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I have, over the years, owned pretty much every American car brand built, and also have owned some Toyotas and Hondas. While many of the American cars were very good, I have to say the Toyotas and Hondas were bulletproof. The bodies held up great, the interiors didn't show wear even after lots of miles, and the drivetrains just kept on going and going.
Currently, I do not drive very many miles per year, so I own a few American cars, but if I were driving for business, like I did years ago, I would own another Toyota or Honda in a heartbeat. You just can't kill them.
"The 15 cars owners keep the longest in the US are almost all made by Toyota and Honda"
Does this measure the longevity of the vehicles or is it measuring ownership bias? Think about it. Let's say everyone believes, right or wrong, that Brand X will last 25 years while Brand Y is a junkyard queen after only 10 years. And so at the 10 year point owners of Brand X will invest in major service or overhauls to keep them on the road, while owners of Brand Y will have them towed to the junkyard because "everyone knows" they don't last.
These preconceived ideas about longevity also factor into resale value. Brand Y will have a lower resale value because "everyone knows" they don't last. This also enters into the owner's decision whether to repair it or junk it.
There are too many emotional human factors in length of ownership to make it a reliable indicator of vehicle longevity.
Our 2006 Honda Ridgeline has over 240,000 miles on it, and we bought it ten years ago nearly to the day. I was just telling my hubby how we've owned it for ten years. It's a great vehicle, reliable, comfortable, and great for our uses including pulling our camper all over the Western States. We love it so much that we plan to buy a newer one by the end of this year.
We also have a 2013 Honda Civic and I can see no reason why we'd get rid of it. Again it's reliable, comfortable, and gets fantastic gas mileage. I see no reason to get rid of it in the next several years, we've owned it for 3 1/2 already.
We're a family that likes Honda's and we're not the norm where we live in rural Wyoming, the land of the great big trucks all Ford, Chevy, or Ram. That's okay. We can share the road.
All seem like boring (reliable) appliance cars to me. Such cars tend to be driven by owners who favor reliability and longevity and making the most out of their $$. They don't seek image, and just need a vehicle to get them from point A to point B.
The more showy vehicles out there (Dodge chargers SRT8's, Chrysler 300's, BMW 3-series, Mercedes, Jeep Trackhawks etc etc) tend to be driven by people seeking an image, who want a new image every 3-5 years. Some can also be quite expensive, which means leasing, and/or needing to bail out of the car when it because too expensive after a few years of payments.
My oldest daughter is going to start driving this year. We are looking into getting her a newer, used car. We have been checking out the Rav4 and the CR-V. Definitely more expensive than comparable American cars (i.e. Ford Escape) and less of them available.
the interiors didn't show wear even after lots of miles
This right here. I've had American cars (have one right now) and I've had Hondas. My last car, a Ford Expedition, ran like a champ. Put 150K miles on it with no problems. We sold it to someone very local, so we still see it on the road sometimes (I had an emblem on the back that he never removed, so we know it's mine). So it's still going two years later. But parts of the interior were just wearing out - the finishes on the buttons, etc. Drove me nuts because it seemed too soon to be doing that (it started at about 100K). My mom had a GMC that was even worse. She started seeing signs of wear after about 60K miles. Ironically, she now drives a Honda.
And I'm pretty sure I'd want to know a breakdown of where the cars are registered instead of making blanket statements. The quality of the weather (or lack thereof) has a HUGE effect on longetivity.
True, but so does whether or not a vehicle is garaged or not.
Interesting... but part of me wonders if it is a chicken/egg issue.
Okay, maybe Hondas and Toyotas are a little more reliable than other brands. Maybe a lot more. But even if they are only a little more, or even no more reliable than other brands... you could easily see results like this. Why? Because people who see cars as depreciating assets that they need to get from point A to point B tend to take care of their cars and keep them for as long as possible in order to avoid having to spend more on a depreciating asset.
On the other hand, people who see cars as a status symbol, or a hobby... are more likely to drive... shall we say... spirited? And are more concerned with having the biggest, best, and newest than they are with squeezing out value.
I think that is because the parts and service cost so much for these cars the owners cannot afford to save up for a new car.
Another reason may be because of where people buy different types of cars. Most of the salt/rust states are heavily Us Automakers while warmer (western) states tend to be more foreign brands.
Third reason may be because the majority of US made cars purchased are pick up trucks and big SUVs. If the owners are like me, they work and beat the heck out of a pick up. If I tried to make a Honda do what I make my pick up do, the Honda would not survive a year. However even with a pick up, when you work it and beat it up like that, you cannot expect it to last as long as a car that just tools along on pavement carrying one or two passengers.
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