The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Reaching 200,000 miles
Purchasing a new car today is a major investment, requiring a significant financial commitment on the part of a buyer.
But we have all been told that a new car begins to lose its value as soon as you drive your new purchase off of the dealer’s lot.
Data from carfax.com suggests that cars lose more than 10% of their value during the first month and that depreciation continues. By the first 12 months, the value can drop by more than 20 percent.
So, it’s a given that buying a new car is not a good financial investment, based on depreciation rates.
But what about when you are buying a car you plan on holding onto for the longest period of time before it reaches the end of its life?
The benchmark for longevity is a car that is most likely to reach the 200,000-mile mark, and beyond. If you are an average driver, that would mean you could own your car for 15 to 20 years.
To help you determine which vehicles will give you the longest ride and be the best value for the money, iseecars.com studied more than 13.6 million cars to determine which are most likely to reach the 200,000-mile mark.
The study included both national data and local data for the Philadelphia area.
The study found the longest lasting vehicles on the road are full-size SUVS and trucks.
In the Philadelphia region, the top three cars in the study are manufactured by Toyota.
No. 1 was the Toyota Land Cruiser, followed by the Toyota Highlander Hybrid and the Toyota Sequoia.
Coming in fourth place was the Ford Expedition and in fifth, the Honda Ridgeline.
The study looked at used cars sold in 2019.
Thomas Lee, a data scientist from iseecars explained how the study was conducted.
“iseecars.com is an online car search engine where users can easily find cars for sale,” Lee said. “Dealers list their inventory of cars on our site and we use those for the analysis.
“We analyzed over 15.8 million pre-owned cars sold in 2019,” he said. “For each model, we calculated the percentage of cars with over 200,000 miles on the odometer. Then we ranked the models by this percentage: the ones with the highest percentage of 200,000 miles cars are the longest-lasting vehicles.”
The percentage number ranked to the top five vehicles were 16.6, Toyota Land Cruiser; 3.7, Toyota Highlander Hybrid; 3.5, Toyota Sequoia; 3.4, Ford Expedition and 2.8, Honda Ridgeline.
Location recorded
In order to gain national and local information, Lee said in addition to a vehicle’s mileage, the study also recorded the location of the dealership from where the vehicle was sold.
“There are some minor ranking differences (between national and local results), an example being the Toyota Sequoia, which ranks second nationally but third in the Philadelphia metro area,” Lee said. “Differences in geography and the resulting differences in driving patterns — such as urban versus rural driving — could account for some of these small ranking differences.”
But Lee said that with proper maintenance and care, almost any vehicle sold today can reach 200,000-miles.
“Getting the required maintenance at the recommended mileage intervals can go a long way toward vehicle longevity,” Lee said.
With the Toyota Land Cruiser being ranked No. 1 for longevity, Lee said that it is a vehicle that was originally designed for military use and for off-road conditions, as well as heavy towing and hauling.
“These design goals remain uncompromised in the Land Cruiser for the consumer market,” he said. “Modern Land Cruisers have skid plates to help protect the front suspension, radiator, fuel tank and transfer case. Its parts are designed with a 25-year lifetime, so they’re more durable.”
‘Reputation for durability’
“Toyota has a reputation for reliability and durability,” Lee said. “A large proportion of the top vehicles, both locally in the Philadelphia metro area as well as nationally, are Toyota vehicles. The automaker releases straightforward product line updates that are less prone to unforeseen problems due to excessive complexity in design, and it has maintained a production philosophy of continuous improvement — sometimes called ‘Kaizen’ — which leads to quality vehicles.”
U.S. News & World Report recently presented the winners of its Best Cars for the Money Award at the Washington Auto Show in late January.
Toyota also took home the top prizes.
Best midsize car for the money was the 2020 Toyota Camry. The best hybrid and electric car for the money went to the 2020 Toyota Corolla hybrid and best hybrid and electric SUV for the money went to the 2020 Toyota RAV4 hybrid.