It’s safe to say General Motors has long held a core competency in two areas: body-on-frame vehicles and V8 engines. There’s proof in that statement when taking into account the latest data crunch from iSeeCars, which looked at the longest-lasting vehicles over 200,000 miles.
Specifically, SUVs and trucks dominated the entire list, but Chevrolet and GMC hogged six spots out of the top 14 vehicles. The listing of GM vehicles reads as follows:
- Chevrolet Suburban, #3
- GMC Yukon XL, #5
- Chevrolet Tahoe, #6
- GMC Yukon, #7
- Chevrolet Silverado 1500, #11
- GMC Sierra 1500, #14
Leading the list are the Ford Expedition and Toyota Sequoia, also SUVs. The only non-SUV or truck vehicles to make the top 14 were the Honda Accord(#10), Honda Odyssey (#11) and Toyota Avalon (#8).
However, iSeeCars developed a second list looking at passenger vehicles outside of trucks and SUVs. That list tells a much different story. Only the Chevrolet Impala makes the cut at number four on the list, right behind the Ford Taurus. As for Chrysler brands, the Dodge Grand Caravan represents, tying the Subaru Legacy and Honda Civic. The list largely features import brands, specifically, Japanese vehicles.
As for luxury vehicles, GM claws back. But, guess what? Again, it’s a body-on-frame SUV: the Cadillac Escalade, which takes the number two and three spots with the ESV and regular Escalade. The Lincoln Navigator (see an SUV pattern here?) ranks number one.
The methodology behind the data looked at 13 million pre-owned vehicles between the model years of 1981 and 2017 to come to the conclusions seen here. For each model, the percentage of the number of cars with at least 200,000 miles was calculated and vehicles with sales numbers under 10,000 units were excluded.
Comments
On the top 16 Longest Lasting Passenger Cars (Excluding Trucks and SUVs) The Chevrolet Impala comes right after the Ford Taurus… Which is a GM vehicles… it’s also American. In number 6 is the Dodge Grand Caravan, which is American. I think that you’re getting caught up by the * on the first article that states *All vehicles over 2.0% is over 200,000 miles (which doesn’t make since because this is a percentage of vehicles over 200,000 miles.) However if you notice the one for Luxury vehicles and the one for Passenger Cars excluding Trucks and SUVs doesn’t have the “*” next to them meaning that the same rule doesn’t apply. If the same rule does apply then that would mean that the Cadillac Escalade doesn’t make it to 200,000 miles and therefore isn’t technically on the list either.
I have 200,000 miles on my 2003 silverado but got there by replacing the tranny at 140,000. I’ve got alot of rust rot on my rear wheel arches as well. The 4.8L v8 has been solid.
200k on an original GM fuel pump? Doubtful.
Interesting article. You have to be careful with statistics and what it is you’re actually measuring. All the above vehicles are disproportionately sold in rural areas where people drive lots of highway miles, and know how to drop in a new engine and keep driving if it breaks down; and every single one of these vehicles will cough up more parts (like trannies and fuel pumps) long before any Camry hits 300k on just oil changes.
That Camry would need to hit 300k miles in less than 6 years in the rust belt. Toyota’s are notorious for rusting out in 6-8 years in the midwest.
The last time I changed a fuel pump on a GM vehicle was back in the ’80s.
My Mom had a tercel that needed either an alternator or starter every 6-8 months but luckily for me it rusted out when it was 6 years old.
Fuel pump, when I looked up how to replace the one on my late Tahoe on youtube, there were almost a million views already. You think people search that for the fun of it?
And I’ve recently driven brand new GM cars that were throwing error codes while still on the dealer lots (service stabilitrak). Then there are Colorados out there with GMC displays in the touch screen, haha. Doesn’t matter, facts don’t lie, and GM cars really are less reliable.
Consider at least the 1st place Excursion with me, please. I hope nobody here thinks of it as a well bolted together vehicle that’ll go the distance. Everything in it is loose, and it rattles and shakes, and it handles like a barge. But…. it has graced us with its absence for a decade now, so of course the average one still driving around church groups and school choirs is going to have higher miles than the average vehicle in the list that’s still being built?
This is one the main reason I have driven a chevy and only a chevy in my life.
I worked in a service shop for years and if you think we only worked on ford’s Chevy’s and dodges your full of it
Those other cars you refer to as being reliable were the cars that visited our shop on a normal basis.
Stop acting like you know more then the avg guy
If the list is for the “Longest-Lasting Vehicle” then it has to be for the time factor, not distance. My 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ceira lasted 26 years in my hands, plus a year by its first owner, and two more by the third owner (I lost contact after that). So it lasted 29 years of use. But not much in mileage. My Ciera qualifies!!
I have owned my truck for over 44 years it has almost 500k miles on it. It looks and runs better then it ever did now!
Which Chevy Truck do you have Brian? 1500, 2500, 3500? Just curious.
I own a 70 chevy truck, 03 silverado 1500
I had a Yukon with 450,000 miles on it once It had 300,000 when I got it. I only got rid of it because my brother needed a car so I gave it to him and got a tahoe but I feel ya… they seem to last forever. He still has it at 512,000 miles.
I own a 96 Chevy Suburban C2500 with 244000 miles on it. The engine (except for intake manifold gaskets) and transmission are untouched. It looks and runs like it has 24000 miles on it. It is very dependable.
They really are built “like a rock”. I have a 96 C2500 with just under 150,000 miles and an 02 Duramax 2500 with 180,000 miles, both trucks still start every morning and run great. Even my dads last truck (2011 Yukon XL) was only in the shop once for a power steering pump after 130,000 miles.
This is one thing I wish GM would do with their ads in both print and tv. Spotlight GM car and truck owners who had their vehicles for a long time and have a zillion miles them and are still going! These people would be normal people to go right along with the current ad campaign of real people in their commercials!
I own a 1995 Chevy Suburban with a 6.5 TD diesel engine and it has actually 370.000 miles on it.
Same engine, same gearbox and still going strong; so I hope it will last further for a long time.
Not that I would sell it but with the clean emission zones in Antwerp, Brussels in Belgium and a lot of cities in France and Germany the use of my SUV becomes quite restricted. So I hope the new inline 6 diesel will become available in the next Suburban; this would be quite a competition here in Europe for the SUV’s made by Mercedes, Audi and BMW.
What about us poor folks who bought a 07-11 GMC/Chevy with the 5.3l Engine and AFM? My engine is ticking and crossing my fingers that the engine don’t blow up due to lifter issues. Yes, I always change the oil at 3k or sooner with premium oil.