Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

that we keep for 10 years

That's how to make it work so you avoid depreciation being the big expense. So long as things don't fall off it too much you'll win.

We bought Mrs Hefty's 2002 Sharan as a stop-gap for £1500 and decided to never service it and see what happened at each MoT with a view to throwing it away at the first big bill. We've had it 4 years and c. 20,000 miles and it's never needed a single repair. I did take pity on it and change the oil and filter once, but otherwise it's cost little more than a couple of hundred a year in depreciation and the odd tyre.

Bloody thing. It's hateful.