Which Vehicles Can Last the Longest? Hint: Most Are Toyotas

• The website iseecars.com studied 2 million cars, trucks, and SUVs to see which ones had the potential to last the longest on the road.

• Turns out Toyotas are your best bet for getting over 200,000 miles of car life.

• Large SUVs and trucks lasted longest in the survey.

How long could a car, truck, or SUV last if you took really good care of it? Turns out, a lot longer than you may have thought. Many will last over a quarter-million miles, and one bumps up against 300,000.

Cars, trucks, and SUVs can be ridiculously expensive to buy new, so it makes more sense than ever to pick one that will last a while. The car search engine iseecars.com analyzed over 2 million vehicles sold for at least 10 of the past 20 model years, and ranked each model by its highest mileage-achieving cars. The results don’t guarantee that a particular model will last a quarter-million miles or more, but the survey suggests they could last that long if you take care of them.

“All 20 models had at least 2.5% of the top-ranking 20 models clear 200,000 miles, and the top 1% of these vehicles delivered between 230,000 and 297,000 miles over the last two decades,” the study stated. “For example, 1% of Toyota Sequoias on the road have at least 296,509 miles on the odometer.”

Toyota should get some kind of award for longevity, as six of the top 10 vehicles and 10 of the top 20 are ‘Yotas (though strangely, none are Lexii). Three-row SUVs make up half the list. Generally, big, heavy, and expensive is good when you’re looking for durability.

“Basically we looked at used cars on the market, and these were average odometer readings from at least 1% of the sample size we had (2 million cars between January and October 2022),” said iseecars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “All of these models also had at least 2.5% of them hit more than 200,000 miles.”

It doesn’t even mean that was the end of life for these models, either. “Remember, this isn’t the (odometer) reading as they head into the crusher. These were all cars still in operation. So they are still going.”

The Toyota Sequoia topped the chart with 296,509 miles of what the study calls, “potential lifespan.” The Toyota Land Cruiser was second at 280,236 miles, and the Chevrolet Suburban podiumed at 265,732 miles of potential.

“The Land Cruiser has a proven track record of durability, but its aging platform has been eclipsed by the modern and refined Sequoia, as reflected in the heavier use and higher mileage achieved by Toyota’s newer SUV,” said Brauer.