And my experience is exactly the opposite. I have never had a car die from mileage. I've had several die from time.
In my experience cars last about 10 year, 15 if you are careful. How many miles you drive during that time is mostly irrelevant.
Personally I think cars should track hours when turned on, not miles.
Huh? How can 'time' kill a car?
My car celebrated her 30th birthday. Under 200K miles. Time does not kill cars, and neither does mileage.
It just gets to a point where it is cheaper to replace then to repair.
I remember seeing a lot more rusted-out cars on the roads back in 80s and 90s. But not so much anymore. I think most manufacturers started using galvanized steel by the 90s.
Ok, this is from the "Steel Market Development Institute":
"In the 1970s, automotive sheet steel was simply cold rolled, primed, painted, and put on the road. Corrosion resistance wasn’t very good. By the early 1980s, however, carmakers decided it was time to eliminate rust failures in their vehicles. Ten years later, steelmakers had installed continuous electro and hot-dip galvanizing lines, and carmakers switched to two-sided galvanized steel for cars and light trucks. These steps improved the corrosion resistance of steel bodies so much that companies began offering corrosion-perforation warranties."
Miles is definitely not a very valuable measure, at least not in my experience. An old (age) car, with few miles, means lots of city miles - those are the hardest for the car.
On the other hand lots of miles, and young age means highway, which is basically nothing for a car. But there are lots of miles.
It's basically a wash, so miles is not a good way to evaluate a car.