Longevity
Longest-Lasting Car Brands
Ranked from the iSeeCars Longest-Lasting Car Brands Study (2025). CarOutlay adds the ownership-cost lens — what each result means for the real 5-year cost of owning the car.
The ranking
Car brands ranked by likelihood of reaching 250,000 miles. Industry average: 4.8%.
- Toyota Longest-lasting brand 17.8%
- Lexus 12.8%
- Honda 10.8%
- Acura 7.2%
- GMC 4.6%
- Tesla 4.6%
- Chevrolet 4.5%
- Cadillac 4.5%
- Mazda 3.6%
- Ram 3.5%
- Lincoln 3.4%
- Ford 3.1%
- Dodge 2.5%
- Nissan 2.4%
- Subaru 2.3%
- Volvo 2.2%
- Infiniti 2.1%
- Mercedes-Benz 1.7%
- Jeep 1.3%
- Mitsubishi 1.1%
- Kia 0.6%
- Hyundai 0.6%
- Buick 0.6%
- Porsche 0.5%
- Chrysler 0.5%
Lowest-ranked brands for longevity
The bottom of the same 2025 brand study, for contrast. Industry average: 4.8%.
- Jaguar Lowest longevity 0.0%
- MINI 0.0%
- Maserati 0.0%
- Land Rover 0.1%
- Audi 0.3%
- BMW 0.4%
- Volkswagen 0.4%
Why this matters for your cost of ownership
Brand-wide longevity is the fastest shorthand for total cost of ownership, because the same engineering culture that keeps a brand's cars running to 250,000 miles also keeps its repair bills lower and its resale values higher. A 17.8% Toyota and a sub-0.5% luxury European brand will diverge by thousands of dollars in out-of-warranty repairs and depreciation over a five-year hold. Use the brand's longevity rank to set the maintenance tier when you run a specific model through our TCO calculator: durable badges justify a lower repair reserve, fragile ones a higher one.
Open the 5-Year TCO calculatorHow this ranking is measured
iSeeCars analyzed over 174 million vehicles and aggregated the probability of reaching 250,000 miles up to the brand level, so each brand's figure reflects the average across its full model lineup. A higher percentage means a greater share of that brand's vehicles are still on the road at a quarter-million miles. Toyota leads at 17.8% — about 3.7 times the 4.8% industry average — and Japanese brands (Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Acura) take the top four spots, while several European luxury and small-volume brands sit near 0%.
Source: iSeeCars, Longest-Lasting Car Brands Study (2025). Based on analysis of over 174 million cars to model each brand's probability of reaching 250,000 miles. Industry average: 4.8%. View the original study ↗
Frequently asked questions
What car brand lasts the longest?
In the iSeeCars 2025 Longest-Lasting Car Brands study, Toyota is the longest-lasting brand, with a 17.8% chance of its vehicles reaching 250,000 miles — nearly four times the 4.8% industry average. Lexus (12.8%), Honda (10.8%) and Acura (7.2%) complete the top four, all Japanese brands.
Which car brands last the shortest?
At the bottom of the iSeeCars 2025 brand study, Jaguar, MINI and Maserati each show a 0.0% chance of reaching 250,000 miles, with Land Rover (0.1%), Audi (0.3%), BMW (0.4%) and Volkswagen (0.4%) close behind. Several of these are European luxury or small-volume brands whose vehicles rarely accumulate very high mileage.
Does buying a long-lasting brand save money?
Generally, yes. A brand that routinely reaches very high mileage tends to have lower out-of-warranty repair costs and stronger resale value, both of which lower your true cost of ownership. The brand figure is an average across the lineup, though — individual models vary — so pair the brand rank with the specific model's reliability and depreciation data before you buy.
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