Normal base model iPad is not $1000, any longer.
And, once again, you CAN purchase older refurbished or used iPads for quite a bit less money.
ALL the older iPads that I previously listed, currently, run the latest iPadOS with nary an issue.
The internal hardware in old/er iPads are simply NOT capable of handling all the more advanced features of iPadOS.
Apple, typically, only supports their mobile devices for 5-6 years, or so.
Third party app makers continue to support these Apple unsupported devices for another 2-3 years, after and that is it!
That nearly 9-year old iPad has reached that end of life plateau.
If, IF Apple continued to allow older, less hardware powerful devices to continue to upgrade/update their OS, you'd just end up signinng up here still whining and complaining about how much slower that old/er iPad WOULD be running with NO solutions to make these old/er iPads run iPadOS faster/better.
The older hardware technologies, in these older iPad models, is siimply NOT up to the challenge of running a much more advanced and complex OS.
Your analogies to people are silly, riduculous and over the top.
Same goes for the commonly overused automobile and common appliances analogies.
Cars and appliances have had computer chips in them for many decades, now, and cars and applinces are becoming more computer reliant everday.
At some point, you cannot get the computer parts OR it will br very expensive to replace computer parts in older cars and appliances, making it not very cost effective to simply repair, any longer, either.
This happens much faster with common use appliances, as well, like stoves, refigerators, dishwashers, washer and dryers, and the like and even today's even more high tech TVs.
Electronics and computer technologies march on and are moving at an even faster pace, today.
Older electronics/computing hardware technolgies become obsolete over a small span of time.
No technology/electronics/computer company is going to support their old/er products forever.
Sorry, but that is never, ever going to happen.
Sorry, but that is the way it is and I suspect this will remain the situation for the foreseeable future.
Your model iPad is going to be obsolete by the end of the year with no more support for the latest third party apps.
You can certainly choose to keep using that iPad, until the internal battery dies, as most apps, that do not need any type of link to a secure internet connection source, may still work and function, for quite some time, but many types of apps may stop functioning like banking apps, streaming video apps, almost all video gaming apps will stop working.
Same with social media apps, like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
For banking, you will need to resort to using the actual Website through a Web browser and NOT the banking app from the Apple iOS App Store.
For some streaming video apps, like YouTube and Vimeo, for examples, you will, also, need to use the actual Website through a Web browser.
For social media, you will, also, need to revert to using the actual Websites, through a Web browser, instread, also.
For a more up to date and supported Web browser, you would need to search the Apple iOS App Store for a more current and updated third party Web browser.
Such popular third party Web browsers are few and far between, today, as many have moved on to a minimum support of iPadOS 13 or 14 and greater.
Pickins’ are slim, now!
ALook Web browser ( A fairly new Web browser primarily designed for old iOS device versions, but is still available to newer iOS/iPadOS devices, as well ) The ONLY “new-ish” Web browser I recommend for any old/er iPad models at this late timeframe!
Dolphin Web browser
You can, also, try and download the latest Google Chrome, Firefox, DuckDuckGo, iCab, Opera, Web browsers to see if any pop-up a message to download a last compatible version of these Web browsers to your old/er iPad, or not.
That iPad can still work and function for a little while longer, but at some future time, that iPad will no longer function with the apps it has and at some point, ALL of those older app versions already installed on that iPad will no longer be recoverable from the iOS App Store, if something bad happens to that iPad, like some sort of software/OS glitch or issue.
Third party app makers reserve the right to end support for their old/er apps and to remove these apps from the iOS App Store at anytime.
Users only pay for apps for usage ONLY. No users actually own the app/s they pay money for.
This has already long happened for even older iPads that could only run iOS 9 or 10.
So, your old/er iPad will be working for as long as there are no major issues that arise.
I hope I have explained the situation as best as I could.
Do what you will.