Yeah at that point I'd just go for another 10 year old car. My last car was a Volvo S40, had really nice leather interior, nearly full option and cost me €2000

Yeah at that point I'd just go for another 10 year old car. My last car was a Volvo S40, had really nice leather interior, nearly full option and cost me €2000. I only had a few brake pads an a broken trunk cable to deal with (super common issue on this model), the latter I did myself for €40 in parts. Ran great for years. But yeah there's an element of luck also. My previous car was an Octavia, that had more issues. Electric window broke and I replaced it all myself. But it was a pretty nasty job. Eventually the gearbox started whining and when I brought it to the shop it basically blew up. But it had served me 5 years at that point. Cost me €1200 to buy.