Most durable vehicle?

[tvguy]

What are the most durable vehicles you have seen? Exclude any models you have personally owned. I'm talking about models friends, neighbors and your company have owned that just could not be killed.

My nominees:

1) Ford Econoline E350 Van
2) Jeep Cherokee (not the Grand Cherkoee)
3) Ford Explorer.
4) Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor

My last 3 employers have had Econoline vans, 400-500,000 miles was the usual life and oil changes sometimes get forgotten.
My last employer had Jeep Cherokees, those ran 300,000 miles, and then usually an employee would buy them and put another 100,000 miles on them
My last 3 employers used Explorers too, same durability as the Cherokees.
Crown Vic PI, beaten for 100,000 miles by cops, and here in California, beaten for another 200,000 miles by the taxi companies that snap up the old cop cars.

My nominees for least durable.
1) Dodge Diplomat (Early 80's)
2) Dodge Aries ( Early '80's)
3) Chevy S10 Blazer (1999) (never saw one in our fleet get over 35,000 miles on an engine).
4) Subaru Forester (2005) Broken hinges on both the drivers doors and tailgates on all 3 we had, but this WAS in fleet use.

 

[Kimberly]

Most durable... what else can take a few HEAT rounds and engage multiple tanks at the same time?

M1A2

In reality... an old diesel E-class Mercedes I think takes the cake as the most durable vehicle ever made. Pre mass production (1993 ish) were all hand built, and many still run as if they were brand new.

 

[KristaTX]

I've seen a lot of old Hondas over the years that just seem to keep on running.

 

[NatashaDisneyCM]

What are the most durable vehicles you have seen? Exclude any models you have personally owned. I'm talking about models friends, neighbors and your company have owned that just could not be killed.

My nominees:

1) Ford Econoline E350 Van
2) Jeep Cherokee (not the Grand Cherkoee)
3) Ford Explorer.
4) Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor

My last 3 employers have had Econoline vans, 400-500,000 miles was the usual life and oil changes sometimes get forgotten.
My last employer had Jeep Cherokees, those ran 300,000 miles, and then usually an employee would buy them and put another 100,000 miles on them
My last 3 employers used Explorers too, same durability as the Cherokees.
Crown Vic PI, beaten for 100,000 miles by cops, and here in California, beaten for another 200,000 miles by the taxi companies that snap up the old cop cars.

My nominees for least durable.
1) Dodge Diplomat (Early 80's)
2) Dodge Aries ( Early '80's)
3) Chevy S10 Blazer (1999) (never saw one in our fleet get over 35,000 miles on an engine).
4) Subaru Forester (2005) Broken hinges on both the drivers doors and tailgates on all 3 we had, but this WAS in fleet use.

you like Fords, I get that. but I consider them the least durable! I had one start on fire on me, and I will never get over that! I am a dodge truck girl, my dad a ford truck guy...we will never agree on that!! I really hate Fords...sorry!

 

[bdcp]

Definitely Honda's. Other than one totaled in an accident all the rest we've had were sold while still running great, no matter the age or number of miles on them. We also never had to do anything other than standard maintenance on any of them. We've owned 7 different ones over the last 30 years including the 2007 Pilot I currently drive.

 

[tvguy]

you like Fords, I get that. but I consider them the least durable! I had one start on fire on me, and I will never get over that! I am a dodge truck girl, my dad a ford truck guy...we will never agree on that!! I really hate Fords...sorry!

Not that I like them so much, but am amazed how much longer they hold up in fleet service, and how much less they cost per mile to operate over their lifetimes. Companies that run fleets really only care about having the vehicles that cost the least per mile driven over their lifetimes.
I will bag on one Ford product, one that I love, the Ford Escape Hybrid. Great driving, comfortable vehicle, but like all hybrids, at their current retail price, they make no economic sense. They cost so much more than the regular Escapes, which means the insurance and state registration fees are also higher, they end up costing more to run.

 

[tvguy]

Definitely Honda's. Other than one totaled in an accident all the rest we've had were sold while still running great, no matter the age or number of miles on them. We also never had to do anything other than standard maintenance on any of them. We've owned 7 different ones over the last 30 years including the 2007 Pilot I currently drive.

See, the cynic in me wonders, if they are such good cars, why didn't you keep them longer? But my perspective is probably a little off because I've only had three cars in the past 37 years.....and my mom 4 in the last 50 years, the shortest, 2 years because it was a lemon, the longest, 27 years.

 

[emer95]

Why in the world would you want us to exclude any models we have personally owned?

 

[ReneeA]

My DH owned a Buick Regal before I met him that he finally sold with 480,000 miles on it. Original engine, original trannie. The car he bought next was a Chevy Lumina, and when we traded it in, it had 320,000 miles on it...again, original everything on that car.

He takes very good care of vehicles. Keeps them clean, oil changes with synthetic oil, and fuil injector cleaner with every 4th fill up. He also does not like to part with them - he'd keep them forever if he could.

 

[tvguy]

Why in the world would you want us to exclude any models we have personally owned?

Because people tend to defend their decisions when they have purchased something, even if they have discovered it wasn't the best decision they could have made.
I was interested in what cars people have been impressed with that had no emotional or financial attachement to.

 

[tvguy]

My DH owned a Buick Regal before I met him that he finally sold with 480,000 miles on it. Original engine, original trannie. The car he bought next was a Chevy Lumina, and when we traded it in, it had 320,000 miles on it...again, original everything on that car.

He takes very good care of vehicles. Keeps them clean, oil changes with synthetic oil, and fuil injector cleaner with every 4th fill up. He also does not like to part with them - he'd keep them forever if he could.

I think you hit, frankly, on the most important point. Any car is capable of a long long life, if given the chance.
It was been my observation, with no scientific proof, that people attracted to certain cars tend not to keep them up. Pontiacs, Subarus, and the people who bought Hyundais when they first came out in the last 1980's fit that bill in my experience. The kind of folks who put off oil changes, never wash their cars, live with, rather than repair problems, and pocket the money instead of repairing dents from accidents.
Also, some automakers offset problems by giving unbelievable service. Volvo and Mercedes for example. My neighbors Volvo blew an engine at less than 40,000 miles. Volvo apologized, gave her a loaner car, and paid for the repairs. A guy I worked with had a Mercedes, it seems like it was in the shop every 3 or 4 months. But the dealer would come pickup the car, drop off the loaner car, and return the car, all at no expense to the owner. Both of them were very happy with their ownership experience, despite what I could consider to be frequent mechanical failures. The service won them over.