lol yeah that is very bad with any automatic transmission, manuals are slightly more forgiving, but then you would be doing a clutch every 100k miles.
well i took my starter apart and greased the bearings and replaced the brushes / filed down the solenoid pads, same with the Nippondenso Co. Ltd. 日本電装株式会社, alternator, greased and installed new brushes.
tie rods were like 17 bucks a piece, and struts... if you did them your self with the autozone loaner spring compressor they were only 45 bucks a piece.
yes those CV boots would dry rot and break... the key is to catch it before the CV's start knocking around turns. and hell even if they are slightly knocking they can still be saved, they sold a split boot at advance auto for 9 bucks, a couple outer boots and , some really good clean up job, cut the hunks of the bad ones off, grease / install split boots and your good to go.