I'd define 'beating your car' as working the vehicle at the upper limits of either the machine or the driver. Because this is where you will get the most mechanical wear, fluids will break down, and physical stresses are at their peak... Meaning this is where you are purposefully applying as much damage to things as you think you can get away with and not walk home.
For me the determination 'to beat, or not to beat' really depends on the parts cost of the car. This is because driving at the mechanical limits is turning the Laws of Thermodynamics into Fun, and there's always a price to pay for this.
Take my Abarth for example; this is a car I well and truly beat on.
It has a really bad case of Little Man Syndrome and will happily respond to any and all challenges (including Challengers, which generally stand no real chance unless they're halo models). It gets autocrossed, quarter miled, and every red light and on ramp is a chance to prove something... And the little 1.4L under the hood is wound incredibly tight and is usually supplied with ~30 PSI - and it makes north of 220HP. So every nut, bolt, and seal in the thing is subjected to incredible stress when I'm hooning it.
If I did not perform maintenance on the car in accordance with this style of driving, it'd last
maybe 90 days.
But because I tend to take the whole thing apart and inspect it monthly (wheel bearings... If you drive like a lunatic, check your wheel bearings for play...), I can get away with it. That and and replacement parts for it are stupidly cheap; I replaced everything from the turbo to the tailpipe on the Abarth for what the short tails cost on the Z...
So I beat the crap out of the Abarth, and I expect I will continue to do so for another decade.
