An interesting discussion.
My new philosophy is to never buy another car brand new. Cars are made so well now, and it's so easy to find "just what you want" on the internet, that there's no reason not to buy, say, a car that's about four years old or so, or even older if you find a good one. It'll still be in great shape (as long as the owners took care of it and you pick a car as reliable as the Vibe
), and you'll have let the original owners eat the bulk of the depreciation cost.
People tend to forget that depreciation isn't linear. It's a curve that becomes less and less a factor as the car ages. Which makes sense, if you think about it. A car that goes from 1 year old to 2 years old has just depreciated 50% (1 year out of 2). But a car that's gone from 10 years old to 11 years old has only depreciated around 10% (1 year out of 11). So the older a car you can "stomach", the better your financial gain will be, and you should still be driving a pretty decent car.
Yeah, the car won't last you as long if you hold it until it dies...but when it does die, you just buy another good used car, and you'll still be "up" money-wise. Hopefully you should be able to get at least 10 years out of any car you buy anyway, so you won't be buying ALL that many cars in your lifetime.
but wow...a $ 20,000 loss. Those are terrible numbers ! Next time I will be prepared to buy a used car in cash, if possible OR just buy a good higher mileage car & finanace as LITTLE as possible. Thankfully the Vibe is a great car & will last be many more years 
Something to think about when you finance. Lots of your hard earned $$$ goes to interest & finance changes. Think total cost NOT just your monthly payment 
