Carrrrggggghhhs

I am not a fan of cars. I love the convenience and freedom they endue. But I hate the relentless maintenance and cost they require. Our car has had to have it's annual MOT test. It initially failed and needed a new exhaust and tyre before it would pass. That combined with an annual service has cost us a small fortune. Unfortunately I need to have a car to get to work and back and it also makes the rest of our lives possible. Public transport would be impractical for the range of places we need to get to each day.
I have often wondered if it would be cheaper in the long run to buy cheap old cars regularly and get a replacement one when it needs lots of things doing on it.
In an ideal world I would have a car provided for a fixed affordable cost that would be replaced if it ever broke down but the leasing schemes that purport to provide this always seem to be for new cars and because of that, more expensive than running an older car. Or be so rich that I didn't car how much a car cost to run.