What's the most reliable vehicle you've owned?

My 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis was at around 205,000 when I sold it in 2012. I bought it in January 1999 with 58,000 miles on it. Never left me stranded. Changed the oil every 3,000 miles, put new brakes on every year because Dad always put new brakes on every car once a year if they needed them or not. Only big expense was a heater core at 175,000. I really liked that car.

My current 2001 Crown Vic P71 is at 185,000. Still going strong. Nothing beats a Vic or Grand Marquis.

Dad’s best was a 1985 F-150. He had 535,000 miles on it when the cab mounts disintegrated. You can’t kill a 300 Six. I think Dad replaced the clutch twice, other than that nothing major. Dad was going to replace the cab mounts, but we then discovered the frame was getting eaten pretty good too. It was a sad day when it was hauled away.

Anything Toyota. I've got 150,500 miles on my 2017 Sienna van with only normal maintenance. Getting new tires next week. Probably drive it another 100,000 before I get another one. I like the van. Lot's of room for Tulsa and Louisville and other stuff. However, if they started making Crown Vics again I would have to buy one. As a LEO I put hundreds of thousands of hard miles on Crown Vics and personally owned several of them. The last one I owned had over 300,000 on the clock with no problems other than normal maintenance. A Crown Vic is the most comfortable car I've ever driven.

I have to list two: 1st---was a 1985 Toyota 4Runner that I had from 1985 till 2010....it took me anywhere and everywhere I needed to go. Great vehicle. 2nd---is my current go anywhere and everywhere vehicle, a 2010 Toyota FJ Cruiser. It's a 6-speed manual with locking rear differential and limited slip front. Takes me hunting, canoeing and hiking and brings me back from some pretty rough out-of-the-way places. First pic below shows both together just before I sold the 4Runner. Don

sheepdawg said:

2003 Ford Taurus that I put 212,000 on. Sold it to a neighbor in 2015 and they were still driving it in 2020.

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I had a 2005 Taurus as my take home gov’t car, put almost 150,000 miles on it by the time it was retired in 2012. It brought $3,800 at auction, and that was after I hit a deer with it the week before I turned it in. Still drove fine, but the grill and hood looked awful. It also had dents from getting hit twice while parked in the court house parking lot. The car always ran great, only real issue was the cruise control quit working.

I've been driving since 1969, and have owned more than 20 cars over the years. My most reliable car, hands-down, is my current daily driver, my 2013 Volkswagen Golf R.

I bought it brand-new on Black Friday in 2012, and today it has 229,000+ miles on it. All-wheel-drive, 256 horsepower, 6-speed standard transmission...it runs like a scalded cat, and gets about 27 mpg on average (on premium gas). It's comfortable and roomy, and with the hatchback body and folding back seats, it's very practical as well.

My Golf has never stranded me, never failed to start, and has needed only a few relatively minor unscheduled repairs over the years. It still has the original clutch, and is on only its second set of brakes. I change the synthetic oil faithfully every 10,000 miles, per the factory's recommendation, and follow the maintenance schedule religiously. It uses a little more than a quart of oil between changes.

I will keep it until something catastrophic breaks, something that will cost more than it's worth to repair...but (knock on wood) I don't expect that to happen for a very long time...

31FordA said:

My 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis was at around 205,000 when I sold it in 2012. I bought it in January 1999 with 58,000 miles on it. Never left me stranded. Changed the oil every 3,000 miles, put new brakes on every year because Dad always put new brakes on every car once a year if they needed them or not. Only big expense was a heater core at 175,000. I really liked that car.

My current 2001 Crown Vic P71 is at 185,000. Still going strong. Nothing beats a Vic or Grand Marquis.

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They seem to run forever, don't they?

This is my 17 yo grandson's 2001 manual transmission F150. It has 214K on it. He bought it from a local drywall company who serviced it regularly.

It's been relatively trouble free for him.

Best and Worst

RELIABILITY is the only consideration as per OPs question:

Best

Mercury Bobcat (Pinto clone)
Buick Park Ave. (Bought used)
Dodge Caravan, (Had two, both bought from rental places)
Mitsubishi Montero

Worst

Chrysler Concorde (horrible transmission)

Mercury Topaz (Ate tires for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner)

Nissan Altima (Electrical system, VERY hard to work on. The air inlet at bumper height caused a flooded engine. Interlocks required a magician to get it started. Any failure kept it from starting and their solution was, "Take it to the dealer" (In other words, have it towed to the dealer). Fortunately after a LOT of internet digging I never had to take it to the dealer once you figured out the combination of variables and took care of each one in the proper order.



Medium

AMC Hornet, lot of stuff going wrong, especially electrical, but easy to work on. Drove the wheels off of it.

Worst rental

Dodge Nitro - HARD suspension. CRYPTIC dashboard.


Further notes not involving reliability.

The Mercury Topaz was mechanically reliable, but was constantly in the shop for alignment and tires. By the time the problem was solved using 'rimmed' tires I had spent a fortune on it and was ready to get rid of it. Ford blamed the tires but supplied it with All Season tires which would never work on that car and it was years before they figured out that it had to have rimmed tires.

The transmission in the Concorde gave out somewhere just over 60,000 miles. I paid big bucks to the most reputable transmission company in the area. Not too much longer after that, it crapped out again. Got rid of it.

The Montero gets good marks but was done in by an unfortunate mechanical issue. It over heated and the aluminum heads warped. Got them shaved off. THOUGHT the cooling problem was fixed butt it overheated again, warped the heads so I got rid of it.

I have the WORST luck with cars. I do all my homework, ask people that own them and still end up with some 'change during the model year' that dooms the car. The guy at the transmission place said, "Chrysler never should have put the transmission in that car." I should have just said, forget trying to fix it and got rid of it. Same with the Topaz.

The Bobcat was reliable but it was a darn crude attempt by an American company to make a high mileage car.

2002 VW Jetta TDI (diesel) wagon, made in Germany. 281k miles now on the clock, drove it today to the chiropractor 39 miles one way. Without any doubt, the most reliable least maintenance vehicle I have ever owned. I have been driving for over 50 years and have owned just about everything. The worst was a 1980 Peugeot 505, fun to drive, but anything other than reliable!

rwsmith said:

The Mercury Topaz was mechanically reliable, but was constantly in the shop for alignment and tires. By the time the problem was solved using 'rimmed' tires I had spent a fortune on it and was ready to get rid of it. Ford blamed the tires but supplied it with All Season tires which would never work on that car and it was years before they figured out that it had to have rimmed tires.

.

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What the heck are 'rimmed' tires? Now amount of googling seems to tell me.

My first Jaguar.
No electrical issues.
Broken down four wheel vehicles,
at the corner gas station.

Best - I'm not sure. I've had pretty good luck with vehicles driving most well beyond 100K without major issues. Mostly assorted Fords, Lincolns, and Mazdas. My wife changes vehicles frequently, so hers never have a chance to develop major issues with one exception - a first year (97 maybe?) Nissan Rogue. The thing had horrible issues with transmission noise from the CVT, and the local dealership continually insisted that it was "normal."

The only vehicle that left me stranded several times was a 1980 Mercury Cougar. It ate a couple of ignition modules, a transmission, a cat, and was just generally unreliable. Had a 255 V8 (downsized 302 Windsor) that Ford only made for a couple of years - I think I know why they discontinued it.

I replaced the Cougar with a Topaz. Unlike rwsmith, I do not recall any issues with tires. Hated those door mounted electric seatbelts, but they worked okay. The car was pretty crude by today's standards, but it took me where I needed to go.

I had a 2005 Cadillac Escalade with 120,000 miles on it. Other than routine maintenance like oil and fluid changes, tires and brakes, I never spent a nickel on repairs. Sold it after owning it for 12 years and got top dollar as I kept it in pristine condition! The 2005 escalade is known to be the 1 in 100 GM's that were actually built incredibly well, over-built if you will! I still see many of them on the road!

The picture below is from the day I sold it.

CAJUNLAWYER said:

Why Old Blue of course! 1999 Chevy Suburban. 462,000 miles on the original engine (tranny got rebuilt at 435,000 miles). Would spend around 1,200-1,500 every couple of yeard or so fixing up stuff that wore out but she rode good until the day I traded her in on a 2023 Tacoma. Got $500 for Old Blue-suspect that she is being driven somewhere south of the border now.

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That day I met you , I saw Old Blue . I thought I was walking up to a homeless person .

Drove a 1976 Chevy Vega for 60,000 miles over 4 years and never needed anything but oil changes, tires and brakes.

djohns6 said:

That day I met you , I saw Old Blue . I thought I was walking up to a homeless person .

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Well THAT was a bit harsh!!

Most reliable was a '65 Chevelle that Dad bought around '67. It was for mom while he was at work, etc. Countless trips up to our cottage, 200 miles round trip. He gave it to me before I started my senior year of high school, 4 door 230 Turbothrift, whatever the heck that meant. 2-speed automatic. It never failed to start in any weather. Pretty much more rust than steel quarter panels, but we had a lot of fun in that car. I have no idea of the mileage. I traded it in when I went to work in the mill after high school.

Now thats a good question! Considering I have went through over 70 cars and trucks and all had some sort of problem/s I realy had to think.

I will go with my 80 Toyota 4X4 pick up. The biggest problem I had with it was easy and cheap (no cost at all) to fix.

It was parked outside and in NYs winters temp could get down to -25 at night. Trying to shift the gears in the manual trans was almost impossible till it warmed up. My free solution to that was parked it in my flat driveway in 3rd gear with the transfer case in neutral.

Go out start the truck and let it run till I finished breakfast and took off for work. Just shift the transfer case back to high 2 wheel and the transmission shifted perfect as it was well warmed up.

1993 Volvo 240. Lead sled. Brick on wheels. And just as indestructible. Gave it to my son when he got his license. He gave it back after college. I still see it around town.

1990 F150. Had 251,000 miles on it when I messed up and traded it in to get my wife a new Fusion in the fall of 2009.

Had a new radiator, 3 or 4 batteries, new alternator, both gas tanks rusted out, new heater core and new radio installed in it all those years/miles, new brake lines, brakes, etc. The routine stuff. Still had the original U joints, differentials, transfer case, transmission, clutch/pressure plate, water pump, shocks, and engine, etc. on it.

I sometimes think about my Hyundai Genesis Coupe, too. 2011 Track model with the V6 and manual 6 speed. Other than routine maintenance I've only had to repair a broken arm/linkage in the sunroof (one side) and replace the master cylinder. It is on it's 3rd battery. Third set of tires as well. Everything else is still factory. A little over 74,000 miles and 14 years old and still has the original brakes, hoses, etc. on it.