I had my 2010 Camry for the last 12 years. I paid $17,000 for it in 2012 with 17,000 miles on it. It never let me down, not even once. Before that I had a 1991 Camry I bought used in 1996(?) and had that one for many years, but my memory on that one is failing.
I bought a used VW Beetle once and it had over 300,000 miles on it when I finally gave it away, and most of that was NYC driving too. It still ran like new but rust destroyed it. I never changed the trans. oil and the trans. was like new. I never changed the engine oil either, just replaced the oil that dripped out with Mobil 1 (great stuff).
My '97 Ford F150 had 332,000 miles on it and also ran like new, except for a bit of a problem starting it up again when it was hot. I changed the Mobil 1 engine on it at 25,000 mile intervals. I was going to try for a million miles but they were selling new trucks at such a good price in 2009 so I traded it in.
In 1991 I bought 3 new cars. My first, a Honda Civic ($5,000) was stolen and then recovered but messed up, so my crazy car mechanic friend fixed it so it was totaled. Then I bought another one of the same ($5,600) but then a hearse of all things went skidding on the ice and crashed into it and totaled it, at which point I decided that Honda Civic hatchbacks, good as they were, were a bad omen for me. Next a Nissan pickup ($7,000) which I took out west. I used to price them by phone. It was simple for me as I had no trade in and wanted the stripped down model. Once after filling out all the paperwork for 2 hours the dealer did the I have to talk to my manager gag and came back with a higher price. Without saying a word I took the paperwork and tore it up and walked fast out the door. Without saying a word he ran after me and rewrote the original paperwork that his boss "wouldn't approve". Car salesmen ya gotta love em!
2 1/2 years ago my '09 pickup engine blew up at 232,000 miles. New cars were very scarce then. I went to look at a Toyota. The dealer was trying every stupid trick there was - nitrogen tires, pinstriping, and "desert undercoating". He said they come from the factory like that and couldn't take them off.
I used to know some honest car mechanics in NYC (hard to believe!), and I knew one here in Tucson too, but he recently closed his shop. I was friendly with the service manager at the big Ford place here, but he's gone now too. I have the 100.000 mile warranty anyway, and a tip on that: don't buy the extended warranty from the dealer that sells u the car. They'll give u the hard sell on some brand x warranty. Get the manufacturer's extended warranty (Ford in my case), if u want one, and u can shop around all over the country to get the best price on it. It works the same no matter where u bought it.