Toyota Owners keep their vehicles longer

One study shows how Japanese brands are kept the longest by vehicle buyers. Adding to this, sales of new vehicles are at record levels, but this record is pushed with the fact that the average age of a car on the U.S. roads is 11.6 years, a record according to IHS Markit.

SUVs and minivans dominate the market. According to the website, favorite among buyers, including three hybrids, are: Toyota Highlander Hybrid as the first on the list, second-ranked Toyota Prius and ninth-ranked Lexus RX. Prius is kept 10 years longer than any other in that group. After analyzing more than 2.5 million cars, model years from 1981-2006, that are sold in 2016, iSeeCars.com found that 10 models were at least 1.9 times more likely to be kept by their original owners for 10 years more or less.

There are five Toyotas on this list: three Hondas, one Lexus and one Subaru. This list shows the percentage of owners keeping their cars longer than 10 years:

Toyota Highlander Hybrid (32.1%)

Toyota Prius (32%)

Toyota Highlander (29%)

Toyota Sienna (28.7%)

Honda Pilot (27.2%)

Honda CR-V (25.2%)

Toyota RAV-4 (24.9%)

Subaru Forester (24.2%)

Lexus RX Hybrid (24.1%)

Honda Odyssey (24%)

“The top 10 cars that people hold onto are all from Japanese automakers, which isn’t surprising since they have a reputation for reliability. But the makeup of the cars is unexpected,” said Phong Ly, iSeeCars.com CEO in a statement. These are Japanese cars and nine of the top 10 are SUVs and minivans.

“These kinds of cars tend to be used as family cars, so they might be expected to be kept for many years if they’re bought just as their owners start their new families,” said Ly.

Surprisingly, in the top 5 you can see two hybrid vehicles and three hybrids in the top 10. Regardless the worry concerning the durability of car batteries, many owners keep their vehicles for a long time.

Full-size pickups weren’t on the list even though they have a great reputation. The percentage was below average, or almost close, of the original owners when looking at the three most popular pickup trucks.

“Trucks are often used as heavy-work vehicles, such as for construction, and are driven much more than a typical passenger car. So they may need to be replaced earlier,” said Ly.