I own a Ford Taurus, and I didn't do my brakes until about 120,000 miles, and they didn't need to be done then, I just decided to replace all the consumables at that point. I think I could have made 140,000 miles before replacing the pads.

It's at 130,000 miles now, and all that's been done to it is that one of the radiator pipes rusted out, so I replaced that ($80), and the vehicle speed sensor got flaky, so I replaced that ($40). Normal oil changes (I only change every 8 to 10 thousand miles), new tires about every 40K. And as I said, at 120,000 miles, I replaced all the consumables (air/fuel filters, flushed and refilled all the fluids). Since the engine uses a timing chain, not a belt, it has no recommended change interval; you drive it until it starts to make noise then replace it. On cars I've owned in the past with chains, typically I've replaced them at somewhere around 200 to 250 thousand miles.

I've had similar experiences with all of the 5 cars I've owned, both new and used. Any car can be a low maintenance vehicle if you treat it like the investment it is while driving. Unfortunately people think it's fun to drive aggressively. A woman at work goes through brakes every 15,000 miles and spends a lot getting her car fixed all the time; after riding with her once, I know why. I won't ride with her anymore. There's another guy who has serious anger management issues, and his car is in the shop constantly, it seems like; I think I hear him on the phone at least once a month with his mechanic.

I'd be a bit concerned about saying that the engine going on and off meant that you didn't have to change the oil as much. One of the big things that kills oil is water getting into it, and the way you stop that is by letting the engine get hot enough to evaporate out the water for a long time. Running an engine a few minutes at a time is the worst way to treat an engine.