Loading page
Preview data: all rankings, scores, votes, refresh labels, methodology, testing and editorial-process statements in Top 49 are illustrative demo content, not live measurements or documented reviews.
Rank 071Up 1
#7 in Most Reliable Cars
of 16 ranked entries
Toyota Camry
Toyota · introduced 1982
The best-selling car in America for the better part of two decades running, the Camry earned that position less through excitement than through an almost boring consistency — few surprises, low running costs, and a resale value that has made it a default recommendation for buyers who just want a car to disappear into the background of their life. Recorded specifics: country Japan, launched 1982, high-mileage benchmark 250 k mi. Panel highlighted best-selling car in America for the better part of two decades, a reliability and satisfaction track record few rivals can match, hybrid variant extended its reputation for low running costs into electrified powertrains without a durability compromise and consistently strong resale value keeps total cost of ownership genuinely competitive. The reservation on record is styling and driving character have historically prioritised inoffensive consistency over any real driver engagement.
Sedan
Score breakdown
How Toyota Camry earned 87.6
Each criterion is scored independently, then combined using the weights published on Most Reliable Cars.
- Long-term durabilityweight 35%
- 85.8
- Cost of ownershipweight 25%
- 87.2
- Owner satisfactionweight 20%
- 88.6
- Resale value retentionweight 20%
- 90.1
On the record
Recorded detail
| Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Launched | 1982 |
| High-mileage benchmark | 250 |
| Rating | 8.7 |
Panel verdict
Strengths and reservations
What it gets right
- Best-selling car in America for the better part of two decades, a reliability and satisfaction track record few rivals can match
- Hybrid variant extended its reputation for low running costs into electrified powertrains without a durability compromise
- Consistently strong resale value keeps total cost of ownership genuinely competitive
Where it gives ground
- Styling and driving character have historically prioritised inoffensive consistency over any real driver engagement
1 appearance
Where this entry ranks
From the same list
Ranked alongside it
Rank 01Editor’s pickToyota Land Cruiser
Toyota · introduced 1951
Originally built for the Japanese police under a US military request during the Korean War, the Land Cruiser has since become the default vehicle for the UN, the Red Cross and NGOs across Africa and the Middle East specifically because it keeps running with minimal parts and support in places with no dealer network at all.
98.3/100 Top 49 score1Up 1
Rank 02Editor’s pickLexus LS 400
Lexus · introduced 1989
Toyota engineers reportedly tore down and rebuilt dozens of Mercedes S-Class sedans to identify every possible failure point before designing the LS 400 to beat them on reliability specifically, then road-tested prototypes for over a million cumulative miles before launch — a validation process the luxury-car establishment had never attempted at that scale.
95.4/100 Top 49 score1Down 1
Rank 03Editor’s pickToyota Hilux
Toyota · introduced 1968
Britain’s Top Gear spent an entire episode trying and failing to destroy a Hilux — submerging it in the sea, setting it on fire, dropping it from a building, then demolishing an occupied tower block around it — and the truck started every time afterward. The stunt was theatre, but the underlying reputation for near-indestructibility long predates the show.
94.7/100 Top 49 score2Down 2
Rank 04Mercedes-Benz W123 (300D)
Mercedes-Benz · 1976–1985
Diesel W123s have become taxi-fleet legend for reportedly exceeding a million kilometres on their original engines with basic maintenance, over-engineered at a level Mercedes itself would later consider commercially unsustainable once cost pressure caught up with the rest of the industry.
93.0/100 Top 49 score3Up 3
Rank 05Toyota 4Runner
Toyota · introduced 1984
Toyota has resisted the industry-wide shift to unibody crossover construction for the 4Runner longer than almost any rival, keeping body-on-frame architecture specifically because owners in the used-truck market consistently prize its simplicity and durability over the smoother ride a unibody design would offer.
89.9/100 Top 49 score3Down 3
Rank 06Honda Accord
Honda · introduced 1976
Rarely the most exciting car in its class in any given generation, the Accord has instead spent five decades quietly topping owner-satisfaction and long-term reliability surveys by doing the unglamorous things — engine longevity, resale value, service costs — better than flashier competitors.
88.0/100 Top 49 score2Up 2
Rank 08Lexus RX
Lexus · introduced 1998
Created the luxury crossover segment more or less by itself in 1998, betting that buyers would trade a traditional luxury sedan’s road manners for a taller ride height and more cargo space — a bet that paid off badly for slower-moving German rivals who spent years catching up to the category Lexus had already claimed.
84.8/100 Top 49 scoreNewNew entry
Rank 09Subaru Outback
Subaru · introduced 1994
Marketed from the start at buyers who wanted all-wheel-drive capability without the fuel and size penalty of a traditional SUV, the Outback built a loyal following, especially in snowbelt and rural markets, on the strength of standard all-wheel drive and a boxer engine layout that lowers the car’s centre of gravity.
84.2/100 Top 49 score3Up 3
Explore more of Top 49
Top 49 rankings are editorial. Scores are produced from the published criteria on each list and are refreshed on the cadence stated there. Figures shown across this section are curated demonstration data.