Statistically speaking, if you’re shopping for a car in 2025, chances are what you’re really shopping for is an SUV. Often comfier, easier to get in and out of, and barely more expensive to buy and run than a comparable sedan, an SUV just makes more sense more of the time for more people. But what about dependability?
In its mission to rank pretty much all of the cars in order of expected longevity, iSeeCars took odometer readings for 402 million vehicles once every year since 2013, using the data to predict how likely it’d be for a given model to crest 250,000 miles.
Narrowing the study down to just SUVs, a clear pattern emerged. Ninety percent of this list falls into one of two categories: Toyota products and full-size GM SUVs of varying lengths and badges.
Can you find your SUV in the top 10? See the full list below.
10. GMC Yukon
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 14.6%
Compared To Average: 1.9x
Coming in at number 10 is the GMC Yukon. The full-size, body-on-frame SUV has a 14.6 percent chance of reaching 250,000 miles, 1.9 times more likely than the average SUV (which, for reference, has a 7.8 percent chance of hitting that number).
A fancier version of the Chevy Tahoe, GMC first used the Yukon name in 1992 as a replacement for the Jimmy. Four generations and more than 30 years later, a new Yukon starts at over $70,000, has three rows of seats, and comes with either a 5.3- or 6.2-liter V-8 engine, depending on trim. But a 3.0-liter Duramax turbodiesel straight-six is an alternative throughout the range.
9. Toyota Highlander
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 15.7%
Compared To Average: 2.0x
Slotting in ninth place is the Toyota Highlander with a 15.7 percent chance of hitting 250,000 miles, exactly twice as likely as the average SUV.
First introduced in 2000 as a midsize unibody crossover slotting above the RAV4, the Highlander quickly became one of the most common cars on the road. A hybrid version in 2005 was one of the first mainstream electrified SUVs available, and kicked off an even stronger dependability streak of its own—the Highlander Hybrid will show up again at a significantly higher spot on this list.
8. Honda Pilot
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 17.5%
Compared To Average: 2.2x
Positioned slightly bigger than the Toyota Highlander, Honda’s three-row Pilot is the eighth-longest-lasting SUV of the study. With a 17.5 percent chance of going a quarter million miles, it’s 2.2 times more likely than the average SUV to do so. It also happens to be the only non-Toyota, non-GM product on this list.
The Pilot first came on the scene in 2003 and has remarkably used some version of Honda’s 3.5-liter J-series V-6 ever since—something I suspect plays a non-insignificant factor in its durability.
7. Chevrolet Tahoe
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 17.7%
Compared To Average: 2.3x
Placing seventh is the Chevy Tahoe with a 17.7 percent chance of seeing 250,000 miles, 2.3 times more likely than the segment average.
It’s the mechanical twin to the 10th-place GMC Yukon with a less fancy badge, less fancy finishes, and lower price tags. Chevys seem to consistently, albeit slightly, outlast their GMC counterparts despite functionally being the same. My working theory is that GMC owners simply tend not to keep their vehicles as long, not because they need a replacement, but because they can afford to trade in earlier and more often. This phenomenon is repeated between the Silverado and Sierra pickups, as well as the longer versions of the Tahoe and Yukon.
6. GMC Yukon XL
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 17.9%
Compared To Average: 2.3x
Speaking of, the GMC Yukon XL beats the Tahoe by a hair to take sixth place. The longer GMC SUV has a 17.9 percent chance of going 250,000 miles, 2.3 times the average.
Comparing the current models, the XL is 15 inches longer than the regular Yukon in overall length, features 16 additional cubic feet of cargo room behind the third row, and third row occupants get an extra 1.8 inches of legroom. Keeping with the pattern, this SUV’s Chevy badge sibling, the Suburban, lasts even longer.
5. Lexus GX
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 20.7%
Compared To Average: 2.6x
Wedging itself in between them, however, is the Lexus GX, which has a 20.7 percent chance of reaching a quarter of a million on the odometer, 2.6 times more likely than the average SUV.
Lexus’s off-roader is the only luxury entry on this list, and thus the most long-lasting luxury SUV you can buy—hardly a surprise considering it’s also the longest-lasting luxury car, period, on the segment-agnostic version of this list. Based on the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, the GX has historically been powered by V-8s, but the latest generation GX 550, which debuted for the 2024 model year, downsized to a twin-turbo V-6.
4. Chevrolet Suburban
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 22.0%
Compared To Average: 2.8x
The longboi Tahoe, the Chevy Suburban, comes in fourth, rocking a 22 percent likelihood of hitting 250,000 miles, 2.8 times the average SUV.
It’s essentially a less fancy GMC Yukon XL, falling in line with the trend of Chevys lasting just a bit longer than their GMC twins. This also happens to be the final non-Toyota on the list, and empirically the most long-lasting SUV if you exclusively buy American.
3. Toyota Highlander Hybrid
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 25.9%
Compared To Average: 3.3x
Trouncing its gas-only counterpart to earn a third-place spot is the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. These have a 25.9 percent chance of going a quarter million miles, 3.3 times the average.
Given that the Highlander Hybrid was one of the first mainstream cars to pair electric power with an SUV shape, its status as the most reliable hybrid SUV comes as little surprise. The current-gen Highlander has been around since 2019, which means an all-new one is likely not too far out. Given the treatment other Toyota models have gotten, we wouldn’t be surprised if that one is exclusively a hybrid.
2. Toyota 4Runner
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 26.8%
Compared To Average: 3.4x
At the end of the day, though, very few vehicles come close to body-on-frame Toyotas when it comes to longevity. Scoring second place is the Toyota 4Runner with a 26.8 percent chance of traveling 250,000 miles, 3.4 times the average SUV.
Toyota first introduced the 4Runner in the 1980s as a Tacoma with a cap, which made it closely related to the overseas Hilux—the same truck from that one famous Top Gear segment where one was, among other things, set on fire, placed atop a falling building, and hit with a wrecking ball, but was still able to start. I’m usually not one to give away feature ideas to competing automotive outlets, but someone should do that with the new 4Runner…
1. Toyota Sequoia
Percentage Likely To Reach 250,000 Miles: 36.4%
Compared To Average: 4.7x
Surprise: the king of BOF Toyota SUVs is the king of SUV longevity. Sitting atop the Japanese company’s SUV family tree is the Sequoia, which is clearly the most long-lasting SUV you can get. It has an outlier-qualifying 36.4 percent chance of hitting the big 250 on the odometer, a whole 4.7 times the average.
Like how the 4Runner is essentially a Tacoma SUV, the Sequoia is basically a Tundra without a bed. For reference, the Tundra placed second on the list of longest-lasting trucks, the highest of any non-HD pickup, and practically matched the Sequoia’s 250K-mile likelihood at 36.6 percent. Even compared to the nine SUVs above, the Sequoia may not be the most exciting or the most popular. But as anybody who peaked in high school may (or may not) tell you, excitement and popularity don’t last forever.
Sequoias probably do, though.
Longest-Lasting SUVs
- Toyota Sequoia
- Toyota 4Runner
- Toyota Highlander Hybrid
- Chevrolet Suburban
- Lexus GX
- GMC Yukon XL
- Chevrolet Tahoe
- Honda Pilot
- Toyota Highlander
- GMC Yukon
Source: iSeeCars
