I hear in USA the Toyotas hold much longer... I'm not sure why, if it is true, and what are the conditions.
No salt on my roads and little to no rust on either.
Every car I've owned has gone well over 150,000 km without anything but regular maintenance. It's really hard to kill a modern engine.
Yes, things wear out and need to be replaced.
When? The 1940s?
We know this isn't true, based on the existence of older cars, today.
I'd put money on a barebones car of today outlasting nearly anything of the past.
When he has stopped using the car, that has been more because the driver was worn off, not the car.
Obviously, during all those years the car has been repaired many times, but in almost all cases by himself and only a few times at a car workshop.
Similar lifetimes have been typical for many other things bought during the seventies, like washing machines, TV sets and other such household appliances.
The products designed for short lifetimes have become widespread mostly after 1990 and especially after 2000.
(Data from Summary of Travel Trends: 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey, and 2024 IHS Markit Co., Average Age of Light Cars and Trucks in U.S)
That was easier to do with 70s cars than with modern cars of course.
I agree that consumer products in most categories have become throwaway crap in recent decades. But quite a few cars, at least in my experience, are still built to last.