Any 200tw tire will wear quickly, but its all about rotation, abuse, driving style, etc. The people getting only a few thousand miles out of the RE71R's are probably autocrossing/tracking A LOT on abrasive surfaces like concrete and running aggressive alignments to take maximum advantage of the tire. I had almost 10K on a set of Toyo R1R's on my last car, almost all highway commuting with a VERY aggressive alignment, and they looked near new when I pulled them off and sold them to a friend. It was WAY too much grip for the street and only really was a benefit at an autoX- I did about 6 events, on concrete, as well. I really like the Ultra-high and Maximum performance tires(260-340tw) tires. The grippier stuff like the Michelin Pilot Super Sport, (new) Firestone Firehawk Indy 500, and BFG G-Force Sport Comp-2's are great all arounds. FYI, I cut better 60ft's on the BFG G-Force Sport Comp-2's that I had on the car before the Toyo R1R's. The softer sidewall of the BFG's seemed to absorb more of the inital hit, and it seemed like it was easier to get the compound stickier at the track- they picked up stones at both autox and the drag strip, if that's any indication of how sticky they got when properly warm. I'm probably going to get a set of 205/45/16 FFIndy500's in the spring to try them out as they're supposed to be better in both wet and dry. I never got the stock Potenzas anywhere close to the same level of adhesion as previous tires I've ran.
Budget a concern? Federal 595 RS-R, just keep them indoors when temps drop.