In case you haven’t noticed, prices for most vehicles have gone up since you started out several decades ago.
There is certainly truth to both sides of the argument here, but @Dexter is not just whistling Dixie here.
You can still get cheap vehicles if you're willing to drive something that isn't 'cool.' You can also live without smart TV's, the latest I phones and numerous other items that millennials tend to think they can't live without.
When we got started more than 40 years ago, we did without a whole host of things that our parents had because they had worked hard to earn them. We bought a home for $37,000, went down to one car, and when we ran out of food items, we waited until the next paycheck to buy them. We never went out to eat either.
A lot of young folks are "house poor" because they buy homes they want and not homes they need. Same with vehicles.
Most parents haven't taught their kids to live on the cheap and save money for the future. Most kids now have the idea that they are entitled to things, and expect the government to do that for them.
I put the blame largely on indulgent parents and on schools and universities that have brainwashed most people under forty to be takers and not providers.