5 SUVS MOST LIKELY TO HIT 300,000 MILES AND WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON

Take a look at data fromiSeeCars, and you'll see a handful of SUVs that are anywhere from 2.9 to 9.1 times as likely to cross a quarter million miles as the average vehicle, led by Toyota models like the Toyota Sequoia. These SUVs are all made by automakers with a reputation for dependability, like Honda and Lexus, but that's not all they have in common.

It's not just that these SUVs are remarkably well-built, but that they buck certain trends. Namely, small, overstressed turbocharged engines and one-speed CVTs. All of these SUVs are available with multi-speed automatic transmissions, and engines tuned to a reasonable power output. These characteristics don't necessarily guarantee dependability, but they can make a big difference in the six-digit mileage range.

Toyota And Honda Know How To Build'Em

iSeeCars ranks the following ICE SUVs as the most likely to cross 250,000 miles.

We'll feign surprise that they're all built by Honda and Toyota.

An Automaker's Got To Know Its Limitations

If you know your SUVs, we know what you're thinking. Don't the Toyota Highlander and the Toyota 4Runner both pack 2.4-liter turbo-fours as their base engines?

Yes, they do. But let's take a look at power output and displacement, comparing these models to some SUVs that didn't make the list.

The trend across all five of iSeeCars' leading engines isn't just bigger power plants, but engines that aren't being pushed to their absolute limit. The Jeep Renegade's 1.3-liter turbo-four has barely more than half the displacement of a 2.4-liter turbo-four in a Toyota Highlander, but it's making close to 200 hp.

Anything under 300 hp is reasonable for a well-built 2.4-liter turbo-four. The problem isn't necessarily the turbo, or the small engine, but pushing a small turbocharged engine to do more than it's comfortable doing.

The Transmission Plays A Big Part In Longevity

Check the transmissions in the leading SUVs.

Having more gears doesn't necessarily make a transmission more reliable, if you're wondering. Engines can more easily operate in their most efficient RPM range with more gears, but the trade-off is more complicated repairs and more parts that can break. But that's all beside the point we're trying to make here. What these transmissions have in common is simply that they're multi-gear transmissions, not CVTs.

Do Turbos And CVTs Really Destroy Longevity?

We don't want to spread any misinformation here, so let's be clear. Turbocharged engines aren't necessarily unreliable, and CVTs aren't nearly as flaky as their reputation would suggest. Honda has been offering CVTs in the Civic since the 1996 model year, and Toyota's CVT is known for its outstanding longevity.

Check out the Toyota Corolla Club group on Facebook, and you'll find a 2017 Corolla owner showing off their 300,000-mile sedan, despite a handful of small accidents "and a CVT transmission." Now that these transmissions have been around for a while, it's not unusual to see them crossing a quarter-million miles.

An automatic transmission typically requires a fluid change every 60,000 to 100,000 miles or so, depending on what your owner's manual says. A CVT's fluid-change intervals are a bit shorter, usually somewhere between 30,000 and 60,000 miles. Putting these fluid changes off will take years off your transmission.

All of that being said, automatic transmissions use solid metal gears, instead of rubber belts slipping around on a couple of cones, creating constant friction and wearing the components down. You don't need to be an MIT graduate to see how one of these solutions will tend to outlast the other.

Anything That Raises Your HP Will Likely Chip Away At Your Longevity

As for turbochargers, we've covered this in depth before, but the long and short of it is that forced induction sees you subjecting your engine to higher heat and higher air pressure than in a naturally-aspirated power plant. That, and you're dealing with more moving parts, which is always bad for longevity.

But the thing is, almost anything you do to up the horsepower in an engine is going to have an adverse effect on longevity. ECU tuning, supercharging, a cold air intake. An ICE engine works by containing little explosions inside of a series of chambers about the size of a soup can. There's no way to make those explosions more intense without putting more stress on the engine.

CVTs and turbochargers don't necessarily guarantee unreliability. But, if your goal is 250,000 or 300,000 or 500,000 miles, they provide a very likely failure point. There are plenty of reliable turbo-fours and CVTs out there, but, all else being equal, a naturally-aspirated engine with an automatic transmission is going to outlast a comparable turbo-four paired to a CVT, especially if the turbo-four is overstressed.

Why Doesn't Everyone Follow Toyota And Honda's Lead?

According to The Zebra, most car buyers keep their vehicle for about eight years. The EPA says we average around 15,000 miles a year. This means that we're typically putting around 120,000 miles on the powertrain before we trade in for something new.

Almost any car that isn't a total lemon will last 120,000 miles with basic maintenance. 150,000 miles is considered to be on the lower end of average reliability. This means that the typical buyer isn't looking to join the high-mileage club. They'll never even see an odometer hit 200,000, let alone 300,000 or 500,000.

In other words, where's the incentive for automakers to pursue 10-, 15-, or 20-year longevity? The average car already outlasts the average owner's interest. After eight years, the gadgets start to feel a bit dated, the new car smell is a faint memory, and your co-worker gets five more miles to the gallon than you do.

Buying For Longevity Still Requires Careful Planning

The evidence clearly highlights Toyota and Honda models as excellent candidates for anyone looking to squeeze every last mile out of their next purchase, but chasing durability isn't simply a case of buying any SUV or truck with one of those badges affixed to the front. There are exceptions to the rule, meaning Toyota and Honda models that will see you landing in the shop waiting for repairs and recalls way more than you might've first anticipated.

• Toyota Tundra and Lexus LX (plus GX to a lesser extent) models have been hit with recall after recall for issues surrounding machining debris in the engine.
• In our Toyota vs. Honda reliability showdown, we highlighted how oil dilution, subframe corrosion, and fuel pump failures have affected numerous models in the past.
• Toyota models have also been known to suffer from excessive corrosion too, and both automakers sometimes get it wrong on the electrical front too. While infotainment glitches won't stop a car from hitting 500,000 miles, they might annoy owners so much they simply give up trying.

So, while shopping Japanese certainly is a great starting point, buyers still need to put in the homework to find exactly which models and model years will give them the best chance of cracking mythical mileages.

Longevity Is Only A Concern If It's Part Of Your Brand

Mercedes-Benz drivers don't care if their new C-Class ever hits a quarter million miles. They probably won't see six digits on the odometer. Outside of the luxury market, reliability just means we don't have to spend a lot of time at the garage, not necessarily that we're going to be passing this car on in our will.

To most drivers, quarter-million-mile longevity just isn't that important, and 300,000+ miles sounds like more work than some of us put into our marriages. Joining the high-mileage club means years of careful, responsible driving, fastidious maintenance, and getting the bicycle out of the garage for that quarter-mile trip to the corner store instead of putting the stop-and-start wear and tear on your powertrain.

On the other hand, Toyota, Honda, and Lexus are brands that are built on longevity. If Toyota started bragging that the new Tacoma is good for "at least 200,000 miles," it would probably spark a mass exodus of loyal Tacoma buyers. 200,000 is fine for most SUVs and pickups, but, for a Toyota, that's just getting started.

For much of the industry, a car that lasts forever just means buyers who aren't buying as many cars. Some brands offer special deals and rewards programs for high-mileage drivers, though. Toyota will send you stickers to show your mileage off at certain numbers, and Victor Sheppard famously collected a free 2016 Tundra after putting 1,020,130 miles on a 2007 model. For most automakers, though, and for most drivers, 150,000-mile longevity is more than enough.

Sources: Toyota, Honda, iSeeCars, The Zebra, Toyota Corolla Club.

2026-07-06T07:09:38Z