10 Cars that Refuse to Die

Kiplinger ^ | 7-2010 | Kiplinger

[Mikey_1962]

10) Olds Cutlass Ciera(GM A-Bodies)1984-1996

9)Geo Prizm 1989-2002 The what? Here’s the story, in short: It’s a Toyota Corolla with a different nameplate, and everyone knows Corollas last forever.

8)Subaru Wagons(All of Them) 1990-Present If all of these failed to start tomorrow, thousands of college professors in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest would have to walk to class.

7)Volvos (Rear-Wheel-Drive Ones)Dawn of Man-1996 To some extent, these are the Subaru wagons’ spiritual and actual predecessors. Volvo's secret? It basically built one car for 25 years under a variety of nameplates.

6)Ford Crown Victoria/Mercury Marquis 1992 - 2011 If these can handle police pursuit and taxi duty, they can handle you.

5)Fiat 500 (in Europe) 1957 - 1975 basically, a lawnmower with a roof. Only a handful made it to the states since they top out around 50 mph.

4) Mercedes 300D/300TD 1975-1985

3)Honda Accord 1976 - Present

2) BMW 3-Series 1982 - 1990

1) Jeep Cherokee 1987 - 2001 We’re going to make an exception to our ‘no-trucks’ rule for the Jeep Cherokee. For one thing, it’s not really a truck — the first small crossover SUV, it did not have the traditional body-on-frame construction. But it did have plenty of the Jeep toughness (and a straight-6 engine) built in, and many of these are still roaming America’s secondary roads — and Europe as well, in a turbodiesel variant. Interestingly, even as Jeep came up with the upmarket Grand Cherokee (somewhat less reliable, natch), it kept cranking out the old model, basically due to consumer demand. Oh, one more truck exception? The original Toyota 4-Runner.

[Mikey_1962]

See more at link.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

It’s a Toyota Corolla with a different nameplate, and everyone knows Corollas last forever.

Then, how come it didn't make the list? :p

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Our 1999 Accord has it’s last crash two weeks ago and is now destined to the junk yard. Engine still runs great though!

[ken5050]

Can’t disagree with the list, but surely the 900 series Saabs should be on it....I had a 900 Turbo..best car I ever owned..

[Buckeye McFrog]

nobody drives a Crown Vic anymore EXCEPT cops using them as unmarked cars for speed traps

[SengirV]

lol

Good point

[Explorer89]

I sold my 2001 Accord with 311,000 miles on it. It still ran well.

[BipolarBob]

But it did have plenty of the Jeep toughness (and a straight-6 engine)

A tough little engine. Unfortunately, emissions standards killed it dead.

[Norm Lenhart]

73-79 Ford F-Series for the win. Best truck ever built or ever will be built. I miss my 77 F250 Camper Special/460/C6

I have no doubt that God personally had a hand in it’s construction.

...And I sold it for a 1980 Trans Am. I am a moron. I can’t say “was” because a mistake that bad never leaves you. ;)

[umgud]

No VW Bug?

[padre35]

Have to quibble about the Jeep Cherokee, the 2.8l versions are simply junk, would not own another one.

Have to agree with the Volvo and Subaru’s, boring cars but they just run forever, Volvo was the first to add a 7 digit odometer iirc.

[absolootezer0]

just sold my 88 xj with almost 200k on it, have a number of friends that drive them also. seems the only way to break the engine is to run them without oil.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Here's my list:

10 Cars That Refuse To Run

Our contribution would be: Volvo turbo station wagon, Volvo turbo sedan, VW Jetta, and Toyota minivan.

[Sooth2222]

"Then, how come it didn't make the list?"

Because the list is actually the cars in the summer intern's college frat house parking lot.

[chesley]

I bought a new Jeep Cherokee in 1996 for my wife and she still drives it with over 200K miles on it.

I had a Corolla I bought used. It had over 300K miles on it when a little old lady ran a stop sign in front of me and managed to total it.

[AnAmericanAbroad]

7)Volvos (Rear-Wheel-Drive Ones)Dawn of Man-1996 To some extent, these are the Subaru wagons’ spiritual and actual predecessors. Volvo’s secret? It basically built one car for 25 years under a variety of nameplates.

Heh.....I like that, “Dawn of Man-1996”.
I had a ‘79 Volvo 245 wagon many years ago....damn near indestructible car. Had it for five years, and sold with 325K on the odometer, and it still ran good.
Bought an ‘87 244 after that, and when I moved to Europe, gave it to a friend. Still running, with over 650K on the odometer.
Good cars, if a little ugly.

[MulberryDraw]

Pinpointing exactly how many miles, on average, a given model racked up collectively or individually is virtually impossible

but they did it anyway.

[Norm Lenhart]

VW Bug - The only ‘stock’ car to finish the Baja 1000 - on multiple occasions, but for a roll cage and a fuel cell - and the first winners didn’t even have that!

[SJSAMPLE]

A coworker commutes back and forth from Indiana farm country, about 1hr 15min each way. His Accord has over 420K on the odometer and still runs great. Of course, he’s had to maintain it, but it’s paid for itself for the last eight years. Great cars.

[wtc911]

Mt wife and two of our daughters drive Accords. The other family cars are an Odyssey and a CRV. My son though is on his third Hyundai. Never a problem with any of them. If I ever went upscale it would be to an Acura.