Moi:
(All new cars at the time of acquisition. My parents always leased their own and didn’t trust used cars.)
1999 Civic- ahhh the rollup windows…rear ended this one hard my first week of college. Oops. I remember when the H off the back got stolen while I was working my cashier job at a party store.
2001 Acura RSX- I LOVED this car so much. I still smile a little when I see one on the road
2006-2010- No car. Lived in San Francisco. Pre-Uber too. Those were the days!
2010 Mazda2- I was just looking for something cheap enough for my first self car purchase that I could easily park in the bay area. I grew up in south florida and had never parallel parked in my life. That was the entirety of the decision. It served me well enough for 8 years- never had a single issue with it though towards the end the AC wasn’t working well and every single plastic attachment had broken off. I remember being excited by automatic side mirrors.
2018 BMW X1- first lease, a significant level up for me…and totaled after 8 months by someone about the same age as when I crashed that civic
2019 BMW 330i- unexpected second lease but a welcome one!
Next car… I’ve got 3 years to work my way into a 5 series. I don’t see myself leaving BMW unless they stop making leases so enticing.
2001 Volvo V70 T5 - Learned to drive on this, went back at the end of the lease
2001 Ford Taurus SEL - Drove that bad boy for 6 years. Still my longest relationship with a car.
2009 Subaru Legacy 2.5i - One of my OG leasehacks (0 down, $239/month for 24 months)
2004 BMW 330xi
2011 Volvo C30 T5
2013 Volkswagen CC - Another OG leasehack (0 down, $280 month for 36 months)
2016 Volkswagen GTI
2013 Audi A3 TDI Premium Plus S-Line - This was my TDI settlement arbitrage car.
2017 Mercedes C300
2018 Alfa Stelvio (soon to depart)
2016 BMW X1 - My wife’s, now becoming mine
2002 Saab 9-3 Viggen 5D - my weekend fun car
I can’t possibly recount all the cars I have owned over the last 50 years.
1960 Renault Dauphine 3 speed, 32 hp"check the gas and fill 'er up with oil I would get o the bus depot and get their drained oil to run through this specimen
1958 Olds 98 convertible, gold/gold, 4 barrel, used lots of gas (at .$30/gallon)
1962 Volvo 544, “rich man’s VW”, had three-point seat belts!
Lots of Volvos over the next 10 years including a p210 Duett
Then a bunch of Saabs (99, 900, 9000) before I moved on to Audis, Quattro coupe, 5000, A4, A6
and more recently VWs (Passat, Sportwagen)
Still driving the Sportwagen, it is an unusual 2009 with the 2-litre TSFI engine and a 6-speed.
With help received here I did lease a Clarity plug-in back In January, $209/month all in.
2006 Mazda 6
2009 Nissan 370Z
2008 Nissan Versa (beater to learn stick on)
2014 Hyundai Azera
2016 Corvette Z06
and now 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia (11 months left on lease)
considering the C8 corvette if the price doesn’t jump too much from the C7, otherwise maybe will look into a C63 or Audi RS3. Probably won’t lease but will finance a CPO version. of course if a killer deal on a BMW M3/4 comes up will consider
1994 Toyota Corolla Sedan. Hand me down from my older sister when I started driving, which was in turn a hand me down from my parents. I then handed it down to my little sister.
1985 Toyota Corolla Coupe DX. (AE85). First car I ever bought with my own money. Learned how to drive stick. Learned how to “drift.” Learned how to wrench on my own with that thing.
2000 Toyota 4Runner SR5. Parents didn’t want me driving my death box (their words) off to college so I got this as another hand me down. Left the Corolla at home while I went off to college.
2003 Toyota Celica. The Corolla got stolen while I was away at college and my parents wanted their 4Runner back. Little sister ended up totaling the car while I was on vacation and I got the 4Runner back. She didn’t get another car for a while.
1994 Honda Civic Si. Actually bought this with a friend so we could compete in SCCA Solo. Fun little thing. I fell out of racing and he bought out my half of the car. I think he still has it too.
1991 Mazda RX-7 (FC). Bought this as a project car. Ended up sliding it into fire hydrant on the one night Dallas ices over a year and totaling it out.
2008 Infiniti G37S Coupe. First car I bought new. Loved that thing, had to special order one to be sport package, manual transmission, without the tech package. Drove it for almost six years. Sold it when kid #1 was on his way and the transmission decided to go out for the second time due to the slave clutch cylinder.
2013 BMW X1. First car I purchased for my wife new. It took all my willpower to steer my wife away from a “boring” car and I think we hit a nice compromise. RWD, hydraulic steering, manual handbrake on a hatchback on stilts? Only downside was that as our family car it didn’t do a really good job as the back seat was really tight.
2018 BMW 330e. First lease! Got a decent deal for the time (I’ve seen 2019 330e models go for way better) but it’s done it’s job well.
2019 Honda Odyssey EX-L. Picked up about two weeks ago since kid #2 is on their way in a few months and shuffling wife + kids + inlaws is going to be much better with a minivan. Lease deals on these suck and they hold their value so well I ended up purchasing it.
Next car will have to replace the 330e when that lease is up, but who knows what will replace it. I’d like to downgrade to something to a pure commuter appliance and pick up another project like a Miata or something.
2000 Renault 17 (1981) - In Egypt, my dad bought it new and gave it to me, I loved that car
2005 Peugeot 505 - Egypt
2008 Nissan Sentra - First new car…drove it for 200k miles (US)
2016 Hyundai Sonata (used 2013) - still have it
2019 BMW X7 - My first lease
2002 - Renault 5 - learner car, broke the gearbox obvs
2002 - Renault 19 - BasicMcBasicface!
2003 - Renault Clio - I’ve always loved a small French fancy
2003 - Citroën Saxo - see above
2004 - Citroën Saxo VTS! - I’ve always loved a small FAST French fancy even more
2005 - Ford KA3 - Written off
2006 - Toyota Aygo - first lease!
2008 - Toyota Yaris SR - a stupid car, surprisingly unreliable
2009 - Audi A3 - second lease!
2012 - Seat Leon Cupra - Ebay bangernomics
2013 - Volvo V70 - Ebay bangernomics
2014 - Ford KA (again) - Ebay bangernomics
2016 - Lexus IS - sensible CPO 2 years of renting cars - I have a LOT of Hertz points
2018 - Toyota Highlander 3rd lease! - will be swapped out in the next couple of months for an XC60 more than likely as it’s way too big for us.
I’m 58 now. My wife and I have been together forever.
My list:
Cherolet Vega wagon 4sp man 1977 used 1st car, beater $300
Dodge Dart 1975 used bought from Dad
Chrysler New Yorker 1969 used bought from Todd, junk
Plymouth Fury III 1972 used bought from gas station in St Paul
Mazda B2000 pickup 5sp man1986 used demo
Honda Civic CVCC 5sp man 1981 used 107K when I bought it, beater
Dodge Ramcharger 4x4 1977 used Brother gave it to me, beater
Jeep CJ-7 4x4 3sp man 1979 used bought from Brother
Mitsubishi Montero 4x4 1991 used previous rental
Dodge Dakota 4x4 1993 new 1st brand new car
Ford F150 XLT 4x4 1999 new Picked up on 38th birthday
Honda CR-V EX 2002 new Richfield-Bloominton Honda, neighbor was GM
Subaru Legacy XT wagon 2005 new
Chevrolet Malibu Maxx 2005 new
Subaru Forester 2007 gray new Colorado Subaru
Subaru Forester XT Sport 5sp man 2007 used bought on Ebay, Stone Mountain Georgia
Mazda MX-5 Miata 6sp man 2006 used
Smart Fortwo 2008 white new ordered and waited totalled in horrible crash!
Honda Civic Si 6sp man 2006 used
Honda Fit Sport 2011 new lease
Honda CR-V EXL 2013 new lease
Subaru Outback Limited 3.6R 2015 new lease
Honda Civic EXL 2016 new lease
Volvo S90 T6 2018 new lease grown up car
Wife’s list:
Pontiac Catalina 1966 used junk
Ford Pinto Pony 4sp man 1980 new
Plymouth Sundance Turbo 5sp man 1987 new Jacksonville, should have bought Acura Integra
Mazda 626 1991 new
Plymouth Neon Sport 1995 new Chrysler bought it back as LEMON
Plymouth Grand Voyager 1997 new
Nissan Maxima GLE 2000 new
Chevrolet Camaro Z28 6sp man convertible 2002 new
Honda Odyssey EXL 2003 new
Chevrolet Avalanche 2005 new
Mini Cooper S 6sp man 2007 new
Subaru Impreza Outback Sport 5sp man 2009 new
Volkswagen GTI 6sp man 2012 new
BMW 335i convertible 2012 used CPO
BMW X3 2016 new lease
BMW X2 2018 loaner lease
-2006 Scion xA, blue (New, high school/college car that my parents chose on my behalf lol, but held its value!)
-2008 Audi A4 Quattro, grey (CPO, selling the Scion gave me a nice down payment on it)
-2012 Audi A4 Quattro, white (New, financed)
-2015 Audi Q4 Quattro, silver (New, lease, had no idea about leases and got fleeced. Car was a lemon)
-2014 BMW 428i xDrive, mineral gray metallic (CPO, financed, looking to trade out before warranty expires)
-Next, some sort of BMW lease after lurking on this forum and learning!!
I drive 20-30k miles/yr and have a garage full of automotive tools and detailing equipment, so I tend to hold onto vehicles I really like, baby them, then sell them in immaculate condition for way above book value. This was a lot easier to do before I had 3 kids. Now I barely have time to wash any of them let alone treat them like gold plated babies. One of the door cables snapped on the Ody two weeks ago when we were going to the zoo, I haven’t even ordered a new motor/cable assembly yet
