Owners of the Toyota Land Cruiser keep their vehicles an average of 11.4 years before selling, longer than any other SUV on the market, according to an iSeeCars analysis of approximately 15.7 million used-car transactions. The Ford Expedition and Toyota 4Runner follow at 10.1 and 10.0 years, respectively. Those numbers land well above the overall fleet average, which hit a new record in 2024, and they raise a pointed question for buyers weighing depreciation, repair costs, and long-term value: what makes certain SUVs worth holding onto for more than a decade?
Rising fleet age puts SUV retention under a spotlight
The average age of vehicles on American roads reached a new record in 2024, according to S&P Global Mobility, as higher transaction prices for new vehicles, longer financing terms, and persistent interest-rate pressure pushed households to delay trade-ins. That macro trend makes model-level ownership duration more than a curiosity stat. For anyone shopping the used market or deciding whether to keep a current SUV another year, knowing which nameplates routinely survive past the ten-year mark can directly affect total cost of ownership.
One hypothesis worth examining is whether SUVs built on shared powertrains, meaning engines and transmissions used across several models within the same manufacturer, tend to be kept longer than equally reliable SUVs with unique mechanical architectures. The logic is straightforward: shared components generate larger aftermarket parts inventories, lower repair costs, and wider mechanic familiarity, all of which reduce the friction of keeping a vehicle past warranty. The iSeeCars data set is large enough to test that idea at a high level, though the publicly available study does not break results down by powertrain family.
How iSeeCars measured ownership duration from registration records
The study’s methodology relies on the kind of vehicle registration histories that flow through two main pipelines. States report aggregate registration data to the Federal Highway Administration each year, and those federal vehicle totals create a backbone for tracking the age and composition of the U.S. fleet. At the model level, researchers and commercial analysts draw on datasets like Polk’s vehicle population files, which catalog new registrations and population snapshots that academic and industry users can query through institutional access points.
According to iSeeCars CEO Phong Ly, certain vehicles are kept longer because they continue to meet owners’ needs without forcing an expensive replacement. The study excluded cars less than five years old to filter out lease returns and short-cycle fleet disposals, focusing instead on original-owner sales where the elapsed time between first registration and first resale could be measured cleanly. That filter matters because lease-heavy luxury SUVs would otherwise skew the averages downward by flooding the used market with three-year-old off-lease vehicles.
Among SUVs specifically, the Toyota Land Cruiser topped the list at 11.4 years of average ownership. The Ford Expedition came in at 10.1 years, and the Toyota 4Runner rounded out the top three at 10.0 years. All three are body-on-frame trucks with reputations for mechanical longevity, and all three share significant drivetrain DNA with other models in their respective lineups. The Land Cruiser’s powertrain, for instance, has historically overlapped with the Lexus LX and, in some markets, the Toyota Tundra. The Expedition shares its platform and engine family with the Ford F-150, the best-selling vehicle in the United States. The 4Runner’s frame and drivetrain trace back to the Tacoma pickup.
That pattern at least loosely supports the shared-powertrain hypothesis. When an engine or transmission is produced in high volume across multiple nameplates, replacement parts tend to be cheaper and more widely stocked. Independent repair shops gain deep familiarity with the hardware, which can lower labor costs and reduce diagnostic guesswork. Owners who face a smaller repair bill at year eight or nine are more likely to keep driving rather than trade in. The same logic applies to wear items such as suspension components and braking systems, where interchangeability across models can keep parts available even after a particular SUV leaves production.
Gaps in the data and what buyers still cannot answer
The iSeeCars rankings are built on a large sample, roughly 15 million vehicles by one account and approximately 15.7 million by another, but several questions sit outside the study’s public disclosures. The FHWA’s motor vehicle data pages supply only aggregate state-level registration counts, with no model-year or SUV-specific longevity fields available for direct public query. Polk dataset descriptions accessible through Duke’s catalog interface outline access protocols but contain no raw registration extracts or ownership-duration tables that an outside analyst could use to independently verify the SUV rankings.
S&P Global Mobility’s commentary on fleet aging offers useful macro context, confirming that Americans are holding vehicles longer across the board, but it does not publish model-level registration or scrappage data that could be cross-checked against the SUVs cited in the iSeeCars study. Without that cross-reference, readers cannot separate the effect of mechanical durability from other factors like brand loyalty, limited production runs, or demographic skew in the buyer base. A model that sells in small numbers but attracts highly committed owners might show a long average tenure even if its underlying hardware is no more robust than a mass-market rival.
Another blind spot involves maintenance history. Registration data can reveal how long a vehicle stays with its first owner, but it says nothing about whether that owner followed factory service intervals, paid for preventative maintenance, or deferred repairs until a looming sale. Two identical SUVs could show the same ownership duration in the dataset while living very different mechanical lives. That nuance matters for used buyers trying to infer reliability from tenure statistics alone.
There is also no public breakdown of regional effects. SUVs in rust-prone northern states face harsher conditions than those in dry climates, and off-road use can accelerate wear on components that would last much longer under suburban commuting duty. Registration records do capture state of residence, but the iSeeCars summary does not disclose whether it controlled for geography when ranking models by years of ownership. Without that control, a rugged SUV that is disproportionately popular in severe climates might appear less durable than it really is, simply because its owners confront corrosion or road-salt damage sooner.
What long-tenure SUVs signal for shoppers
Even with those caveats, the pattern at the top of the rankings offers practical guidance. SUVs that share platforms and powertrains with high-volume pickups or crossovers appear to benefit from the same economies of scale that keep work trucks on the road. For buyers, that suggests paying attention not just to a model’s reputation but also to how much of its hardware is shared with other vehicles in the lineup. A niche engine or transmission may deliver distinctive performance, yet it can complicate long-term ownership if parts become scarce.
Long average ownership spans also hint at slower depreciation curves. When original owners hold onto a vehicle for a decade or more, fewer low-mileage examples cycle into the used market, which can support higher resale values. That dynamic is evident in asking prices for older Land Cruisers and 4Runners, which often command a premium relative to similarly aged crossovers. For shoppers willing to keep a vehicle well past its loan term, paying more upfront for a model with proven staying power can pencil out over time.
Ultimately, the iSeeCars analysis underscores that longevity is as much about ecosystem support as it is about initial build quality. Robust parts networks, mechanic familiarity, and a loyal owner base all contribute to the decision to keep an SUV on the road into its second decade. Until more granular registration and maintenance data becomes publicly accessible, buyers will have to triangulate from studies like this one, broader fleet statistics, and their own tolerance for risk when betting on which SUVs are truly built to last.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
