Maybe if you buy British cars?

Everyone I know driving 100k+ 10y+ cars from reliable manufacturers have no issues beyond regular maintenance.

My father's Benz certainly spends more time in the shop though.

I bought a new (made in Japan) Mitsubishi in 2013, still have it, and it didn't have any failure yet whatsoever. If you buy German, American or (shudder) French cars, then yeah, they will become problematic after 7-10 years, or even earlier. Just buy Japanese (so, not Nissan, and sadly also no longer Mitsubishi, since, after a merger, it's now a Japanese-European company), preferably made in Japan.