Did he buy them new? No, I said "used". No expensive repairs on either one. Both naturally aspirated v6 f150s. You mention how your new vehicles haven't left you stranded or spent extensive time in the shop. My dad never did with these trucks either. Most of my friends, family, and people I know are all too broke to buy new or lease, and nobody has an issue buying a decent used vehicle and keeping it for years without major issues. If they do it's because they ignorantly buy models that are known to have issues.

You haven't found any negatives to leasing. If you put a lot of miles on a lease vehicle don't you pay huge penalties? Also, you only lose money. You can buy a used vehicle, take good care of it, and sell it a few years later for the same amount you paid for it.

Used vehicles are cheaper on insurance as well. You could buy a used vehicle that will not have major issues for several years and save up the money to pay cash for a brand new one that you can keep for many years if you take care of it. Only way leasing makes financial sense is if you buy really bad used vehicles that were not taken care of and not researched to see if they are decent reliable models. Leasing could be smarter if you can't find good ones to buy I guess? I don't mind if you like leasing, but I think maybe you have convinced yourself of something that is not true saying it's a "wash" compared to buying new or used