Interesting question.
To me its consumerism kept in check by depreciation i.e. heart vs head & best value.
If the depreciation wasn't so high in the first few years, then I'd be more inclined to upgrade to the latest model.
My 2 year old X3 is still as almost new inside and out with 30,000 miles on the clock. Because I know the service history, the car is probably worth more to me then it would be to someone buying it second hand. My local dealer came up with an LCI offer which wasn't good (low trade in & discount).
If you've got deep pockets, then you can keep upgrading. But for me upgrading at the moment would be very poor value i.e. not much extra for £1000's of spend. At some point it will be worth changing i.e. if the car become unreliable, or there's a new must have feature. I'm going to wait for the next model X3- 2016?
Do the sums and that might temper your heart
