This is a purely rhetorical post from a Beta perspective, having had the belt changed on my car last year after 5 years and about 10,000 miles. However, I do often think how belts have developed and what true age and milage they are actually capable off.? My last personal experience of a failure was on my mother's Mk1 Nissan Micra in the late nineties (Nissan installed a chain on the Mk2). More recently a friend had the cam chain fail on his Mk6 Golf GTI after just 3 years and 30,000 miles.
My MG TF and Ypsilon are both due a change soon and both will be done for peace of mind at a fair old cost.
After market manufacturers are never going to claim indestructability as they might face liability and belts are not always fitted and tensioned correctly, but some new smaller engined cars don't have a change specified anymore. I do wonder.....
