Car, truck and SUV shoppers who haven’t stepped foot into a dealer’s showroom for a few years should brace themselves for sticker shock of an epic magnitude. According to Kelley Blue Book the average new vehicle’s transaction price is now approaching $49,000, which is 30% costlier than it was back in 2018.
Facing sky-high new-car prices, buyers are taking out car loans for longer periods to make monthly payments more affordable. The average new-vehicle loan in the U.S. stretches out over 68.7 months, according to the credit reporting firm Experian, with an increasing number being financed for periods as long as 84 and even 96 months.
That makes it more important than ever for new-vehicle shoppers to choose a model that will not only keep running long enough to reach the final payment on a seven or eight-year loan, but remain in good enough shape to either command a decent resale value or last its first owner another tens of thousands of miles without having to make a car payment.
Organizations like Consumer Reports and JD Power rely on questionnaires completed by vehicle owners to help gauge which vehicles are holding up well over time and which turned out to be lemons. For their part, the online automotive marketplace iSeeCars.com instead analyzed key data for over 174 million vehicles to compile their annual list of the mainstream models that statistically are most likely to hit and even surpass the 250,000-mile mark with the proper care.
As has been the case in recent years, the longest-lasting cars, for the most part, aren’t cars, but are SUVs and pickup trucks that account for the majority of the top 25 models. And that’s considering these are the vehicles most likely to be subjected to heavy-duty hauling and towing, and for traversing demanding off-road trails.
The full-size Toyota Sequoia SUV tops this year’s list with a 39.1% chance of hitting the quarter million mile mark, compared to an average 4.8% chance among all vehicles We’re presenting the full list below.
Also noteworthy is the dominance of the Toyota/Lexus and Honda/Acura brands among the list of long distance runners, with the former accounting for 14 models, and the latter landing another seven on the list of vehicles that stand to run for 250,000 miles or more. Toyota models account for the top nine models on the list.
With regard to separate market classes, Toyota likewise places first among passenger cars with the Lexus IS, SUVs with the aforementioned Sequoia and hybrids with the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The heavy-duty full-size Ram 3500 took first place among pickup trucks, with the Toyota Tundra in second place.
“Toyota, Honda, and their luxury divisions Lexus and Acura have earned a reputation for producing high-quality vehicles,” says iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “That reputation is backed up by iSeeCars’ analysis of vehicle lifespans and which brands’ vehicles are predicted to last the longest.”
Unfortunately for new-vehicle shoppers, three of the top-ranked models are no longer in production – the Toyota Avalon and Acura ILX sedans and the Nissan Titan pickup truck. However, all of this year’s top-ranked models should be excellent choices in the used-vehicle market choices even with six figures already on their odometers, provided they’ve passed a mechanic’s inspection and a title search reveals no unpleasant surprises).
Long Distance Runners
These are the models iSeeCars.com estimates are the most likely to reach and even exceed 250,000 miles before being relegated to the scrap yard, with the statistical likelihood for each reaching that mark noted. The full report can be found here.
- Toyota Sequoia SUV (39.1%)
- Toyota 4Runner SUV (32.9%)
- Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV (31.0%)
- Toyota Tundra pickup (30.0%)
- Lexus IS passenger car (27.5%)
- Toyota Tacoma pickup (25.3%)
- Toyota Avalon passenger car (18.9%)
- Lexus GX SUV (18.3%)
- Lexus RX Hybrid SUV (17.0%)
- Honda Ridgeline pickup (14.7%)
- Honda Pilot SUV (13.1%)
- Honda Odyssey minivan (13.0%)
- Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup (12.9%)
- Toyota Highlander SUV (12.7%)
- Toyota Prius hybrid passenger car (12.2%)
- Chevrolet Suburban SUV (11.8%)
- Honda Civic passenger car (10.9%)
- GMC Sierra 1500 pickup (10.8%)
- Lexus RX SUV (10.7%)
- Honda CR-V SUV (10.6%)
- Acura ILX passenger car (10.6%)
- Toyota Camry Hybrid passenger car (10.2%)
- Nissan Titan pickup (9.9%)
- Toyota Avalon Hybrid passenger car (9.7%)
- Acura MDX SUV (9.1%)
Average among all vehicles: 4.8%; source: iSeeCars.com
