DR vixmom - WOW! That was a lot of work on the car. However, since my car is currently 13 years old, and has 214,500 miles on it, I sort of know what you're going through. I usually have to my breaks redone every two years or so - apparently, I'm a "hard" braker. -As opposed to a heart-breaker, which I am most certainly not. In any case... I've gone through two sets of front-end rotors and one set on the rear. Boy! are those suckers expensive. I also did have some transmission work done a few years ago, but that's been the extent of the major work done on the car besides the usual routine maintenance. In the 13 years I've owned the car, I think I've only had to spend about $4,000 on major repairs. Which is practically nothing compared to what I've heard others have to pay for a single repair on their newer cars. And as I've mentioned before, it still gets about 35-40mpg. Not bad at all.
*And I have a Ford Escort Wagon which always seems to surprise people. "You have a 13-year old Ford?!?! And it still works?!?!" Yes. Yes it does. And according to a very informal 'study' that my mechanic has done, there are a bunch of Ford Escort wagons from 1992-94 that are still on the road and running fine. Yes, they may look a bit worn on the outside, but the engines are in (surprisingly) good shape.