It's threads like this that make me want to stick with my old cars. I've looked for years at newer vehicles and have just never pulled the trigger. I've also heard stories like the above for years and they make me question if I want a newer vehicle. I've really been looking at newer Rams, F150's and 3-6 year old Chevy's (the newer body style is butt ugly).
Just made a 400 mile trip today to the Indy swap in my 98 Chevy 1500. Clicked over 198,000 on the trip. Other than normal wear items, I've never replaced anything on the truck in the 5 years I've owned it. Paid $1600 for it and have put over 32k miles on it.
FYI- I'm a car who*e, I own Mopars, Fords, Mercurys and Chevy's. My newest car is 23 years old and they all serve me great and are all relatively easy to work on. None have had any major issues either.
Seems the gold standard across many brands is for the dealer to say "Its normal thus its NOT covered." For example- its normal for a low mileage still under warranty engine to consume 1 quart of oil per 1000 miles. And if a malfunction happens to the majority of the same model- the dealership has made this a legal definition of normal simply because if they all display this same malfunction- its normal.
