I can say that scenario literally played out with my grandmother. Early 90s, after grandpa passed, she bought a Caprice Classic and puttered around town for a couple years. She lived about 2 miles outside the city limits and never got over 40. The car started running bad and she thought it was transmission the way it acted. The local guy she bought it through came and picked it up and took it to the dealership he worked for in Franklin, KY; an hour drive. By the time he got there it was running like a new one; guess he blew all the crap out. Soooo, after that either myself, my dad, or my brother, would go get her car every few weeks and drive it pretty fast.
Would this happen with a new car now; maybe.