There are some different strategies for getting the most value out of a car. Buying new is of course right out the window; that depreciation in the first couple years is killer. The main contenders seem to be a) "buy at x years old, sell at y" and b) "buy at z years old, drive it into the ground". Where z is almost always equal to or larger than x, but usually not (at least, not much) larger than y.
And if you're happy with your purchase according to strategy a, you can switch to b. That's what I was considering doing with my previous car, the 2009 Exeo I bought in '11. But then the insurance company said it would be too expensive to repair the humongous scratch made by a bus that decided to change into my lane, never mind that I was there already, so they bought me out of it. Bought the Tiguan in summer 2016, again at two years old. Driving the tiny distances I do -- ~7-8,000 km in almost three years? -- depreciation by sheer model-year age will hit me much more than by wear-and-tear, so keeping it until it rusts away (which I don't know if it ever will) would seem to be the financially prudent alternative.
And if you're happy with your purchase according to strategy a, you can switch to b. That's what I was considering doing with my previous car, the 2009 Exeo I bought in '11. But then the insurance company said it would be too expensive to repair the humongous scratch made by a bus that decided to change into my lane, never mind that I was there already, so they bought me out of it. Bought the Tiguan in summer 2016, again at two years old. Driving the tiny distances I do -- ~7-8,000 km in almost three years? -- depreciation by sheer model-year age will hit me much more than by wear-and-tear, so keeping it until it rusts away (which I don't know if it ever will) would seem to be the financially prudent alternative.