How long on average are commuter/family cars lasting these days?

[grampi]

The biggest killers of modern day vehicles is road salt and built-in obsolescence. If you can manage to keep your vehicle relatively rust free by keeping the road salt cleaned off (including the undercarriage), then the biggest concern would be electronic components. Most, if not all of today's vehicles can be rendered undrivable with one of its many electronic devices going bad, and if they're not made anymore, you're done, unless you can find a used one. That's why it's good (as one poster said earlier) to buy something that's very common...that way when they do quit making parts for it, there still will be plenty of used parts available...