I agree with your list Croc, but also think about the fact that those who drive the "beaters" may not be able to afford anything more. I could look at the high school I went to, but that would be a bad example because I live in an affluent neighborhood where it is pretty common to see 16 year olds driving brand new 50k+ cars. Hell, there is a kid down the street that just turned 16 and got a new Range Rover. This type of situation isn't all that common, it's just one extreme. The other extreme of coruse would be barely even being able to afford a late model car let alone an older beater.
I'd have to whip out statistics, but I'm not going to so I'm not positive, but I'd think, for the average family, it probably wouldn't be practical to spend money on a new or late model car where chances are they would have to make payments, when they could just spend a few grand for an older car to act as a set of wheels to get the kid from point A to point B.