These Are The Cars You Think Are Unkillable

When I was growing up, one of my aunt’s neighbors had a late ‘60s Dodge Dart sedan with a slant-six and three-speed column shift.

The last time I was in that neighborhood in NE Phila (c.1990-91) the Dodge was parked on the street and had a current inspection sticker.

It seems like in the late 90s to early 2000s there were many that lasted forever. We had a 2002 Chevy truck for 20 years and 268k miles with very few issues, and a 2003 Honda Pilot that has been in the family for 20 years and is pushing 300k.

You see these cars all the time still running good.

Often people bring up the Volvo 240s and the older stuff, but Volvos were extremely reliable for a long time, even under Ford’s crappy ownership. My brother’s S70 T5 and my wife’s first car, Volvo V70 2.4 (N/A), just refused to die. Also, both my wife and brother had their Volvos in an accident each, and the damn things were easily repaired, going on to serve for many years.

Toyota may be the benchmark for reliability, but reliability AND SAFETY goes to Volvo (and fun to drive). My personal ownership vote goes to my Saab 900S (Non-turbo sedan) also refused to die, with over 400,000 kms [250,000 miles] on it until I decided to sell it, due to parts availability being a hassle.

I’d argue that any Panther platform is about as tough as it gets. If it’s good enough for police duty, to then be put into taxi duty, and then finally auctioned off to the public? Not many other platforms can survive that kind of abuse.

Hilux is the right answer.

However, I’d also throw the old VW Bug in there.

Reliable? No.

But, can you fix it on the side of the road with only a paperclip and some chewing gum? Absolutely.

Add a Renault 4 and a Peugeot 504 to your list of cars that can’t be killed.

Also Russian cars – various Ladas and derivations thereof, and Moskviches, Volgas.

Is the original Beetle unkillable?

There are many vintage/veteran cars that seem unkillable.

Nissan Altima. The amount of what would be considered mathematically totaled Altimas still driving around on the roads probably outnumber the ones that are in decent, undamaged condition.

Having seen first hand what the drivers of these cars do to abuse them, I’d say they’re pretty damn unkillable. I’m not saying they’re reliable, or good, or problem free. I am saying that they are the cockroaches of public roads due to how hard they are to kill and be removed from buy-here pay-here used car lot circulation. Probably because their drivers don’t have insurance.

Picture of Altima in above average condition.

I’ve owned some of the most unkillable vehicles in America, 74 Plymouth Scamp slant-six, 4sp manual; 1980 Buick Century; YJ Jeep Wrangler; two Pontiac Vibes, 2000s Honda Accord; 73 Honda CB350; and a KLR650.

Audi 4000 Quattro, ‘78 Ford E-150 with a 351 Windsor, four-speed MT and nine-inch, ‘71 VW Transporter, are examples I own or have owned in the case of the VW. The Audi has never even had its head gasket replaced. But the most durable and reliable car sold in the U.S. in the past 50 years is probably the Buick Century, which I won’t own due to being automatic only...

Seriously folks, while the Hilux may appear tough, an American pickup truck from the ‘70s, or ‘80s with the right engine andtransmission can be found with at least half a million miles on it as a work truck. My Econoline has about 520k on it and still runs, but it did need it’s first engine rebuilt at 490k…

Mercedes-Benz W123 diesels. They’ll also outlast the world’s diesel fuel production because they’ll run on anything oily and vaguely combustible.

Worth so much it will always be fixed.

2001 Chevy Suburban 5.3L.

Seems that many people don’t understand what “unkillable car” means.

A car is more than just an engine. There a whole bunch of other things to consider... like how well the body stands up to rust.

So while a Chrysler with a slant-six might have an unkillable engine, the rest of the car is very killable via rust and other issues.

Same deal with other vehicles like the Checker Marathon.

The truly unkillable cars are things like the Mercedes W123 diesel... which not only had solid engines, but also very solid/durable bodies, transmissions, etc. Same deal with the Volvo 240.

And you know what vehicle that matches or beats these that hasn’t been mentioned? This car. Here’s an 11 year old one with nearly 500,000km that’s for sale and is still running fine. And here’s A 15 year old one with 478,000 MILES.

Many of the ‘unkillable’ vehicles that many are listing would have been killed long ago if used like the 15 year old/478,000 mile Prius was used.

Drove my ‘98 Volvo S70 for 17 years to almost 300k. Bulletproof. My ‘06 S60 is just about at 200K and I still get compliments on the condition and styling. Smooooooth.

Citroën 2CV. It is as unkillable as “Futurama,” they just won’t die. I know we all joke about French cars and their reliability, but the 2CV is the exception because it is just so mechanically simple. Body work can be repairer by bashing lumps of random metal into shape, there are hardly any electrics, it is just pure simplicity.