We have a few in the family and we like them. My wife and I have our Caddy 6 years, still running like the day we bought it. 304 hp from a naturally aspirated V6 that gets 27 mpg highway (Real life) in a 4000 +lb car that boogies down the highway. A good quantity of the cars produced nowadays have them (DI engines).
GM cut the oil change interval to 7,500 miles which is not so "Wasteful" in my opinion. Many automakers use a 7,500 mile OCI.
According to my mechanic AND my Cadillac service manager, besides the bad run of chains, with the old OCI at 10,000 +, too many people weren't checking their oil and low oil or too thick oil (The VVT and timing chain tensioners use engine oil to function.) has been found to be the cause for most of the recent failures.
Just for fun, since I became a member here, I have been asking people; " When did you check your oil last?" The answers I get most are;
1) I only changed it a few months ago.
2) You don't have to check the oil in the newer cars, they have a light to tell you when it needs to be changed.
When I say that most owners manuals say to check it with every other fill up, I get; "Who reads the manual?".
Imagine $20,000+ and they don't even read the manual. I'll bet they read the manual for their $100 Bluray player though.
Sorry for the rant.