Q&A

Well, 200K miles certainly not a dream, I have clients who had over 200K, 300K out of Toyotas, BMWs and over 500K + in Volvos. It really depends on the car's design and quality, the maintenance, driving and road conditions and very much on your mechanic. If you can get updates early enough from your technician to replace a suspension part before 3 others will be damaged, get rotations and alignment before the treads will be gone in 10K mies, etc...
I disagree with you on your statement that American cars are better. Most big trucks and SUVs are tough, but sedans are no way to be better than a Japanese brand.
You bought your car with pretty high mileage already, probably you don't know how the car was maintained, abused.
Somewhere between 80-140K the parts with the "long life" expectancy starts to fail. i.e. suspension parts, motor mounts, bushings, steering parts, oil seals, etc...
To replace those will cost a big chunk of money, however you can leave those alone for the next 80-140K. Around this time timing components has to be replaced if your car equipped with timing belt, also a big chunk of money.
Unfortunately you purchased your car in this time or mileage range. You had to make a decision to spend over 5 grand - which won't add a dime to the value of the car, or instead of fixing it just sell it, use the $5000 and the selling price for a down payment and get a new or a low mileage car. Sometimes with a good credit rating you can buy a brand new car for cheaper than a 1-2 years old. Why? because you can get 0% (or 1-2%) financing, meanwhile a used car will be financed at least 7-9%.
So the new car's payment will match or actually beats a payment for a 1-2 years old car. It's a pretty good deal.
Let us know your decision, please.

Zee