Hammer Time: The TI-QI Top Ten

Steven Lang
by Steven Lang

At what point are you willing to accept a low-ball offer for your old beater?

Is it when the tranny blows out? Or does it eventually come through the scourge of rust, and the constant breaking of electric doo-dads that no longer work all through your doo-dah-day?

Some folks simply get bored of their ride. While others just try to drive their cars until their bodies become the rolling representation of swiss cheese.

Everyone has a reason to curb a car. Thanks to the efforts of Nick Lariviere (

I now need to figure out one simple thing.

What does all this data tell me?

Well, for one thing, I’ve figured out that a lot of this information reaffirms my past prejudices about what tends to be worth buying at the whoelsale auctions, and what vehicles should be avoided at all costs.

So what to buy used then? OK. Here are the top ten most reliable used vehicles according to the TI-QI Index.

1. Lexus LX Series

Lexus LX

Quality Index Rating: 8.09

Sample Size: 230

See how that little yellow hump peaks at right around 200,000 miles?

These vehicles are the automotive version of granite. They are heavy as hell, don’t age, and will most assuredly squash off whatever vehicular bugs and cockroaches are on the road should the Zombie Apocalypse ever take place.

2. Toyota Land Cruiser

Quality Index Rating: 7.42

Sample Size: 183

The Land Cruiser would be the Toyota of Lexuses if Lexus had a Toyota that wasn’t already a Lexus. See what I mean? Not really? Neither do I.

Just look at that nice big yellow wave of space after the two intersection points and forget I ever wrote that.

3. Ford E250

Quality Index Rating: 6.37

Sample Size: 109

The van of choice for locksmiths, utility workers, parts haulers and a highway beacon for young ambulance chasers who can’t afford their daytime TV commercials just yet.

I have a theory that when Comcast and AT&T are forced into the bankruptcies they rightly deserve, these vehicles will follow them into extinction.

Every one of them drinks gas like an old Lincoln, and there is already a massive glut of these vans in the used car marketplace.

You can’t kill em’. But like minivans, the buyer base is shrinking.

4. Lexus LS

Quality Index Rating: 5.99

Sample Size: 561

Okay, the orange hump represents all the vehicles traded in before the Lexus on average.

The yellow bulge after the intersection point represents all the LS models that are kept for the longer haul. Note the substantial difference in the 250k to 300k zone.

Green means great. Yellow means good. Red means Suzuki.

5. Dodge Sprinter

Quality Index Rating: 5.94

Sample Size: 43

Okay, 43 vehicles don’t exactly offer a big slice full of data. What matters here is the name. Dodge.

Dodge, as in thankfully nowhere near a typical Dodge. It’s a Mercedes that was once sold as a Freightliner and is now just a turbodiesel Benz in drag.

6. Toyota 4Runner

Quality Index Rating: 5.8

Sample Size: 1626

Another Toyota SUV that consumes gas with aplomb. These things are less economical than a Town Car, and almost as good looking, but that doesn’t matter in the end.

If the LX and Land Cruiser are the king of SUV’s on an international scale, then the 4Runner is Gollum equipped with a jedi sword, an UZI and a chainsaw.

7. Toyota Avalon

Quality Index Rating: 5.15

Sample Size: 1125

You see a trend here? That’s right! The first five vehicles are all built on truck and SUV platforms, and the other two can cause numbness of the extremities.

What helps the Avalon is that the first two generations were insanely over-engineered, and most mature folks like to drive their ride with a tap instead of a stomp.

8. Lexus GX

Quality Index Rating: 4.93

Sample Size: 251

What the hell is a GX? Lexus needs to stop using acronyms and start using names such as, “Endurante” and “Hedgehog”.

On second thought, maybe GX is perfectly fine.

9. Ford Excursion

Quality Index Rating: 4.9

Sample Size: 279

The Ford Canyonero really isn’t an SUV. It’s the future of family housing after the US government decides that free enterprise is too expensive.

10. Saturn LS1

Quality Index Rating: 4.88

Sample Size: 57

Who? What? Huh?

Well, I have this theory… GM designed these Saturns to run on meth.

At least it seems to attract that type of customer base in my neck of the woods. I have one of these that’s now on it’s third run through with the local meth clientele.

The first customer had a wife and kid on meth. The second was a user of meth, and the third is a distributor of meth.

When I first got it, my wife liked the color and wanted to keep it. But it never ran quite right for her. It needed meth.

As soon as I fixed the fuel pump and retailed it, no problems. It has gone through three addicts so far and has taken more abuse than the local public defender. Still runs fine.

Why? It must be the meth. I can think of no other reason why it’s in the top ten.

Steven Lang
Steven Lang

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  • DC Bruce DC Bruce on Nov 25, 2013

    If I haven't already done so, let me welcome you back to TTAC, Mr. Lang! This is an interesting study, and it confirms my own "horse sense" with one glaring exception: the Mercedes/Dodge Sprinter van. One of the things that has been done with these is sell them to RV makers, like Winnebago, who then build a compact RV on the chassis and sell them to gramma and grandpa who decide that, in their retirement, they'd like to see the USA. The sales pitch that brings them in is that, in exchange for doll-house sized accommodations (but good enough for two), they will achieve 15-16 mpg seeing the USA, as compared with maybe 10 mpg for a gasoline powered, van-based "class C" RV or maybe 6 mpg for a gasoline powered "Class A" RV if they want more room. Diesel versions of those "Class A's" might manage 10 mpg on a good day. Unfortunately gramma and grampa are not told about the temperamental Mercedes engine, which like all diesels with particulate filters, is still using its owners as beta testers to get the technology right. And, of course, you are dealing with Mercedes-priced parts and the fact that your vehicle really can't be serviced at a Dodge dealer or a Mercedes car dealership because they're unlikely to have a mechanic on staff who's been trained to fix these powertrains. You get to go to a Freightliner service center, and wait in line with all the Big Rigs. Fun for the grandkids! The RV forums are full of horror stories about these vehicles . . . and yet, the suckers are expensive, more than $100K, even used. Somehow, the system you're using isn't picking this up.

  • Jimbob457 Jimbob457 on Nov 25, 2013

    Just for fun I decided to follow up on (I think) your lowest rated used car, the dreaded Land Rover Freelander. I must say that on Edmunds.com the hate mail was astonishing.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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