As long as you can afford it, do you prefer to buy new when you buy a car?

[Major Nikon]

14. Cars almost always decrease in value regardless of whether you finance them or not

Homes almost always increase in value regardless of whether you finance them or not. So I personally wouldn't compare one to the other.

I prefer to look at buying a car by what it's going to cost me over how long I intend to own it. I generally keep a car for 10 years or more, put 10-15K miles on it per year. Rather than just monthly payment, I look at total cost of ownership per month which includes lots of things like tires, insurance, fuel, financing, and maintenance. I don't include depreciation because I simply apply whatever money I get out of it for the replacement. I budget that amount of money per paycheck and allocate that amount to a special bank account I use exclusively for transportation.

My experience with financing doesn't match the interest rate you quoted. I financed my last vehicle in November at 1.75% which is almost half the rate you specified and that was for 48 months which is a longer term, although I did put up a $10K down payment.