Your brother may feel that way if he doesn't maintain his cars properly, and thus always has problems with them as they reach that 100,000 miles. That's when a lot of cars get dumped by their neglectful owners. That's good for the shade tree mechanic as he can afford to get a nice car, and for doing some long overdue maintenance get a great ride for another 100.000 miles. The way the drive trains are now produced (close tolerance machining, improved designs, computer controlled engine management system, etc) has boosted the longevity and the performance of these packages. The biggest problems still remain to be rust, especially for those in the snow belt.