I think you're right, internet plays a huge factor and also image/insurance is a big issue. I'm still on my first car, 13 year old bog-standard Punto, 1.2 60bhp, grey with black bumpers, blue interior, pretty horrible thing. I know a girl my age (20) who earns about £800/month as a hairdresser who just bought a 1.2 Limited Edition Corsa for £14k on 5 year finance. Her parents are necessarily rich or anything, she was just told she could get this flashy red car with black wheels and she went for it despite the fact it'll be worth £3k in 5 years. And after 3 months she wanted a white Audi A1 anyway so it's not going well for her.
I don't think first cars are so much the problem though, it's second cars for me. I've been researching for about a year now despite not being able to afford a better car. My options are so much more open now that I have 2 years NCB and I actually have the time to pick something I want whereas my first car I just wanted something to drive. I never actually looked at punto's, I just saw one local with low mileage and went for it seeing as 3 trips to Birmingham (40 miles away) had all come up useless prior to that.
Edit: The people saying you're guaranteed to have a bump in your first few years are wrong. Not everybody does, I worked hard for my car and I don't intend to have a bump in it on purpose.
And for those saying you'll buy your kids a better car for 'safety and reliability', I find this wrong on so many levels. All my friends who have had nice cars bought for them have ended up in a hedge with hardly any car left. They never worked for their cars and therefore never appreciated them. And whenever a MOT or Service came up guess who paid for it? And whenever insurance renewal came and they couldn't afford £1000+ guess who pays for it? And when it comes to buying a newer car after a year because they're bored of it and realise they can't actually afford a car better than what they already have because they have a car out of their budget, guess who's going to have to help them again?
My 13 year old car breaks down no more than a brand new corsa, if anything I'd say my little Punto was more reliable, it's never left me at the side of a road.