UPDATE: 2026/07/11 08:00 EST BY DAN CLOUGHER
We’ve added in a section that focuses on the K24’s fuel efficiency ratings, too.
If you were to take a guess at the longest-running engines ever built, you’d likely name a few diesels, like the Cummins B Series, especially the 5.9, and some legendary V8s, like the Toyota 1UZ. You know, real heavy-duty stuff. But, if there’s one powerplant that may have claim to call itself king of the million-milers, it’s probably the Honda K24, a straight-four that carried more than its fair share of SUVs, sedans, and hatchbacks to seven digits.
The K-Series family is about a quarter of a century old, now, with the K24 being among the first to hit the market. 25 years since Honda debuted these engines, we’re seeing more million-mile Civics and CR-Vs than ever. Here’s what you need to know about Honda’s greatest contribution to automotive engineering.
The K24 Had A 15-Year Run As Honda’s Go-To Four-Pot
2012 Honda Accord Crosstour 2.4L NA K24A I4 EngineHonda
The Honda K Series was initially intended for hot hatch applications. That is, Type-R Integras and Civics. The earliest K engines were K20As, 2.0-liter powerplants delivering up to 221 horsepower in performance compacts. From the start, the K series used aluminum blocks and heads with cast iron cylinder sleeves, forged crankshafts, and reinforced connecting rods. This results in an engine that you’d have a hard time breaking even if you took a pneumatic drill to it.
These first K engines hit the market in 2001, and the K24s, a 2.4-liter variant, debuted that same model year, finding its way into, well, pretty much every iconic Honda nameplate around this time. Accords, Odysseys, Elements, CR-Vs, Civics, you name it.
Honda K24 Engine
Displacement
2,354 cc NA 4-Cylinder
Bore
3.425 Inches
Stroke
3.898 Inches
Compression Ratio
9.6:1–11:1
The K Series was built with performance hatchbacks in mind, and modders have taken to it like ducks to water. We could list cool custom K24 projects all day long, but one of our favorites is a Porsche 911 engine swapped for a K-series.
We know, we know, engine-swapping a Porsche 911 with anything is sacrilege. The whole reason you buy a 911 is for the flat-six, right? But, as this car’s owner puts it, you can’t beat a K24 for reliability. When you’re slinging a car around the track, a K24 can take a lot more abuse than a flat-six, and you won’t have to wait for replacement parts to ship from Germany.
These Million-Mile Cars Prove That The K-Series Is Hard To Kill
A 2007 – 2009 Honda CR-V parkedHonda
Around this time a year ago, we covered a million-mile third-gen Honda CR-V driven by a family in Louisville, Kentucky. The mom and dad of the family, Joel and Susan Cram, documented their journey on social media, with local TV station WHAS11 eventually picking the story up.
2007 Honda CR-V
Engine
2.4-Liter NA 4-Cylinder
Power
166 hp
Torque
161 lb-ft
Transmission
5-Speed Automatic
Drivetrain
Front-Wheel Drive
The family managed to pack these miles onto the car thanks to Joel Cram’s work as a traveling sales agent, a gig that frequently had him driving all around Kentucky. This allowed the Crams to put a million miles on the SUV in just 12 years. Most drivers, according to the EPA, will put around 15,000 miles on their car each year. The Crams were averaging more than five times that, with most of it being highway miles.
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There Are Plenty Of K24 Drivers Out There Closing In On A Million Miles
A front three-quarter shot of a 2006-2007 Honda Accord CoupeHonda
If you frequent the Facebook group Mileage Impossible, you may have seen a post by user CJ Jeffries, whose 2005 Honda Accord was boasting 894,859 miles as of March 2025.
2006 Honda Accord
Engine
2.4-Liter NA 4-Cylinder
Power
166 hp
Torque
161 lb-ft
Transmission
5-Speed Automatic
Drivetrain
Front-Wheel Drive
We haven’t seen any updates on this car since, but give it another year or two, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Jeffries bragging about hitting a cool million.
The Whole K-Series Is Unbeatable
If you want to know what a million-mile eight-gen Si looks like with some juice running through its veins, check out this video of an eighth-gen Honda Civic Si starting up after three years, with 986,567 miles on the odometer, still boasting the original powertrain.
This is a 2.0, not a 2.4, but everything that makes the K20 reliable also makes the K24 reliable.
2006 Honda Civic (high performance Si)
Engine
2.0-Liter NA 4-Cylinder
Power
197 hp
Torque
139 lb-ft
Transmission
6-Speed Manual
Drivetrain
Front-Wheel Drive
Ready To Join The High-Mileage Club?
A detail shot of the 2007 – 2009 Honda CR-V’s engineHonda
Almost any engine can make it to a million miles. But, depending on your choice in powerplant, that journey could involve multiple rebuilds and tens of thousands of dollars in repairs. A K24 is the engine you go with when you want to get there with routine maintenance and safe driving, because what’s the point of putting a million miles on an engine that you should have replaced 750,000 miles ago?
You really can’t go wrong with any K24-powered automobile, as long as it’s in good shape and it hasn’t been modded, but it’s the family cars and daily-drivers that keep popping up on these million-mile lists. Your best bet is likely to be a third-generation Honda CR-V. So, what can we expect to spend on one of these?
Original MSRP
Fair Purchase Price
2007
$22,395
$4,125
2008
$22,535
$5,750
2009
$23,155
$6,125
2010
$23,575
$6,825
2011
$23,955
$8,250
They Are Efficient, Too
Furthermore, not only are these cars cheap to buy and cheap to repair, but, unlike super-durable V8s, they won’t see you getting on a first-name basis with every gas station attendant in the area either. OK, they are hardly class-leading engines in terms of fuel efficiency, an old Prius or Insight would be a better bet, but when looking to cover 100,000 miles or more each year, every MPG counts. Here’s what you can expect from a 2007 Honda CR-V, as an example:
- 2WD models were capable of 23 MPG around town, and 30 MPG on the highway
- 4WD models were slightly less efficient, rated to 22 MPG and 28 MPG respectively
Using a gas price of $3.85 per gallon, and assuming an average of 26 MPG, that puts average annual fuel costs at $2,221, assuming 15,000 miles per annum, For those hunting down the million-mile mark at a faster rate of knots, factor in fuel costs of $14,808 to hit 100,000 miles each year.
The K24 Is Mostly Hassle-Free
An action shot of the 2009 Honda CR-VHonda
According to RepairPal, a 2007 Honda CR-V should cost you just $349 in maintenance a year. The most expensive common fixes include the following.
- Airbag control module replacement $1,335–$1,391
- Air conditioning refrigerant line replacement $894–$972
- Yaw sensor replacement $801–$835
- Water pump replacement $760–$1,040
- Coolant change $295–$342
Worth noting: not one of these items is a major engine repair. The 2007 CR-V has a handful of engine complaints listed on CarComplaints, but that’s 12 complaints out of more than 1,000 reports total. Most of the third-gen CR-V’s issues come down to electronics and interior components more so than anything mechanical. Additionally, most of these engine complaints come in at around 100,000 to 150,000 miles or so. If you can make it to 400,000 miles in a 2007 Honda CR-V, it’s unlikely that you’re going to face any of these defects.
To put it one way: any engine can make it to a million miles, but a Honda K-Series has a good chance of getting there no matter who’s driving it. As long as you’re driving responsibly and not skipping oil changes, the road to a million miles should be, mostly, smooth sailing.
Sources: Honda, RepairPal, CarComplaints, Kelley Blue Book, AutoTempest.
