"What can I do to make my car last forever?"
Ninety percent of all of engines we replace failed because they were overheated. The other 10 percent failed because they were run low on oil. If you can avoid overheats and maintain the proper oil level, your engine should last 250,000 miles or more.
"Does the brand of car make a difference?"
Well, yes and no. If we take the world's worst car and subject it to the prescribed maintenance schedule the BMW, Mercedes and Volvo car owners use, it too would provide long-lasting service. It is really the difference between two completely different points of view.
Vehicle maintenance plan No. 1
When you buy a pair of shoes and they wear out, do you throw them away? Or do you buy new laces, have them resoled and polished?
Many folks treat a car as a disposable item. You get as much use as you can and spend as little as you have to, than get rid of it.
They do as little maintenance as they have to, then sell the car at the 80,000-90,000 mile mark, knowing full well they have to price it appropriately because it needs $2,000 to $3,000 worth of work.
They don't replace the shocks, the belts or hoses. The air conditioning system has small leaks, the transmission is leaking and the brakes are due.
They do the fluids when they have to, like when the water pump fails, they tell the shop to go ahead and flush and replace the coolant.
These people will say, get the most use of the car you can, pay as little as you can for maintenance and then get rid of it before it rolls over 100,000 miles. Give the new owner a good deal and let them pay for the use you benefited from.
Vehicle maintenance plan No. 2
You study good cars. You spent weeks grinding the dealer on the price before you buy. You end up with a high end import. You know that few, if any, auto parts stores will ever have your alternator, your fuel filter, a water hose, an air conditioning hose or even a brake line.
You take the car in for service religiously. You are provided a list of all the things you need now, all the parts that appear to be worn out and all the parts that usually wear out in this mileage range. You authorize all of it. After the 15,000 mile mark, you will never have a repair bill for just an oil change, your repair bills will be in the $300-$800 range.
But your car is dependable, it never breaks down and it never leaves you stranded. The reason is obvious, you are replacing everything before it has a chance to break.
Optional maintenance plan
I fall somewhere in the middle. I stretch some maintenance, others I accelerate. I use my oil change service to simply look my cars over well and see what may not make it to the next oil change.
Otherwise, I simply try and make sure my car will go oil change to oil change without leaving me stranded.