It's not about inflating the costs. It's the reality of car ownership. Any financially literate person understands the concept of opportunity cost. Even if you go with cheap cars, you're now in the world of opportunity costs eating away at you. As long as you own a car, there's no escape. And the horrifying reality is, it's so absurdly high that when you just put it out there and calculate what it's costing your family regardless of new or used, it really highlights how screwed Americans are.

Edit: In fact I would argue that cheap used cars are worse than new cars exactly because of opportunity cost. Those who would buy a cheap used cars are the least able to afford the opportunity costs, but since they have to save on the upfront costs, the opportunity costs are inevitable. Whether that be lost wages because your car broke down, or having to pay too much to a mechanic because you didn't learn how to work with cars or even working on cars taking away time from after work college degrees. Just estimating it at the new car cost really undersells just how much damage it's doing.