Survey: These Vehicles Will Most Likely Hit the 250,000-Mile Mark

• iSeeCars.com surveyed 400 million cars to project which makes and models go the furthest.
• Trucks and SUVs dominate the list, but the Honda Odyssey minivan lives up to its name too.
• The results are slightly skewed towards the kind of owners who drive their cars long distances.

Long-term reliability is the ultimate bragging right for a road car, more so than top speed or acceleration times. Sure, the odd on-ramp blast can be fun, but in the real world, it’s dependability that keeps money in your pocket and also tends to make you fond of a machine that never lets you down.

Now, a new survey from used-car-sales-listing aggregator iSeeCars.com has put up some figures on what brands are most likely to go the distance, cracking a figure of 250,000 miles on the odometer. Using data from 400 million vehicles, the study identified the top 25 vehicles most likely to crack that 250,000-mile barrier.

Rank, Model, Percent Chance of Lasting 250,000+ Miles

1. Toyota Sequoia: 39.1 percent
2. Toyota 4Runner: 32.9 percent
3. Toyota Highlander Hybrid: 31.0 percent
4. Toyota Tundra: 30.0 percent
5. Lexus IS: 27.5 percent
6. Toyota Tacoma: 25.3 percent
7. Toyota Avalon: 18.9 percent
8. Lexus GX: 18.3 percent
9. Lexus RX Hybrid: 17.0 percent
10. Honda Ridgeline: 14.7 percent
11. Honda Pilot: 13.1 percent
12. Honda Odyssey: 13.0 percent
13. Chevrolet Silverado 1500: 12.9 percent
14. Toyota Highlander: 12.7 percent
15. Toyota Prius: 12.2 percent
16. Chevrolet Suburban: 11.8 percent
17. Honda Civic: 10.9 percent
18. GMC Sierra 1500: 10.8 percent
19. Lexus RX: 10.7 percent
20. Honda CR-V: 10.6 percent
21. Acura ILX: 10.6 percent
22. Toyota Camry Hybrid: 10.2 percent
23. Nissan Titan: 9.9 percent
24. Toyota Avalon Hybrid: 9.7 percent
25. Acura MDX: 9.1 percent

The data is pretty much what you might expect, with Toyota and Lexus dominating the top 10. Honda's not far behind, and it's interesting to see GM's pickups and the mighty Suburban getting their due, while Ford's bestselling F-150 is shut out of the running.

However, it should be noted that this survey doesn't just provide a guess at how reliable a vehicle might be, but it also measures the tendency for owners to actually mile them out. iSeeCars.com also broke out a listing of the brands most likely to have models in the 250,000-mile range, and only Cadillac and Lexus made the list. A livery-service Escalade is bound to rack up way more miles than a civilian's Porsche Cayenne; hence, there are no Porsches on the list.

Further, it's not like the top-ranked vehicle, the Sequoia, hasn't been without issues over the last while. Toyota put out a massive recall last year that included the Tundra and the Lexus GX, all of which may have been affected by engine trouble introduced during manufacturing.

However, it is interesting to see how well hybrids do for projected long life, especially considering how the technology initially met with resistance from those concerned about battery life and replacement costs. In many cases, especially with Toyota products, the hybrid versions are expected to have a higher chance of going long. Part of that might be due to reduced fuel costs.

Overall, though, it's not too surprising that something like a 4Runner—probably one of the older V-6 models—is the kind of thing that'll keep running faithfully as the numbers on the odometer climb ever higher. But you have to think that out there somewhere, a car from one of the brands left off this list is beating the odds. The highest-mileage Mini Cooper in California. A Texan Jaguar XJ with 300,000 miles of highway mileage. Unlikely, but faithful, like all the best cars.

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Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.