These Are the Most-Driven Vehicles In Each U.S. City
iSeeCars just released its study of the most-driven cars in 2019. Some of the trends that it mentioned aren’t unusual, such as SUVs being the most popular car body type. Indeed, all of the most-driven vehicles in urban areas were SUVs.
Before you take the study’s findings as gospel though, do note that iSeeCars stated that its study only counts cars that are at least 10 years old. Regardless, here’s a quick rundown of the most-driven vehicles in metropolitan areas. If your metropolitan area isn’t on this list, you might find it on iSeeCars’s full study page.
1. Chevrolet Suburban
Despite having a lot of issues, the Suburban is the most-driven car in the majority of metropolitan areas that iSeeCars surveyed. The Suburban was ranked first in these nine areas:
Atlanta, GA, Cleveland-Akron, OH, Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX, Denver, CO, Detroit, MI, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL, New York, NY, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, CA, and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA.
The Suburban is a very large SUV and it can seat up to eight people. That size means that it gets poor gas mileage, as it gets a combined 18 mpg. It’s also not the safest SUV around as it didn’t perform spectacularly in crash tests. But car owners seem to enjoy driving the Suburban, even if it has a price tag of about $50,000.
2. GMC Yukon XL
With the most cargo room available of any SUVs on the market, the Yukon XL is an SUV that’s larger than life. Clearly, consumers want that as the Yukon XL was the most-driven SUV in these seven metropolitan areas:
Chicago, IL, Houston, TX, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, Orlando-Daytona Beach, FL, Seattle-Tacoma, WA, Tampa-St Petersburg, FL, Washington, DC.
Like the Suburban, the Yukon XL is a massive SUV, but unlike the Suburban, the Yukon XL doesn’t have the history of safety issues that the Suburban has. With over 120 cubic feet of cargo room and at a starting price of about $52,000, the Yukon XL earns its place on this list with its practical and powerful features.
3. Toyota Land Cruiser
Another massive, full-sized SUV, the Land Cruiser is the most-driven car in three metropolitan areas. They are:
Boston, MA-Manchester, NH, Philadelphia, PA, and Phoenix, AZ.
A key reason why only large SUVs have made it onto this list is because of the nature of the iSeeCars study. Only cars that have been driven for at least 10 years were counted, so naturally, cars that last a long time and are maintained for a long time are the winners of the study.
It’s no surprise then that the Land Cruiser is considered to be one of the most reliable and longest-lasting cars on the market. Its massive size allows it to be very roomy and quite comfortable for drivers. However, its size does give it a terrible fuel economy, which with the standard engine is a mere 13 city mpg and 18 highway mpg.
It’s also the most expensive SUV on this list, as it starts at about $85,000. Regardless of those downsides, it’s still one of the most-driven cars in the U.S. today.
4. Dodge Durango
Keen-eyed readers may have noticed that Los Angeles is nowhere to be found on this list. Well, that’s because L.A. is the only city in the top 20 metropolitan areas that drives the Durango around the most.
Unlike the other SUVs on this list, the Durango is not a full-sized SUV, it’s just a mid-sized SUV. However, it does do everything you’d expect an SUV to do, such as being spacious and sporty at the same time. It also has a decent gas mileage for an SUV, as it gets a combined 21 mpg with its standard engine.
Furthermore, the Durango is also the cheapest SUV on this list, as it starts out at just $30,000.