Not great for compiling a big c++ project, but then again that's pretty much the top end of "normal" demands (I haven't had to use c++ in over a decade for example & worked as a developer the entire time).

A top of the line 2008 desktop (especially if it had been occasionally upgraded but even if it hadn't) will still be faster than a low end laptop as described above (the kind you can buy for €200-300 at Lidl) & perfectly good for front end web dev (what I happen to be doing for a living currently).

It would upgradable be something like 3ghz core 2 quad, 8gb ram and reasonably fast (non-m2) SSD. I've certainly done web dev on less than that.

While 25-year-old car lacks many of new tech gadgets it still is likely to have most important conveniences (A/C etc). The most important difference is safety (while not death cages like cars from 50 years ago, 25-year-old cars are still light years behind current cars) and emissions. The latter means that soon those cars might be banned from cities (at least in Europe), which renders "moves stuff around just like a brand new one" invalid.