It's been observed by auto writers that the drive for fuel economy (and perhaps reduced costs) has impelled makers to design with smaller, more high-strung engines aided by forced induction. It doesn't take a mechanical engineer to see that it's not the best recipe for longer term reliability. Perhaps likewise with automatic transmissions that added more speeds- there have been a lot of newer cars with reports of transmission failure. Then there's the whole category of electronic technology-related failure as cars have become much more technically complex.
My 87 T-bird has over 225k with no sign of driveline trouble. It turns at ~2000 in overdrive at 80 on its old school pushrod 5 liter and gets good mileage. My newer car is an 06 Sebring Convertible with 2.7 4-valve 6 with no turbo. It turns at ~2700 at 80, reflecting how smaller engines keep up on power by running faster. I really like the way it drives; though it can seem doggy at times, it responds very smartly on demand. Seems very reliable, now has 125k.
Recently it dropped ball joint going 75 on the interstate. I'd known they should be replaced because of bad sealing boots and was actually in process of figuring out how I was going to do it. I'd had it happen in Tbirds but it was always at slow speed in turning. The right front snapped 90 degrees to forward and I guided it off the roadway with the still-good left, spewing tire smoke all the way. That action yanked the half-shaft clean out of the transmission, which then struck the oil filter and opened that up.
Thought I might have some really serious damage, especially seeing the leaking motor oil, but it all went back together fine- had to buy whole control arms to replace ball joints; I think they changed that the next model year to replaceables. But basically I really like the engineering and execution on this car. For the money it can't be beat.
