The Cars That Will Last the Longest

With the price of cars these days, it makes sense to stretch the life of your wheels a little longer.
Back in 1966, a guy named Irv Gordon paid about a year’s salary for a beautiful red sports car. He paid $4,150 for the Volvo 1800S, and kept the car for the rest of his life, driving it a record-breaking 3.2 million miles until he died in 2018.
The so-called 3 Million Mile Volvo is now owned by Volvo. The company purchased the car after Gordon died for its heritage collection, but also to study how the car was able to go so much further than any other car in the world.
Gordon had “a fanatical dedication to vehicle maintenance,” Volvo reported in a 2013 press release.
“I bought my Volvo P1800 on a Friday and immediately fell in love,” Gordon was quoted in the press release that year when he passed his 3-million mile mark.
The company also attributed the longevity of the little sports car to “an extraordinary demonstration of reliability, durability, safety and intelligent design” of their cars.
Volvo
Whether you’re the owner or the car maker, it’s an impressive achievement, and lots of people, whether for love or frugality, would like to make their cars last even a fraction of a million miles.
Car owners in the U.S. kept their vehicles an average 12.2 years in 2022. The average vehicle age in the U.S. has risen steadily since 2013.
The annual average mileage driven in the U.S. was 12,300 miles in 2021. That adds up to 150,060 miles over 12.2 years, less than 5% of the distance Irv Gordon drove his red Volvo.
AAA says that a 1991 Chevy Silverado lasted 1.29 million miles, and a 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood lasted more than a million miles. Long-distance drivers tend to be serious about maintenance, AAA says.
There’s different ways to find out which cars might last longest. Consumer Reports does a consumer satisfaction survey on over 300,000 vehicles over 22 years to determine the most reliable car brands. (Volvo ranks No. 14.)
Data analysts at car search engine iSeeCars tried to determine which vehicles might have the longest lifespan by analyzing over two million cars produced and sold for at least 10 of the past 20 model years, then ranking each model by its highest mileage-achieving cars.
At least 2.5% of the top-ranking 20 models went over 200,000 miles, and the top 1% of these vehicles covered between 230,000 and 297,000 miles over the last two decades. For example, 1% of Toyota Sequoias on the road have at least 296,509 miles on the odometer.
The iSeeCars study isn’t reporting the maximum lifespan of these vehicles, but simply measuring current odometer readings.
“Most of these cars are still in use and going strong,” said Karl Brauer, iSeeCars executive analyst. “What we see is a list of highly-durable vehicles, capable of more than a quarter-million miles of use if properly maintained.”
There’s that maintenance thing again.
Here are the cars, trucks, SUVs and minivans with the longest potential lifespan:

1. Toyota Sequoia
Potential lifespan: 296,509 miles
In a separate study, iSeeCars.com analyzed over 260 million cars sold between 2012 and 2022 to find the probability that a vehicle would make it more than 250,000 miles. They calculated average odometer readings for each vehicle at each yearly age to estimate the chances that a vehicle would last that long. The Sequoia came in with a 47.1% chance of going a quarter million miles.
Toyota

2. Toyota Land Cruiser
Potential lifespan: 280,236 miles
The Land Cruiser indicated a 47.9% chance of lasting 250,000+ miles.
Toyota

3. Chevrolet Suburban
Potential lifespan: 265,732 miles
Chevrolet

4. Toyota Tundra
Potential lifespan: 256,022 miles
The Tundra indicated a 47.9% chance of lasting 250,000+ miles.
Toyota

5. GMC Yukon XL
Potential lifespan: 252,360 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 21.3%
GMC

6. Toyota Prius
Potential lifespan: 250,601 miles
Toyota

7. Chevrolet Tahoe
Potential lifespan: 250,338 miles
Chevrolet

8. Honda Ridgeline
Potential lifespan: 248,669 miles
Honda

9. Toyota Avalon
Potential lifespan: 245,710 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 33.1%
Toyota

10. Toyota Highlander Hybrid
Potential lifespan: 244,994 miles
Toyota

11. Ford Expedition
Potential lifespan: 244,682 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 19.9%
Ford

12. Toyota 4Runner
Potential lifespan: 244,665 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 41%
Toyota

13. Toyota Sienna
Potential lifespan: 239,607 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 23.3%
Toyota

14. GMC Yukon
Potential lifespan: 238,956 miles
GMC

15. Honda Pilot
Potential lifespan: 236,807 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 42.7%
Honda

16. Honda Odyssey
Potential lifespan: 235,852 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 13.8%
Honda

17. Toyota Tacoma
Potential lifespan: 235,070 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 41.7%
Toyota

18. Nissan Titan
Potential lifespan: 233,295 miles
Nissan

19. Ford F-150
Potential lifespan: 232,650 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 19%
Ford

20. Toyota Camry Hybrid
Potential lifespan: 230,547 miles
Toyota

21. Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Potential lifespan: 230,515 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 31%
Chevrolet

22. Acura MDX
Potential lifespan: 228,472 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 29.2%
Acura

23. Cadillac Escalade ESV
Potential lifespan: 228,449 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 12.5%
The ESV is the stretch-length Cadillac Escalade. The regular Escalade’s potential lifespan is 224,782 miles.
Cadillac

24. Honda Accord
Potential lifespan: 226,168 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 27.1%
Honda

25. Toyota Camry
Potential lifespan: 223,249 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 20.4%
Toyota

26. GMC Sierra 1500
Potential lifespan: 222,691 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 18.3%
GMC

27. Ford Ranger
Potential lifespan: 220,980 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 14.1%
Ford

28. Lincoln Navigator
Potential lifespan: 220,319 miles
Lincoln

29. Nissan Armada
Potential lifespan: 220,172 miles
Nissan

30. Toyota Highlander
Potential lifespan: 218,075 miles
Chance of lasting 250,000+ miles: 17.5%
Read more about this study at iSeeCars.com.
Toyota
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