What is this thing called love?

It’s a question that’s been asked by philosophers, poets and songwriters throughout the ages — and everyone’s answer is different.

iSeeCars’ solution — at least when it comes to car owners’ feelings about their vehicles — is to look at it by the numbers.

When a car’s original owner keeps it for more than 15 years, the data-driven car search and research company reasoned, it’s safe to assume that owner is pretty happy with that ride. So to create a list of the most-loved cars, iSeeCars looked at which models are kept longest by their owners.

The study analyzed more than 929,000 cars to determine which ones have the highest percentage of original buyers who keep their cars 15 years or longer, which the company said reflects a high degree of satisfaction with quality, reliability and ownership costs.

The results showed Toyota feeling the most love, with Toyota and its sister brand Lexus taking the top five spots and seven of the top nine on the overall most-loved vehicle list. In addition, four of the top seven vehicles were hybrids, including the No. 1-ranked Toyota Highlander Hybrid, with 7% of its original owners keeping it 15 years or longer – almost twice the industry average of 3.7%.

The rest of the top 10 models were the Toyota Camry Hybrid (6.9%), Toyota Highlander (6.6%), Toyota Tacoma (6.4%), Toyota Prius (6.3%), Honda CR-V (6.3%), Ford Escape Hybrid (6.3%), Toyota RAV4 (6.2%), Lexus IS 350 (5.8%) and Nissan Versa (5.7%).

“The functional, high-value nature of these models aligns with long-term ownership,” iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer said in the analysis. “If you’re keeping a car for 15 or more years you want reliability, practicality and fuel efficiency, traits all of these cars offer.”

Not surprisingly, the iSeeCars’ analysis showed Toyota to be the most-loved brand, with 5.6% of its 15-year-old and older vehicles still in the hands of their original owners. It was one of six brands — all from Asian automakers — above the industry average, followed by Honda (5.3%), Lexus (4.4%), Mazda (4.3%), Hyundai (4.2%) and Subaru (4.1%).

Toyota had six vehicles on the list of SUVs, which in addition to the five SUVs on the overall list, also included the sixth-ranked Subaru Forester (5.5%), Toyota Venza (5.2%), Honda Pilot (5.0%), Toyota 4Runner (4.8%) and Toyota Sequoia (4.7%).

Toyota’s Tacoma and Tundra (5.5%) were the most-loved trucks, ahead of the Honda Ridgeline (5.5%) and Nissan Frontier (5.2%).

“Most consumers can’t commit to a single vehicle for more than a decade, but those who do save a lot of money on their vehicle costs,” Brauer said. “Keeping a car for 15 years means no loan payment for most of that time, along with falling insurance and registration costs. Those reduced expenses can counter higher maintenance costs as a car ages, especially in durable models that hold up well over time.

“Ongoing improvements in vehicle design, engineering and build quality contribute to improving durability and lower maintenance costs in modern cars. Consumers can take advantage of those trends by keeping cars longer and leveraging their growing lifespan. That’s particularly true of high quality, high-value models that offer a wide range of uses, low maintenance costs, and high fuel efficiency.”