Talk about being light on the brakes!

My wife has a daily 90km round trip commute, for starters. The odd longer run of a couple hours. Three kids that are seemingly always having to go places - one year we had one playing rep soccer in a northern NS league and another playing in a Southern NB league, that was a crazy few months. In-laws on the other end of the province. And if both vehicles are in the yard, it's always the Civic that goes.

Plus we live in the middle of nowhere so it's always a drive to get anywhere.

It's been a while since I looked, but I think it's closer to 325k. Oil changes every 12,000km, and tires when they wear out.

Yes, I think that's why the rear brakes have lasted so long - the fronts do most of the work, plus some engine braking from the 5 speed, plus discs seem to rust way more than drums.

I kind of fell in love with the Jetta Sportwagon TDI that they had at last car show around here, but I'm resisting.

One of the problems with discs is how to implement a parking brake. Its problematic to do with a caliper. Drum brakes are much easier.
Some cars, like our old Camry actually use both on the rear wheels, a disc rotor with a drum brake inside.