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

[357-RevolverGuy]

I'm not interested in hearing about anything new with less than 50k miles. I'm wanting to know what was the most reliable vehicle you've owned long term. It seems like the last 15 years, everything I've driven has started to show issues and needing parts replaced right after 100k miles. One of my first cars was an early 90s Nissan Sentra with a twin cam 4 cylinder. It wasn't anything fancy but I ran that car to 320k miles before selling. I was young and drove it hard, cross country, and all over the place. The most I spent on maintenance was for regular oil changes every 3k miles and new tires every few years. Do they make anything as reliable today?

 

[Leslie Sapp]

1984 Izuzu pickup. Never did anything to it but change the oil.
A friend had the same truck with the diesel engine and he drove that truck for twenty years or more.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Several have been super reliable including the Toyota RAV4 I’m driving now.
The unreliable seem to leave a more lasting memory.
Alfa Romeo. Don’t go there!

 

[Narragansett]

I had a Chevy Silverado half ton 4wd small V8, auto trans that was a company vehicle. I got it new. Put almost 200K on it and was forced to turn it in for a new one. Somebody in the company wanted it. I got another new one. This truck only had a fuel pump failure at 100K miles. I did brakes and tires of course. Dumped all the fluids, hoses and belts at 100K for new. Oil every 5K full synthetic

 

[GnarlsR2]

2001 Toyota Camry - 348,000 miles and still gets 28 MPG.

 

[grover99]

After my wife's grandfather passed I bought his 64 Chevy. It was a 6 banger 4 door Belair with 90,000 miles on it and he never did more than regular maintenance on it. I drove it for another 60,000 with only replacing the belts and tires. I then sold it to a friend and he was still driving 3 years later with no major repairs.The thing may still going somewhere.

 

[Protocall_Design]

I'm driving a 2003 Chevy Tahoe with a Vortec V8. It has 348000 miles and runs like new with just regular maintenance. It uses about 1/2 qt. of oil between oil changes. I had a 1996 Chevy Blazer with a Vortec V6 that had 250000 miles when I gave it to my son, still running fine. We have a 1993 Toyota pickup truck that's still a daily driver, I don't know the mileage on it. The riding lawnmower with a 20 hp. V twin Kohler has been super reliable for years, but it doesn't have near the mileage as the cars.

 

[IAM Rand]

94 Landcruiser. Had well over 300k when I donated to a friend of a friend. Fairly easy to work on and very dependable. Still miss it.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

I've had Corvettes, Avantis, Fords, Mopars and GM products plus a Nissan, Honda and maybe others. But the best...the finest car I ever owned was my 1964 Pontiac Bonneville my dad bought new and gave to me when I graduated high school. That was the best car anyone ever bolted together...period.

Now I drive a Lincoln and thus far it's been great. At my age and family health history and lack of longevity I expect it to be my last car so I wanted a nice one.

 

[Mule Packer]

It's the main vehicle I have owned for over twenty years and I'm still driving it. It's my 2002 ¾-ton Dodge diesel pickup. It's a six-speed manual transmission and has 240,000 miles on it. The body will probably rust out before the engine gives up.

I've had Ford and Chevy pickups over the years, but this is the first Dodge I've ever owned. Someone told me years ago when I first got this truck, "Once you go with a Dodge, you'll never go back." He was right.

Now, I need to be truthful. My Chevy and Ford trucks were great. They were smooth and were like riding in a car. My Dodge rides like a truck...just until you put a full load on it and then...MAGIC...it smooths right out. Exactly what a work truck is supposed to do. And talk about hauling...it pulls a loaded horse trailer with four animals in it as though there is nothing there. This thing could probably pull my house of its foundation.

 

[JcMack]

1961 SCHWINN was the best..Anything with an engine in it always let me down.

 

[Krogen]

2014 Tacoma. I bought it new and haven't done anything to it except routine maintenance. It's at nearly 130,000 miles. No complaints from this kid!

 

[mtgianni]

1980 Datsun 210 we put 150 K on it then did some carburetor work.

2016 Subaru Forester was wonderful until it wasn't. Transmission went out and we found it is a huge problem with cv transmissions. It now has a used tranny after 3 attempts to put used ones in and the shop found the take off ones to be bad. That was in 2022, with 185 K on it. It currently has 194 K with the grandkids using it for school and close in trips. The headlight glass needs regular buffing.

2023 Chevy Traverse has been mostly trouble free. It currently has 85 K on it. I hit an elk with it at 6 weeks and we waited 7 weeks to get parts in for it. Other than that, tires and oil. As you can see we put a lot of miles on vehicles.

Stinkers were the 07 Ram 2500. It had a lot of add ons and was always failing one way or another.

85 Buick Sommerset had a lot of electrical issues.

 

[JohnRippert]

I bought Mom's 1985 Honda Civic Wagon off her when my previous car died. It was several years old and had about 40K on it. I never did anything but routine maintenance to it and when it was stolen for the rims and totaled it had 140K and was getting better gas mileage than when I first bought it. That was a great little car.

 

[cruiserdan]

94 Landcruiser. Had well over 300k when I donated to a friend of a friend. Fairly easy to work on and very dependable. Still miss it.

I have a 1993 FZJ80 Land Cruiser. I bought it new 32 years ago. I will never part with it.

 

[erikpolcrack]

Toyota RAV4 - have two of them - both have run great years and years and miles and miles. Honorable mention - my '77 Volvo.

 

[03hemi]

Toyota hands down.
I've always had one in my driveway since I was 16, I'm 64 now.

 

[URIT]

When my wife and I retired and moved to Costa Rica for a planned ten-years adventure in 2002, we were advised to buy a Mercedes or Montero. We bought a ten year old Mitsubishi Montero LS 4X4.

I used the vehicle to explore the roads less traveled in Costa Rica, mostly traveling with other expats to the volcano parks to hike to the rim is possible. The 4WD low was a welcomed convenience many times.

Ten years later, when we moved back to the USA, we sold the Montero for the same price we paid for it ten years earlier.

 

[UncleEd]

Toyotas. Switched to them in the 1970s after one after another American ones which were....

 

[Golddollar]

Twin 2008 Mercury Grand Marquis. I bought one as my very first ever brand new car and I put 238,000 miles on it before I put it through the Gettysburg Auto Auction and a dealer from Baltimore came up and bought it. I was old school with maintenance. I was still changing the oil and oil filter every 3000 miles. The other one I bought used at about 73,000 miles and I still have it and drive it at about 163,000 miles. I've conceded to new maintenance schedules a little bit by changing the oil and oil filter at 5 months or 5000 miles, which is still way under the current recommended schedule. I figure it's cheap insurance.