Well, up until the wiring burning itself into nonexistance, the '01 ZX3 I have would have probably held that honor......but I must digress. It now goes to the car that I should have never sold. 1999 Mercury Sable 24v 3L.......that bastard is still going strong with its current owners at 282k miles(still the original transmission) 
1978 Cordoba. I had two late 70's Impalas that never let me down, but I give the nod to the Chrysler. The Chevy's never broke, and that's good. But if they did, they would have stopped running. The Cordoba broke, rusted, caught on fire, had the suspension collapse, had parts fall off or seize and sustained lots of damage...but never stopped running. When you put an engine fire out with sandy seawater and car fires back up and gets you home, well that's reliable.
They aren't sexy, but the 4-banger, stick shift, '90's Accord and Camry seem to soldier on forever. I suspect that, in the road-salt-free parts of the country these things will start hitting half a million miles with regularity in a while. I worked on a bunch and they hold up as well as anything I can think of.
I had my ratty, beat-up '94 Accord apart around a quarter of a million miles (I bent a valve doing an adjustment) and the inside of the motor looked just about brand new. It's only needed a starter and an ABS pump in the ~80k or so miles I've had it.
I've had 2:
1967 Pontiac LeMans (still have) - went to 195k with nothing but oil changes, spark plugs, and points. Never had the valve covers off until then, when the dreaded GM nylon timing gear killed the oil pump. 7 out of 8 pistons were still in spec despite being driven 5-6 miles with zero oil pressure. Replaced the 1 piston, honed the cylinders, replaced the bearings and lifters. Driven it 75k since then. Had 1 rebuild to the Powerglide and could use another. Changed a couple wheel bearings and an alternator, all done in a parking lot. That's it.
1981 Honda Civic 1500 - went 300k with almost nothing but occasional oil changes, spark plugs, and 1 clutch. It was rolled over at 40k, fixed, and driven for another 260k before getting killed by a person pulling out in front of me.
My mechanic had a standing offer for my 02 Acura RSX, which met an untimely demise at the hands of an elderly driver at 174k miles, with only an o2 sensor needing to be replaced over its lifetime.
I've had quite a few cars and I suspect the lowest maintenance one was a '98 corolla that I hated. Sold it at 185k miles just because it was so boring.
The record has to belong to my buddy however. Mid '90s ranger 2.3 that in 10 years has only received one oil change (now has 225k miles) and that occurred when the oil filter rusted through allowing all the oil to leak out. He screwed on a new one and filled it back up. That was 7 years ago he probably hasn't opened the hood in the last 40 thousand miles.
In reply to pinchvalve:
But did it have soft Corinthian leather?
My '93 Civic Si.
It has had scheduled maintenance and consumables. The only thing that failed was a distributor at 40,000 miles.
2000 ZX2SR. Track days, hill climbs, ice race, daily driver.
Says so right in the ad:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/open-classifieds/2004-honda-accord-ex-l-v6-totally-mine-completely-affiliated/86458/page1/
99 Z24. Bought it for my wife as our family car. Almost 10 years, and 240k. Other than yearly oil changes, a set of wheel bearings and a few sets of front brake pads, I never replaced as much as a light bulb on that car.
I haven't kept a single car around long enough to have any real problems. Every one I buy gets a full tune up and brakes within the first couple weeks of ownership. With the exception of an 86 century I bought for 400 to get back and forth to work while I was having the transmission upgraded in my 86 GMC. Ironically the day the trans was ready to go back in the truck the transmission let go in the Buick
All of them that I have daily driven. The diesel left me stranded only because I didn't put a water pump on it before leaving on a 600 mile one way trip. It was already squealing from a failed bearing, it made 200 miles before failing.
'05 Civic SI, currently at 155k miles. Non-scheduled maintenance: head/tail bulbs, O2 sensor, heat-shield for cat. converter.
Still on the original struts/shocks and clutch...
Makes a heck of a nice STF car as well 
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/pj350/IMG_0298_zpsd57c2929.jpg
most reliable car I ever owned was my old 318ti. Even when it broke (once) it still got me home. It's one failure was the fuel pump, it managed to start one last time (after stalling) and ran just long enough to pull into my driveway before stalling and failing to start again.
60,000 miles of driven hard in all weather, with super hard bilstein PSS9 coilovers on 17inch rims... and it loved every minute of it
My 1982 Mazda GLC. I never did anything to it except the usual consumables. My wife's xB has had nothing but gas, oil and wiper blades in 8 years. It's still on the original brake pads.
Zomby Woof wrote: 99 Z24.
99 Sunfire 2.2L - Nothing but basic maintenance. I absolutely detest this car, but it. just. won't. die.
The flat in Tofino doesn't count - I don't tend to take many pictures of the car.
1987 E-150. My parents bought it new, eventually gave it to me. It has literally never left us stranded ever. a sensor went bad recently, a couple hoses and a radiator from nearly 30 years of northern driving and a couple other things, but it was always drive-able. The sensor was probably going bad slowly for the last couple years. I drove it to the store to buy the replacement sensor. even when something goes wrong, it still runs. I guess technically the radiator and hoses weren't malfunctioning, they just looked really bad and were replaced just in case.
The least reliable was my old '98 jetta. At one point there were multiple parts of the engine where if they got misted with a spray bottle, the engine would die until it dried out. Then, if it got too cold, even with the engine warmed up and running, the gas line would freeze up and the thing would die. I didn't live in the desert, I lived in wisconsin. Rain and cold happened a lot of the time. When there was nothing wrong, it wouldn't stay warmed up on exceptionally cold days (talking -10f or colder) when idling. I lost heat once idling in the parking lot of my high school waiting for them to let us in. The engine was already warmed up when I got there
Rufledt wrote: 1987 E-150. My parents bought it new, eventually gave it to me. It has literally never left us stranded ever. a sensor went bad recently, a couple hoses and a radiator from nearly 30 years of northern driving and a couple other things, but it was always drive-able. The sensor was probably going bad slowly for the last couple years. I drove it to the store to buy the replacement sensor. even when something goes wrong, it still runs. I guess technically the radiator and hoses weren't malfunctioning, they just looked really bad and were replaced just in case. The least reliable was my old '98 jetta. At one point there were multiple parts of the engine where if they got misted with a spray bottle, the engine would die until it dried out. Then, if it got too cold, even with the engine warmed up and running, the gas line would freeze up and the thing would die. I didn't live in the desert, I lived in wisconsin. Rain and cold happened a lot of the time. When there was nothing wrong, it wouldn't stay warmed up on exceptionally cold days (talking -10f or colder) when idling. I lost heat once idling in the parking lot of my high school waiting for them to let us in. The engine was already warmed up when I got there
Your experiences with VAG are surprising 
My 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI - the car everyone loves to hate for reliability, but in 329K miles, it's needed little more than scheduled maintenance. Some may argue some of the "maintenance items" are a bit excessive (like replacing/cleaning the intake manifold), but I knew that when I bought the car new.
My 79 RX-7 GS has been my most reliable car ever. It has never left me on the side of the road, and only a couple of times has it not started on me. Each time has been after not driving it for a few months during the winter, and then trying to fire it up on a cool day with a weak battery. Not a good mix for a rotary, but not the cars fault.
The most reliable one isn't a car at all. 1980 Honda CM200T TwinStar motorcycle. Dead nuts reliable, goofy 6V electrics and all.
Interesting bunch of responses. What a variety. I'd sorta expected a bunch of Toyota/Honda nominees. Instead, it's all over the place. Interesting. I have no idea what, if any, conclusion could be drawn from this data.
In reply to foxtrapper:
My VW has been considerably more reliable than my Honda (Acura) was. Kinda surprising. By the time the Acura was the same age as my VW is now, the engine still ran well, but the rest of the car was falling apart.
For a runner-Up, I have to give a shout-out to my 1990 Civic. I inherited it with 95,000 mi. on the clock, at which point is started it's racing career. Despite modifications using junkyard parts and website instructions, ham fisted shifting and thrashing it around the racetrack, that little Honda never skipped a beat. It came with no power options, no radio, and no side mirror so there wasn't much to go wrong, but what it had kept working forever.
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