The recently new car still under warranty still requires insurance... car payment + insurance + gas can still quickly add up.

Over the years I've had a used car, a number of leased cars and a financed new car which I will finish paying off in 2 months.

I can tell you that during their lifetimes, the used car cost me by far the least (so far). It cost me a a single repair - bodywork for a minor accident and basic maintenance (oil changes etc). The insurance - even fully comprehensive was much less than my other vehicles. Which costs me a small fortune every month (even though I'm almost 40, have never had an accident and only a couple of minor speeding infractions - both less than 15 km/h over the posted limit - both more than 3 years ago.)

The leased vehicles cost me the most (comparatively) for their very short lifetimes, but gave me the greatest peace of mind as they were fully warrantied for the life of the lease. At the end of the lease I had a number of options: I can lease another vehicle, rolling what equity I have gained (if there is anything, which dealerships are notorious about making sure there is little or none); I can prepare ahead and put money aside every month for the inevitable balloon payment that comes at the end when you want to buy the lease out, or the headache of trying to refinance this payment; or I can give the vehicle back and basically lose everything I've paid into it during the lifetime of the vehicle. None of these options are great. You're basically renting a car.

The warranty on my financed vehicle ran out a full 12 months before my finance and 12,000 km short of my mileage. This had the highest monthly outgoings, I lost (a lot of) money on depreciation. But having had it from new was good for peace of mind and I had constant set payments to the end of the finance period - so none of the headaches you have to deal with when you have a lease, plus at the end of the finance, the car is all yours, to do with as you please.

Ongoing maintenance was in a similar ballpark for each vehicle so there were no real savings to compare between any of the vehicles. Gas has largely been the same, I do the same mileage regardless of the vehicle - and the gas mileage has been similar in all vehicles. The biggest saving grace for my financed vehicle is that (I'm hoping) its cost over time (vs. cost of repairs) will gradually decrease to a point that its ongoing costs can be considered negligible... until like everything else, eventually it'll need a repair that is too costly to justify and I'll look for my next purchase, which may well be a used vehicle of the same year/make/model. This way I can rip spare parts off my old one as needed.

I can't speak for triple A costs as I haven't needed to pay for triple A since I had a used car as both the leases and the financed vehicle have had triple A for the duration of the finance, however, I've only needed to call it once in all that time because the dealership forgot to include a jack with one vehicle and would you credit it, it was that vehicle I had a blowout and had to change the tire, on the side of a dark, wet, snowy highway at 5am. If there had been a jack, I wouldn't have needed triple A at all.

So having been through the cycle with every means of purchasing a vehicle and seeing the financial implications first hand, I think I'm most likely to go back to buying used next time I need another vehicle. My biggest reasons for going that route are: I lose nothing on depreciation; the monthly payments will be negligible, if anything; If I play my cards right, the cost of repairs should be far less than the monthly payments on something new; routine maintenance should keep surprises to a minimum.

That's just my $0.02, YMMV