Today a million miles, or even 500,000 miles, is still extremely unusual for a vehicle. Consumer Reports, through its annual questionnaire, has found that thousands of people have gone over 200,000 miles in their original vehicles without catastrophic failures or major repairs.
For example, the 2001 Honda Civic is known to have very prominent issues with its transmission (and to a lesser extent the 2002 Civic), while the 2006 model is known for having serious engine problems. Older models of the Honda Civic prove to be more reliable, particularly for models ranging from 1994 to 1999.
Vikki's
car just turned
400,000 miles!
Top 10 longest-lasting vehicles.
| Rank | Model | % of vehicles over 200,000 miles |
|---|
| 1 | Toyota Sequoia | 6.6% |
| 2 | Ford Expedition | 5.4% |
| 3 | Chevrolet Suburban | 5.2% |
| 4 | Toyota 4Runner | 4.2% |
There are quite a few reasons why Honda are so dependable. One of these reasons could be due to the fact that they don't cost much to repair when they do go wrong. Honda cars are cheap to repair and aren't off the road for very long. Another reason Honda might be so reliable is due to their technology, or lack of it.
Is the Honda Civic Reliable? J.D. Power gives the 2020 Civic a predicted reliability rating of three out of five, which is about average.
Typically, putting 12,000 to 15,000 miles on your car per year is viewed as “average.” A car that is driven more than that is considered high-mileage. With proper maintenance, cars can have a life expectancy of about 200,000 miles.
While the Honda Civic delivers more power, its engines are just as fuel efficient as the Toyota Corolla's. The base engine in the Civic achieves 30 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway. The Corolla Hatchback is the most fuel efficient, getting 32 mpg in the city and 42 mpg on the highway.
The longest-lasting car is the Toyota Avalon sedan, while the Honda Odyssey minivan represents the out-and-out family hauler. There are three pickups also; the Honda Ridgeline and Toyota's Tacoma and Tundra. These are the longest-lasting vehicles, with the percentage of models exceeding 200,000 miles.
That puts the life of a well maintained Civic somewhere up to about 18 years max where I live.
any car can last long if you know how to take care of it. as for hondas, their engines are very well built, and the cars are cheap and easy to service. my guess is that because a honda's resale value is so high, more people tend to take care of their automobile, and because they are so damn fun to drive.
Toyota is the second largest. While both companies put quality first, Toyota focuses on durability and reliability while Honda focuses on customer satisfaction and safety. Hondas have better engines and smoother drives but Toyotas tend to be more fuel efficient. Hondas tend to be more expensive to buy and maintain.
Honda as a brand are more reliable than Toyota and Toyota is more reliable than Nissan, but all have models that are more reliable than the others. So really, it's down to you which model you go for.
Yes, very reliable, is the slightly longer answer. Honda have been pretty consistent when it comes to dependability and have always been in the top ten for reliability. In 2013 they were ranked first for engine reliability by WarrantyDirect, with a failure rate of just 1 in 344, which is 0.29%. And WarrantyDirect.
If your VTEC isn't working, the car will feel gutless at high RPM, it will feel like It stops pulling as hard after 5000 rpm. You won't (or at least shouldn't) feel it engage, but you should notice that the engine pulls hard all the way to redline, I know my b16 does.
Irving currently holds the Guinness World Record for the highest vehicle mileage on a personal car, with over 3,000,000 miles on his 1966 Volvo 1800S! Irving estimates he drives over 100,000 miles per year visiting car shows, with the longest stretch in 1 trip being New York to Vancouver, Canada.
One rule of thumb to keep in mind, especially when looking at reports like Carfax or AutoCheck, is that 15,000 miles per year is considered to be the industry average. Therefore, if you're looking at a vehicle that is ten years old, it's not unreasonable for it to have 100,000 to 150,000 miles on it.
Avoided them at all costs.
- Chrysler Town & Country. Chrysler's new minivan will hopefully rate better than Town & Country.
- BMW X5. 2012 BMW X5 | BMW.
- Ford Fiesta. Compact cars by Ford had a bad run between 2011 and 2014 | Ford.
- Ram 1500. 2015 Ram 1500 | Ram.
- Volkswagen Jetta.
- Cadillac Escalade.
- Audi Q7.
- Fiat 500.
Only in the last decade or so have people finally started to realize that when properly maintained, many cars can hit 200,000 miles. Some can hit 300,000 miles. Many cars will have no trouble passing 200,000 miles without any significant issues — while many others still adhere to the 100,000-mile cutoff.
Most engines on the road today are designed to last well over 100,000 miles. An engine will last much longer if the engine is not abused in any way and all maintenance that the manufacturer recommends is done on or before it is due.
There is only so low a car goes in value. In general, buying a higher mileage newer is better than buying an older car with less miles. After a while a car is considered high mileage and the depreciation curve flattens out, so technically you can get 30,000 miles from a car for free.
On the list that follows are the cars that, after meticulous research and careful consideration, we believe are most likely to exceed 100,000 miles.
- 2013 Toyota Camry.
- 2013 Honda Accord.
- 2012 Lexus ES 350.
- 2013 Buick Verano.
- 2013 Toyota Avalon.
- 2014 Honda Civic.
- 2014 Toyota Corolla.
- 2014 Hyundai Sonata.
No, in most cases, buying a car with 100K miles is not a bad idea. In fact, there are a number of benefits to buying a high-mileage car. For example, cars with 100K miles cost less to purchase, register, and insure, all while depreciating slower than low-mileage cars.
?14 ways to make your car last longer
- Change filters regularly.
- Drive smoothly…
- Use your air conditioning.
- Replace spark plugs and leads.
- Top up fluids regularly.
- Check your tyres.
- Stick to the service schedule.
- Keep your car clean.
So what is the
best time of year to
buy a
car?
For those of you who don't think in financial quarters, this basically means:
- March 31st (last day of Q1)
- June 30th (last day of Q2)
- September 30th (last day of Q3)
- And of course, December 31st (last day of the year, and Q4)
Atop the brand list is Genesis, which ranks highest in overall vehicle dependability with its score of 89 PP100; 2020 marks the first year the brand has been included in the study. In 2019, Lexus earned the top brand slot, followed by Porsche. This year, Lexus slides to the No. 2 position and Porsche slides to No.
Selling before 60,000 miles is a good choice if you don't want to sink a lot of money into repairs and replacement parts. At this stage, your car is probably in the region of five years old and you'll still get a bit of money for it, as well as being able to upgrade the model on a semi-regular basis.
In some cases, you can be fine buying a used car with 150,000 or even 200,000 miles on it, because maintenance helps them last far beyond what many people have come to expect. When considering mileage on a used car, don't take it at face value.
If you can find a running vehicle (running being the operative term) with 250,000 miles or greater on the odometer, I would suggest that anyone purchase it. Few vehicles make it past 150,000 miles and fewer still make it to 200k without significant mechanical or electrical issues.
There is a rather extensive club of million-mile cars and even one that flew past 2 million. However, only one ever reached 3 million miles and kept driving. That car is a 1966 Volvo P1800 belonging to Irv Gordon of Long Island, NY.
