This has been the case in our family. The 1996 Camry with only 140,000 miles is becoming the daughter-unit's car. She really wanted a 2010 red Porsche, but she'll settle for a Camry.
Ditto with Hondas. When a sister-in-law bought a CR-V, she gave her old Accord to two nieces that are new drivers.
What's surprising is just how much those 10-15 year old Accords and Camrys still fetch on the private party used market. You'd think that a
15 year old car would sell for under $1000, but that's not the case. Those third generation Camrys (1992-1996) are selling for as much as $5000. That was a very good generation, before a lot of the decontenting started. That's what it's like in Northern California anyway. My brother in law is a mechanic and he gets people bringing in private party used cars for a check before purchasing them. He asks how much they're paying for the used car and is amazed at the high prices for 10 year old Acuras, Toyotas, and Hondas.Remember that the nearly all of used Toyotas and Hondas that you see on the Ford or GM dealer's used car lot did not come from trade-ins for new cars from that dealer. They were brought in from other dealers or purchased from fleets like rental car fleets.