Toyota Camry - The Midsize Car People Keep The Longest

The top-selling midsize car in America is also the one owners keep the longest.

Have you ever bought a car you loved the day it came home from the dealership, but that gave you fits shortly after, prompting thoughts of selling it on? If the car you bought was a Camry, the chances are you answered "no."

The 2006 Camry in the above image is no accident. We picked it because it represents the car that one in five Camry buyers from 2006 are still driving. No midsize car in America has such a positive effect on its buyers. This according to iSeeCars, who recently completed an analysis of 2.5 million vehicle transactions to get a handle on which vehicles people keep the longest. The group used a metric we find very interesting. They ranked vehicles by what percentage of owners keep the car longer than ten years. The Camry is tops in its segment with 20.3% of owners keeping the Carmy they buy for more than ten years. The Accord does well too, with 17.7% of its buyers holding on to their car for more than ten years. Contrast these number with the Altima's results, which the group found were kept for ten years or longer only 13.3% of the time.

This new study is just more evidence that the Camry is still America's favorite midsize family sedan. We have explained in the past why many automotive reviewers miss the Camry's greatness. Frankly, they are looking in the wrong places. Journalists who live to drive muscle cars and race cars have a skewed perception of what a family car should be. Don't believe us? Look for the words "Skidpad" and "0-60 MPH time" in reviews at popular car magazines. Family buyers looking for the best sedan do not care about those types of things. What do they care about? That the Camry has the best overall value. That the Camry is the most reliable car of its type. That Camry is the safest car of its type.

The next time you read a review of a car you are considering, ask yourself if you want to really love it for the long term. If you answer yes, consider a Toyota. Half of the top ten car models people keep the longest are made by that one brand.