15 cars you can drive for 15 years

From a Personal finance point of view, buying a car and driving it for as long as you can is the most economical thing to do. Some extreme buy-and-hold motorists now keep their cars running for 15 years or more.

"While a decade on the road used to be a significant milestone for vehicle life expectancy, the elevated quality of cars being produced has raised this standard," said Phong Ly, CEO of iSeeCars.com. His research firm is out with a study showing which vehicles' original owners are most likely to keep them for 15 years or more. The study looked at 650,000 cars sold in 2017 that were 2002 or earlier models.

The top vehicle is the Toyota Highlander SUV, which had 18.3 percent of cars sold in 2017 that were 15 years or older -- 2.7 times the average vehicle's 6.8 percent. The list is dominated by Japanese models, with Toyotas, Hondas, Subarus and Nissans. The one non-Japanese model that made the top 15 is the Volkswagen Golf.

"Japanese automakers are known for setting quality and reliability standards, so it is no surprise that they are most likely to reach the 15-year milestone," said Ly.

When the comparison was made for brands instead of individual models, one American name, GMC, made it into the top 10. It was in the decade after 2000 that U.S. cars really caught up to imports in quality. So it could be that a future study would show more Detroit-based brands on this list.

Toyota dominated with nine of the top 15 models. Those nine included Toyota's most popular models such as the Camry sedan and RAV4 compact SUV. Also on that list is the gas-electric hybrid Prius. "Despite consumers' concerns about battery durability and the associated high replacement cots, its appearance on the list shows that the reliability of the Prius measures up to Toyota's conventional fuel counterparts," said Ly.

Honda has two entries on the 15-year list: the Odyssey minivan and the CR-V compact SUV. As for the only non-Japanese entry, the study points out that the Volkswagen Golf is highly practical as a compact car with unusually commodious cargo space.

Here's the full list:

Rank Model % Original Owners Keeping Car for 15+ Years Compared to Average
1 Toyota Highlander 18.3% 2.7x
2 Toyota Sienna 17.1% 2.5x
3 Toyota Tundra 15.7% 2.3x
4 Toyota Prius 15.0% 2.2x
5 Toyota RAV4 14.3% 2.1x
6 Honda Odyssey 12.8% 1.9x
7 Toyota Sequoia 12.8% 1.9x
8 Toyota Tacoma 12.4% 1.8x
9 Honda CR-V 11.9% 1.7x
10 Toyota Avalon 11.7% 1.7x
11 Acura MDX 11.6% 1.7x
12 Toyota Camry 11.5% 1.7x
13 Subaru Forester 11.5% 1.7x
14 Nissan Frontier 11.0% 1.6x
15 Volkswagen Golf 10.6% 1.6x
Average for All Cars 6.8% -
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