I’d say car and truck commercials don’t talk about toughness like they used to, but then I realized I haven’t seen a car or truck commercial in what feels like years. I see plenty of dealership commercials, mind you, but all they shout about is low prices, no one beats our low prices, the prices are low, check out our low prices. Actual “car / truck has features” talk? Yeah, no.
Now, back when I was seeing car commercials on the regular, they mostly just blended together. However, a few stood out because of some amazing and/or bizarre visuals (see the Robert Able-produced “Never Before” Corvette spot, this 1987 Corsica commercial, and the Plymouth Duster cocaine factory) or because the commercials were good for a laugh – Joe Isuzu, I’m looking at you.
A particular category of car-ad now seemingly long gone are ads that tout toughness, like this Subaru Justy spot that trades on the idea that everyone knows Subarus are tough:
Just go ahead and slam the shit out of this poor guy’s doors, eff him. Where does this poor Justy pilot live, downtown Bullyville? These people need to be maced.
Ford went SUPER hard on toughness with the F-150 ads that I most vividly recall from my childhood. Who can forget these high-concept stunts?
Big fan of Cinderblock Mountain:
Ours was once a land of cinderblock and log mountains pic.twitter.com/LX6iXVzs0G
— The Autopian (@the_autopian) November 6, 2022
Gotta say, the Twin I-Beam Suspension in mustard-and-ketchup paint is fantastic.
I’m inclined to say the ’78 Ford F-150 and ’88 Subaru Justy are the all-time toughest cars and trucks based on those spots alone, but surely you have your own opinions – and I can certainly attest to my 2000 Honda Civic being the toughest car I’ve ever owned, from a “logging nearly 200,000 miles with maybe three oil changes” perspective.
You tell me:
What Are The All-Time Toughest Cars And Trucks?
Panther Crown Vic with a 4.6 is a taxi and police car for a reason.
The OBS GMT400’s are popular now for a reason, the 700R4 or 4L60 being the one area of some complaint.
“The one area”…don’t forget the pre-rusted brake lines from the factory and shit-tastic intake manifold gaskets. They’re still fantastic vehicles but, like everything, have their “things.”
Mine had been a meter reader truck and its 4L60E had already been reubuilt. Score!
First gen Ford F’in Ranger. There’s even a song about it! A college buddy had one, and he didn’t change the oil for years. Just added oil as it burned. And you still see them working hard every day.
https://youtu.be/UZX-jtYuFfI?si=bMEdidz7NkxIjR9d
My 2004 Crown Vic police car is about to compete in its 4th demolition derby (it got 2nd place two derbies ago).
The iconic Peugeot 504 and 505!
The obvious answer is Land Cruiser.
Specifically the ones built up to 1997. The independent suspension in the FJ100 was a mistake in my opinion.
Ford Model T. Yes, the Hilux is probably the obvious choice and ‘rugged’ is also dependent on what metric you are using (overall years of life? take a beating? highest mileage?) but hear me out anyway. The Model T was vehicle that was purposely designed for a world that didn’t yet have real roads for the most part and for a world that was still used to horses and wagons, (the Little House on the Prairie variety, not the mythical brown, stickshift, AWD diesel ones favored here). Because of this, the T was simple, rugged and surprisingly capable. Seeing how early drivers managed to get them through cornfields, down muddy, rutted tracks and up mountains that a modern kitted out Rubicon would have trouble with is incredible. They were used as family cars, delivery trucks, depot hacks, tow trucks, coal delivery dumps, cargo trucks and even farm tractors some cases. It was a vehicle designed to do it all, take it all, be easy to repair/maintain and just keep on working.
What a horrible way to treat a car with only 3 oil changes in 200,000 miles.
My Dads 3rd gen Dodge Caravan. Yes technically it’s a truck.
Despite having the lowest of the low 2.4L I4/3A FWD only drive train it did more rutted dirt driving than most American trucks and SUVs will ever see, including the lows of Death Valley’s Leadville and the highs of Telluride’s infamous Black Bear pass. No we did not go all the way but we got much further than we had expected. We gave up, the van did not. On OEM tires.
That’s tough!
It also hauled a lot more stuff than many trucks will ever see. I don’t recall it’s official load capability, I expect we exceeded it a few times though. It only lacked in towing…sort of. We still managed to tow cars home despite a lack of a hitch with rope. So it could pull at least 3000 lbs. Probably more.
Doing shit way beyond what it was designed to do? That’s tough!
But the biggest challenge was not off roading. It was not hauling. It was the complete and utter neglect it received from my Dad. He was also not the best driver to put it mildly, refusing to rest on long road trips even after nodding off multiple times, driving balls out in Tule fog, etc. At times I was reminded of Toonces the Driving Cat. It showed in the crumpled front fender, the door that couldn’t be opened all the way, the bashed taillight, multiple creases, dents, scratches and other body damage. It took all his punishment and still caressed him in a cocoon of safety wee wee wee all the way home.
Putting up with my dad’s abuse and not killing him at the first opportunity? That’s tough!
Eventually he fried the transmission after I had repeatedly warned him about the thick chocolate milkshake flowing in his cooling system and strawberry milkshake ATF. His ego refused to admit he had FU. Somehow despite running that chocolate milkshake and overheating enough to blow steam multiple times the head gasket didn’t blow, the engine didn’t crack. Nothing happened to the engine.
That’s tough!
He eventually caved and bought the cheapest aftermarket radiator he could find (the oil to ATF leak was in there, caused by the previously mentioned crash damage) only because the constant overheating was getting in the way of his long drives. I put it in. It was shockingly easy.
Easy DIY. That’s its own kind of tough.
Yes I replaced the ATF but the damage was done. He drove on that dying transmission for WEEKS! It finally died just like I had warned him it would. I thought that van was done for. But no, he then had a local shop rebuild the transmission for $1500.
That’s cheap! Which is also its own kind of tough.
He would go camping in that thing just him and the dog. And he NEVER cleaned it out. It smelled like a humid doghouse floating in an overfull medieval cesspit on a hot day. He could not smell it having lost that sense from decades of heavy smoking and refused to accept the truth. I got fed up and cleaned it out for him. It was the horror show you don’t want to think about. I found…things. 20 years later I still can’t unsee it. Or unsmell it.
Shockingly a good vacuuming and various cleaners did a remarkable job. Most of the stains came out. Enzyme cleaners were not yet available, had they been I think it would have cleaned up far better.
That’s tough too!
So my vote for toughest truck? The Ace of Base, the 3rd gen Dodge Caravan SE.
Dear Wife’s OBS F250 just carries or pulls whatever gets piled onto it. More importantly, it seems undeterred by her Technology Disruption Field, something I chalk up to the vast amounts of cold iron in in its construction and the pre-OBD barely-digital EFI.
12V cummins in D250’s and 2006 LBZ Duramaxes tend to be a bit more long lived as long as the frames don’t rust tot he ground around it.
So it’s not running an EEC-IV? Those are becoming more and more finicky, plus depending on the year/engine, you have the weirdo ignition componentry to deal with. That’s assuming you can get it started and the ignition switch actuator rod and starter solenoid haven’t taken a shit.
I’d give the nod to the GM products of the era…they’re not perfect either but IME are less funky.
Yeah, EEC-IV, I’ve thought about converting to mass airflow but I don’t want to risk breaking something that already works.
I’m going to say the 3rd gen Ford Expedition. The geology department of our local university has several of these in their motor pool and these expeditions have seen some stuff. Anyone who knows geologists knows that these Expeditions have been down roads that your local mall going bro-dozer with a 3-inch lift and 37″ tires only dreams of going. Most of them are now over 200K miles (and those were not easy miles) and are only just starting to show signs of their hard life. I must say seeing those Expeditions (and having driven them up some pretty sketchy trails) has given me renewed respect for the blue oval.
I have a second gen that just goes and drives great for what it is. They are about the cheapest decent vehicle you can find sometimes. My cousin has a fleet of the third gens because he was amazed at how they just work. Coils and plugs on the 5.4 is not fun though. That’s what takes most of them out I think. Most shops want around $1500 to $2k to do the job. People send them down the river for that.
I’ll throw one out here that I haven’t seen yet. 1990-1998 Subarus with the EJ22 engine (and a stick probably but I don’t think the autos were bad either). The EJ22 was basically indestructible, none of the head-gasket issues of the 2.5, thicker cylinder walls, not enough power to hurt anything, and was non-interference (even though it still had a timing belt). The Subaru cars of the 1990s were overbuilt like all other 90s Japanese cars. I had a 1996 Legacy with an EJ22 and a 5-speed and it took more abuse than any other car I’ve owned.
The only tougher engine is probably a Buick 3800 but everybody else has already said that.
Fixed up a friend’s ’97 Impreza to sell to another friend, and while I feel bad I didn’t get the maximum fair price for friend A, I was pleased that young friend B was launched into the wild world in the best li’l shuttlecraft the Federation had to offer, and a little extra money in the pocket.
My wife inherited an Impreza of that vintage that hit a deer on left side, hit a deer on the right, had a Land Rover saries II back into it with those weird bumpers and a Pinter hitch, that was before we got it, then it got hit by a UPS truck, twice. It survived being loaded up and a full roof rack at full throttle for two hours at a time
It had leaks in the hatch from not sealing quit right one of the UPS trucks so I drilled a couple of holes in the spare tire well. At 200, miles my wife got a VW Passat wagon and I gave the Impreza to a friend who tiptoed it up a bit and gave it to his daughter who put another 120,000 miles on it before it was down graded to the car they leave with the keys in it for guests to borrow. It looks like he’ll and rust is close to termanl but it still gets around their estate and can pull a 20 foot boat on a trailer from the river to the barn
None of the bad things that happen to Subaru happened to this particular one.
The Passat is long gone.
My wife replaced it with a crosstek or whatever it’s called. It doesn’t feel like it’s going to last like the Impreza
the Achilles heal of all things Subaru is the awd system. it is great when working, but expensive to make work when it is not. ends up being the scrap reason on too many of them.
Girlfriend (now wife) had the bubble-style 1995 Subie wagon. 2.2 and the 5 speed. Gutless, seats were awful. Valve covers couldn’t keep oil in and she wouldn’t check the oil level, ran it low to where the valves were rattling multiple times. Sold it at 280,000 miles, original engine and clutch. Impressive.
Hilux, 1/2 ton Chevy and Ford Pickups, old Mercedes, Crown Vic, and the Caprice.
As an “old”, I’ll put in a word for International pickups and Travelalls. The 1/2 tons had frame of a 3/4 ton and they had truck engines put in far larger medium duty trucks and school busses. They were tough.
I remember there was some asshole around here who’d tow older street-parked vehicles to sell them for scrap, and the worst part was that he preferred IH Scouts because they had more steel in them than your usual Explorer or whatever.
They are tough solid old trucks. It’s a shame parts are so hard to find for them. You can build a complete Chevy or Ford truck from someones parts catalog. You are lucky if you can find a wheel cylinder for an old international.
On a lot of farms, equipment that really should have been based on tractors was built on IH pickups.
Tree shapers even. The only weak spot was that the radiators would shake loose, but a little reinforcement fixed that.
Of those I’ve owned, I’d have to give it to the Volvo 240 for sturdiness and simplicity (what’s not there can’t break).
Of all time… I dunno. Maybe a diesel taxi Mercedes W123 currently still tooling around Morocco or someplace like that.
I will rise to the bait, my Bentley. Built in 1931, just goes and goes. They made a hundred of the things, all of them are still going and going. It had a big service recently, best guess first full engine rebuild in roughly two million miles. Hilariously I used it to tow a medium size trailer that was carrying a Unimog as a seized portal axle was beyond my sledgehammer.
What? you thought I was not going to answer this?
OK, but which one gets to tow the Deltic?
That has its own trailer, it is quite big and usually pulled by a period correct ERF semi tractor,not mine, I do not have the right licence but It does sometimes get pulled by one of the Fowlers, for which I am licenced (yes it is odd). This has not been a big Traction engine year, massive coal burning very hot toys and 1% of average rainfall do not sensibly mix. I have used the Unimog sometimes but only locally, it is not much quicker than the steam things. The Deltic still runs but again, not a clever thing to do in a bone dry field. I have bought a lot of fire extinguishers this year!
Based on vehicles I owned, the 70’s 3/4 ton square body Chevy pickup with a basic 350 didn’t want to die until some 30 years later and five different owners in the family, someone ran it without oil. But after an engine swap it kept going, rusted out body, mismatched panels, random seat on 2×4’s inside, a toggle switch dangling from wires instead of a key. Last I heard it was still someplace running and being driven, somehow.
Runner up would be the ’84 Mazda B2000 I bought off a kid who drove it into the back of a school bus. One replacement hood, and fender hammering, and it got me around and through some crazy stuff, like blowing three of four tires on a curb hit, landing in a surprise ditch someone dug on a road, and mudbogging during some monsoons. The only thing that stopped it was inhaling water into the transmission, and the previous owner buying it back then blowing a head gasket and getting caught running drugs. It ended up at some police impound lot and was gone before I could figure out how to get it
Cheap older Japanese compact cars. Not much to go wrong on them. They’ll run great with the barest of maintenance. And as a result, you can’t get rid of it because it still works.
Case in point: my aunt and uncle had a bare-bones Corolla wagon back in the 80s. When they moved on from it, they d
Sold it to my cousin, who drove it for years. He then sold it to his nephew, who drove it for years. He then have it to his sister. It was finally taken from us by a car accident (the sister was fine).
It had to be killed. It. Would. Not. Die.
Toyota Hilux. They fought real tanks and attack helicopters, and won.
There is a war named after it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War
That is a damn good choice. Fun Fact: The entire idea came from the French.
I am biased as I own one, but 3rd gen Ford Rangers. The newest one of these is 15 years old but you still see plenty of them on the road. Are they the most reliable? Refined? Nope, and nope. But, they take abuse and just keep going.
The toughest is probably a W123 Mercedes used as a bush taxi though…
Toyota Hilux… Top Gear couldn’t kill it!
I can’t believe no one has mentioned the Grumman LLV yet. How are those little bastards still groaning and growling their way up the street every day, delivering the mail, when the newest one is more than thirty years old?
They are basically a tin can with doors, so there’s basically nothing to break
The LLV of Theseus.
Most have had serval engine and transmission swaps over their lifetime. Iron Duke and th180 not exactly know for long life
Being a diehard GMT400 guy, I’ll say…GMT400s. My ‘96 has 250k and still going strong, and there’s a guy locally to me that has a ‘94 with 550k miles. I know of at least 3 GMT400s with over a million miles in the US. Sure, there are newer diesel trucks that can rival this kind of longevity, but all 3 of the million-mile GMTs are gassers. I would classify that as a tough machine.
1969-1978 fullsize Fords, Mercurys and Lincolns.
They’d get old, ragged and worn out before they ever actually died – and if anything did immobilize them outside of a collision, it was a relatively cheap and easy fix to put them back on the road.
The later Panther’s may be even more durable. Same for B-body GM product.
Long ago someone described how they felt there was a definite difference between reliable and durable when it comes to vehicles. The reliable vehicle will work as advertised with very little maintenance or even thought up to a certain point, at which it’s usually replaced with another reliable vehicle. A durable vehicle will take a surprising amount of abuse and just keep going. You’ll get to a point where the list of things wrong with it is longer than the list of things still working. Think: tail light is out, there’s a dent in every body panel, don’t open the rear passenger door because it won’t close, second gear is hard to find so just grab third, sometimes to stop you should make sure there’s a stout tree in front of you, etc. But the thing just keeps chugging along. I associate toughness with that definition of durable and stand by the XJ Cherokee as the toughest vehicle I’ve ever encountered.
I owned a $1000 cockroach ’89 XJ 25 years ago. The nemesis of these vehicles is rust. The interior plastics wore like iron, and I had few electrical issues (aside from Renix). The 4.0L is damn near bulletproof.
My partner’s ’07 Corolla is damn near as durable The interior still looks near new and it runs like a top. The paint has taken a beating as it’s never been garaged. This car has never needed much more than brakes and batteries.
I”m surprised you could get a 4 liter Jaguar for that little after only ten years.
XJ Jeep Cherokee, year after the sale to Chrysler so it was still all AMC.