you have to pay for fixing stuff).
At least my country, the issue is with used car prices. The first car i bought, i bought for 300€ (+200€ of repair i knew about beforehand), in a garage, around 2010. If i want to buy a car in a garage (not using the craiglist equivalent), the minimum i have to pay is 4k, and 1k of repairs. The inflation in europe is _not_ close to x10 in 15 year. Even if i use the local craiglist, the first option i have is a car that can't start at 1.3k (it's a nice model though, easily 12k if it worked).
I can easily afford to buy a 22k new car, so i'm not the one who really suffer from it (i need cargo space for my windurf, and i got it), but for those who are still working minimum wage jobs, and need a car to go to that job, you can't bet on a 5k car. You will either have to go to a very basic new car (9-10k) or a 6-7k used car that you're sure don't need any work for the next 15 months (so that you will have finished paying your car before you have to pay for fixing stuff).