I've had this vehicle about four years, got it with 60k miles on it and I just got it past 80085 before it failed its MOT.
My car strategy is directly taken from my wife which is you get a cheap old car and run it until a repair/maintenance is more expensive than what I paid for the car, at which point it's cheaper to get a new old car. On this occasion the MOT failed on the front breaks including the calipers, the back breaks, the hand break and the steering rods. Replacing the break pads recently cost £36 as they are becoming a bit rare, which was roughly a quarter of what I paid for the whole car in the first place so with calipers, rear drums, handbreak and work needed on the steering it was a bust.
Also with a baby on the way I needed 4 doors and something that didn't have a 77% fatality rate in an accident (the design is from the 1970's fuel crisis, basically motorised tinfoil).
As for how i'm still alive, driving slow and careful - The front disc breaks have been overheating if I go over a distance of 14 miles for a year or so now, so learning my route before setting off and breaking two or three times sooner than anyone else does worked, also helped only driving 8 miles a day. It worked as a local runaround and passed MOT's with minor work until this one.
I know, it still worked but was getting into the Classics zone which I can't afford to maintain. Also no one thinks a 1995 Citroen AX is a classic. All the problems of runnning a vintage car, none of the bonuses like no MOT's (thats only for cars built before 1978)
I have replaced it with a 2005 Catagory C write-off.