To me, the most durable are those high mileage vehicles that are old and still on the road in service. Being old is not enough if it is constantly in for repairs or in grandma's garage,

I guess insurance companies would have the best data,

 

This is really interesting. I wouldn't neccessarily say that a BMW or Mercedes is more "mechanically durable", its just that they hold so much appeal and cache that people are willing to do what they need to do to keep them running for longer, hence they stay around longer than a Toyota that even though it may be more mechanically durable loses its appeal to a consumer much more quickly than a BMW or Mercedes.

You still turn heads in a 10 year old Mercedes...20 year old Mercedes...and there will always be people who will keep fixing them.

 

Lol but you just defeated your own statement, the G wagon is way more desirable than any Toyota/Lexus SUV

 

Nah. G wagon is great, but breaks too easy..need to get bare bones which were never sold in the USA in the 1980s or 1990s…so you have to import. .

Land Cruiser 80 is the ultimate SUV…and/or ultimate Toyota SUV.

 

If you attempted what a G-wagon can and is rated to do it would instantly kill any land cruiser.

The LC is great for what it is but it's not a G-wagon

 

With all due respect, don't bet on it. Land Cruisers have not achieved the popularity they have in extreme Third-World conditions (Deserts, Swamps, Jungles, etc...) for nothing.....it has been richly earned.

The G-Wagen, meanwhile, excels in what it was originally designed to be...a military vehicle for the German and Austrian armies, dating back to the late 1970s.

 

No it wouldn’t. Not from the 80s series era. Maybe in the modern era as they even had V12s__but those are our novelty Gs. The other Land Cruiser that is worth gold is a 105 series….basically 80s series chassis with a 100 series body.

Joe Biden just rolled up into Ukraine to meet Zelensky in a Land Cruiser. Mercedes is too unreliable.

 

interesting thread!


I don’t quite see how durability is being measured here long term, it’s maybe long term desirability of used vehicles? IMO People are willing to make more of an investment in repairing relatively high dollar value cars vs old vehicles they simply let fall into a state of disrepair.

 

From all the car meets I’ve attended. American cars seem to be the easiest to keep on the road long term. Cheap parts…tons of aftermarket. Practically any shop would work on it. Japanese from the 1980s seem to be rarer and rarer I never see Audi or VW or Mercedes. But lots of BMW.







something tells me, that this is super complicated and expensive to maintain. But I could be wrong. This is a rare unicorn at the show

 

That says it all.