Popular Cars People Keep the Longest

The only compact sedan among the top 10 most popular autos in the U.S., the Honda Civic was introduced as a subcompact two-door car in the 1973 model year. Over the decades, it has been redesigned 10 times, growing into a compact sedan. If you spot a 2006 Honda Civic, it might be a sedan, a coupe or a hatchback.

The Subaru Outback evolved from the Subaru Legacy station wagon, becoming a fully separate model in the 1996 model year. It has become America’s favorite wagon, accounting for 17 out of 20 station wagons sold in 2019, according to Road and Track. If you spot a 2006 Outback, it might even have the L.L. Bean trim package with perforated leather upholstery.

Introduced in the 1977 model year as a compact hatchback, the Accord has been one of the most popular cars in the United States since 1989, when a sedan, coupe and wagon were added to the nameplate One thing that may have made the Accord popular is its high rankings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in crash tests.

As one of Toyota’s top-selling cars, the Camry is a mid-size sedan that was originally introduced in 1982 as a compact car. It has enjoyed wide popularity and has been the best-selling passenger car in America for many years. In 2018, Consumer Reports ranked the Camry No. 1 on its list of “10 Cars Proven to Get to 200,000 Miles and Beyond.”

The Toyota RAV4 hit U.S. streets in the 1995 model year and it has become the best-selling non-pickup in America. Like the Honda CR-V, an older RAV4 model can be easily spotted with its externally mounted spare tire. In the 2009 model year Toyota began phasing out the external spare tire and since the 2013 model year it has been eliminated on all versions of the RAV4.

Introduced in the United States in 1968, the Toyota Corolla is the world’s best-selling passenger car, with more than 30 million sold in more than 140 countries. Over the decades, Corollas have been manufactured as sedans, coupes, hatchbacks and wagons.

Originally introduced as a compact SUV, the 4Runner was upgraded to a mid-size SUV for the 1996 model year. A relatively safe vehicle, the 4Runner had one of the lowest death rates for all vehicles on the road for the 2003 and 2004 model years in an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety report published in 2007.

This compact crossover SUV has been available in the United States since the 1998 model year. It was one of the first crossover SUVs, which are essentially passenger cars with a higher stance. The Forester has been redesigned four times. In a 15-year-old version of the auto, you might find a 2.5-liter turbocharged engine.

The CR-V is Honda’s best-selling car and once people buy one they tend to hold on to it. The first-generation CR-V (“comfortable runabout vehicle” or “compact recreational vehicle”) was introduced in the 1997 model year and was produced through the 2001 model year. You can still see many of those cars on the road today. You can tell that a CR-V is at least 15 years old by the spare tire mounted on the rear door. That feature was eliminated in the 2007 model year.

Introduced in the 1995 model year, the Toyota Tacoma has become the best-selling mid-size pickup in the United States. In the model years 1995 through 2004, it was classified as a compact pickup. A redesign for the 2005 model year created a bigger, more powerful Tacoma, with 18 different configurations.

The Toyota Highlander is a mid-size SUV crossover SUV built on the Camry platform. With three rows of seats, the Highlander can seat two or three more people than the RAV4 can. It ranks No. 8 on Consumer Reports magazine’s list of “10 Cars Proven to Get to 200,000 Miles and Beyond.”