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Toyota Prius owners keep their cars longer than any other model but one

Toyota Prius hybrid owners keep their cars longer than almost any other model, according to a recent study that tracked the percentage of original owners who kept their new-vehicle purchases at least 10 years. Which model beat it out?

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Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters/File
A child walks past a Toyota Prius Hybrid car at a showroom in Tokyo .

Toyota Prius hybrid owners keep their cars longer than almost any other model.

That's according to a recent study that tracked the percentage of original owners who kept their new-vehicle purchases at least 10 years.

The bestselling hybrid was also the only one near the top of the list, although certainly not the only Toyota model.

The top five vehicles for long-term ownership were all Toyotas and Hondas, according to the iSeeCars study (via Wards Auto).

The Prius was in second place, with 28.5 percent of original owners keeping their cars for 10 years.

It was surpassed only by the Honda CR-V crossover, which was kept at least a decade by 28.6 percent of original owners.

Rounding out the top five were the Toyota RAV4 and Highlander crossovers--which garnered 28.2 percent and 26.5 percent, respectively--and the Honda Odyssey minivan, with 25.6 percent.

In fact, Honda and Toyota models occupied the top 15 slots, except number 11, which was taken by the Subaru Forester, with 22.9 percent of original owners keeping their cars for 10 years.

While the Prius has been on sale for more than a decade in the U.S., there are still lingering concerns about the long-term reliability of hybrid powertrains.

Cars that are 10 years old average about 150,000 miles, and the study shows that there are many Prius hybrids that have reached that mark.

"There are a rather large contingent of Toyota Prius owners who are happily touting the fact that their cars have logged 100,000 miles or more," said iSeeCars CEO Phong Ly.

And when these cars hit the used market, they reportedly attract more attention from shoppers.

One-owner cars are tend to be better cared for, Ly said, and buyers wondering about a car's past don't have to track a convoluted owner history.

The bottom of the list was occupied primarily by models from the Detroit Three and luxury brands.

It included models that are often sold to fleets or rental companies, like the Chevrolet Impala, Chrysler Sebring, and Ford Taurus.

Meanwhile, luxury models like the BMW 5 Series are often leased, and then traded in by their original owners at the end of the term.

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