I've owned 6 cars in the 21 years since getting my drivers license.
1975 Toyota Corona
No oil used
The engine was bullet proof, the rest of the car just fell apart. OCI was 'whenever' with pennzoil 10w40.
1981 Honda Accord
1 qt every 3000 miles
I drove this little 4 cyl engine HARD and it never complained. OCI was every 5K miles with Pennzoil 10w40. Lots of road trips and also took it 'muddin' often with my insane high school friends.
1988 VW Golf
Owned for 1 year and 30K miles. No oil used ever, valvoline 20w50 used year-round.
1989 VW Jetta
Owned it for 11 years, No oil used during the 225K miles i drove it. Valvoline 20w50 used year-round. Both VW's saw lots of 'spirited' driving and frequent red-line. When i sold it i could still chirp the tires in second gear!
2000 Mazda Protege (1.6)
Owned 1 year and drove 15K miles.
No oil used, dealer oil changes done at 3K intervals with Motorcraft 5w30. Sold it cause it was too slow.
2001 Mazda 626 ES-V6
Bought new, and it seemed to use about 1/2 qt every 3000 miles or so during break-in but after 10K-15K miles it settled down and has not used any since. Now has 45K on it and has had multiple brands of 5w30 and 10w30. Seems to like 5w30 best, specifically Motorcraft. It gets red-lined once a month or so, but i guess i'm getting older as my driving has calmed down a bit.
Of the multiple cars my father has owned through the years, the only one with a oil consumption problem was our 1977 GMC Rally STK 3/4 ton passenger van, 350 V8. It would not use any oil around town, but on the highway it would consistantly go through approx 1 qt every 1000 miles. It had one plug that would get really fouled and sludgy on the right-rear bank. We drove it from TX to NY and back. It gave us no problems, as long as we kept pouring that pennzoil in. It never got worse, never got better. We sold the van with approx 90K miles on it. I'm assuming it was in bad need of a ring job.