Belt drive is simple. It requires no great engineering department. Most of the stuff you are considering evolved from DIY. That's not a bad thing but it is eclipsed by the engineering departments and research budgets of a major corporation like Technics. During the late 1970s and early 1980s when I was selling retail audio, every household in America was shopping for a stereo and most included the purchase of a turntable. It was a booming industry and the Japanese companies were leading the way. In turntables, there were statement products from every manufacturer and there were entry level, price conscious compromised offerings. Cheap direct drive wasn't very good and failed to compete successfully with entry level belt drive. The ultimate efforts of these companies were invariably direct drive. This is still true. However, the best turntables of that period are as good as the best made today. The R&D that went into these statement products was subsidized by the sale of hundreds of thousands of mass market units. As I'm sure you know, that subsidy no longer exists. Most big manufacturers all but abandoned turntable production during the 1980s and most have not returned to it. Technics is an exception as they continued to market their units to a professional element without interruption despite having cut back to just one model.
Perhaps the reason you don't see much talk of Technics among reviewers and their echo system is that a company like that has no need and little reason to bother with that political charade. They do plenty well on their own having a very well-established name and a vast advertising budget.
I'm recommending the Technics 12xx series because it is what you asked for with your car analogy. My own turntable, a Technics SL-150 MK II with Rega RB 300 arm is a default option. I just sold my Technics SL-1000 MkII to a prominent high end amplifier manufacturer because I felt that there was little justification for holding on to such a machine when we play LPs so seldom at my house. Nonetheless, I am not ready to abandon the option altogether so I mated an arm and table I already owned and will press them into service one day soon.
So buy whatever you see fit to purchase. Obviously I have no stake in this matter. What brought me to offer my advice was the wrong belief on your part that belt-drive is inherently superior to direct drive. That simply isn't the case. If I were in your position, I would be looking for a lightly used masterpiece from the golden age of analog. Since you specified a desire to buy "new", I pointed you toward the Technics. It isn't the last word but it is the best value barring an informed selection from the past. I have bought many excellent tables with dedicated tonearm for less than $1000 over the years and you can do that too. If you wish for more advice from me or have specific questions, please feel free to contact me personally.
Perhaps the reason you don't see much talk of Technics among reviewers and their echo system is that a company like that has no need and little reason to bother with that political charade. They do plenty well on their own having a very well-established name and a vast advertising budget.
I'm recommending the Technics 12xx series because it is what you asked for with your car analogy. My own turntable, a Technics SL-150 MK II with Rega RB 300 arm is a default option. I just sold my Technics SL-1000 MkII to a prominent high end amplifier manufacturer because I felt that there was little justification for holding on to such a machine when we play LPs so seldom at my house. Nonetheless, I am not ready to abandon the option altogether so I mated an arm and table I already owned and will press them into service one day soon.
So buy whatever you see fit to purchase. Obviously I have no stake in this matter. What brought me to offer my advice was the wrong belief on your part that belt-drive is inherently superior to direct drive. That simply isn't the case. If I were in your position, I would be looking for a lightly used masterpiece from the golden age of analog. Since you specified a desire to buy "new", I pointed you toward the Technics. It isn't the last word but it is the best value barring an informed selection from the past. I have bought many excellent tables with dedicated tonearm for less than $1000 over the years and you can do that too. If you wish for more advice from me or have specific questions, please feel free to contact me personally.