This is true. When I moved from the old Turbo Weasel to my V6 I sat and worked out a rough 'cost per mile' / '£ per month' costing from running at clapped out old banger Omega vs. a nice shiny Korean piece of Tupperware on finance. That factored in parts failing etc which
won't shouldnt occur on a new car. Omega still came out cheaper.
We moved to a new city to live a couple of years ago, not a pot to micturate in, one student in the household, me on temp work/20 hrs a week with little overtime. She (My Omega) cost us about £40 in parts over that year, she looked after us
This year I'm in the middle of a big service, oil, filters, oil cooler, new pump, (see above) seals o rings etc and I'm currently only £140-odd spent which is a £10 note and some change per month over a year. Then we factor in the 'invisible' depreciation of said newer car.
Not ranting that 'old cars are better' because we have a newer car that's the daily driver for now, while Pissy is on axle stands in pieces, but I've always been an advocate of 'bangernomics'