I hear ya.....pretty much on a engine and transmission lasting longer post -90's.

But even MAZDA Skyactive both transmission and engine are fully broken in @ 30K miles and start to show wear indicators mostly because of lack of proper or preventive maintenance. Many of the chassis parts still wear out @ 100K miles and the interior parts can wear at 60Kmiles or 10 years faster actually then cars manufactured pre 1970's.

Any reasonably busy independent service shop can contest to that.

 

No disagreement, but many, if not most of those wear items can be identified and rectified as part of the maintenance program and the vehicle can be depended on for long trips as long as the program is maintained and the car replaced when maintenance and repair costs become too high. Of course, depending on a dealership to handle such inspection and maintenance is iffy in this day and age, but there are many capable independents out there - it's just a matter of finding them. So far, I've had good luck in that regard.

 

No CEB is not "quite paranoid". CEB would just rather not take a 100,000 mile 10 plus year old vehicle on a 5,000 mile roadtrip. It's just not a very wise or responsible thing to do no matter how well I thought I maintained the vehicle. There are going to be components that are due for failure just because of the age of the vehicle that are not maintained like, wiper motors, window motors , motor mounts, catalytic converter, relays, sensors, fuel lines, brake lines, fuel pump, electrical wire failures and on and on and on. The old maintained clunker is geat for running around town but not for an extended road trip. Old vehicles like old people are doomed to fail, no matter how well they're maintained.

 

It sounds like you have already made up your mind. What I was trying to say was - how many problems have you experienced in the last 5,000 miles? The car doesn't sound like it's old or a clunker, and it would not be unwise or irresponsible to take a road trip in a 100k/10 year old vehicle. But if you want to take a different car and that makes you more comfortable, go for it.

 

CEB, it sounds like you listen to and take care of your car. You don't let the little things build up and then strand you. I sometimes buy older cars where the previous owner let things get away then didn't feel like fixing all the things it needs. Fewer cars like that now due to short quantity and high prices of new and used cars.

I'm a fuss budget myself when it comes to my cars. I had a pickup once that I ended up selling because I'm not a welder. The rear end lost a seal and the frame rusted in two on both sides just short of 400,000 miles. It wasn't the first time it lost a seal but the many layers of Rust-O-Leum paint I'd roller on every couple of years was pretty much what was holding the rest of the truck together.

 

I do take care of my vehicles. They're always serviced per the manufacturers user manual, tires always properly inflated, always washed and waxed, garaged day and night. I won't even park my vehicles inbetween two other vehicles in a parking lot (door dings). I've no kids, grandkids or pets. Nobody has even ridden in the backseast of my last 8-10 vehicles. I turn my vehicles rather frequently with very low mileage and in showroom condition. I have a beater car I drive so I don't have to drive my two good vehicles when it rains or snows.

 

I, too, take care of my vehicles. They are serviced at or above the recommendations and taken in for an inspection before any major trips. The CX5 is the only one which sits outside, but it is the one used daily by my wife and for local errands. The Jeep has been used hard on occasions for off-roading and it is the one used for long trips. However, I keep my vehicles until they are no longer economical to maintain and I have gotten well over 100,000 miles on every one that I have owned since the early 80's except the ones that I gave to my daughter and she went well over 100,000 on all of those as well. The earlier ones did get replaced prior to that for various reasons such as accidents or just not that good of a vehicle. I research what I want to buy and pay cash when I buy and I get my money's worth from them. The only time I have had trouble on a trip was when I was transferred from Germany to Arizona and ran over something on the road on the Penn Turnpike on a Saturday night ending up with a hole in the radiator. No place open, so I plugged it with chewing gum until the next service stop where I bought Stop Leak and put it in. That lasted until Charelston, WV, where I stopped at a gas station and we put a stainless steel screw in the hole with more stop leak. That car went another 20,000 miles before I traded it in for a larger vehicle that my wife could use while I was in Viet Nam and that screw was still holding pressure.

Everyone has different priorities and comfort levels. My priority is not new vehicles, but dependable ones that do what I want them to do. 4x4's require more maintenance than 2x4 or AWD. AWD requires a bit more than 2x4. My MX5's have been the most dependable and the 1983 Honda Accord SE I bought new in 1983 was next. It went 195,000 before I donated it to charity in 1996. By that time, it had been relegated to loaning to out of town guests and back up use when other vehicles were in the shop, but it still didn't use any oil and still handled well and got good fuel economy. The worst car I ever owned was a 1981 VW Rabbit Diesel that had a tendency to blow head gaskets. I only kept it for ten years and it blew another head gasket when I took it to the dealer as a trade.

 

As you say " everyone has different priorities and comfort levels". We all spend our $$ differently. My pleasure and joy is purchasing a new vehicle and I do it as often as my bank account says I can and the wife doesn't grumble too much. In my case, I really don't care about long term reliability and driving a vehicle until the wheels fall off.
To me, researching, shopping and negotiating a deal for a new vehicle is super pleasurable. When I take delivery of the new vehicle, I'm like a kid on Christmas morning.

 

Similar to my own experience. Had a '96 Miata and a '86 Accord Coupe. Both were stellar, in terms of reliability; almost perfect. Never failed to start. Never broke down. Always maintained them "aggressively," going after all of the "little" things that eventually fail, in an attempt to stay ahead of that curve. A little more expensive to maintain, in the short run, but they retain higher resale value when being able to prove they've got a higher percentage of relatively newer parts, they run better, they're less of a risk. Win-win, all the way around, aside from the somewhat higher maintenance bill (which needs to be paid anyway, really, assuming one doesn't want that big wet bite out of the selling price when it's time to unload).

Nicely, we all get to pays the money and take our chances, according to how we each value reliability and utility. Works quite well, that way.

 

But you didn't answer my questions. As you said "I turn my vehicles rather frequently with very low mileage and in showroom condition." you don't really know how they would perform with 100k miles. You never get there.... IMHO saying "it's not a very wise or responsible thing to do" is quite subjective. If you are talking about a car with 100k which has had minimal maintenance I would totally agree with you. But if the same car has had every service done to the letter there isn't a reason to assume it would fail if you took it on on a 5k trip. I don't typically keep my cars forever either, or drive them a ton (I do have a 2006 BMW M roadster with 20k miles on the clock...) but it isn't that hard to keep a Mazda quite reliable for many, many years.