How brand diverse are you?

I was thinking the other day about where I was with vehicles and where I am.

When I was growing up we celebrated the blue oval. From Nascar to Indy, the trucks in the driveway to the little cars for the women, we were a Ford family.

Then THAT DAY happened. We had issues with the F250 that Ford themself could not fix and my Grandfather went and got a "gasp" Suburban!!! We parked it behind the house and behind the "Chrome Watermelon" (our nickname for my Grandfather's 33' Avion travel trailer)

We all liked the Suburban, and it did it's job with very little trouble, but it being a Chevy it was regulated to back of the house. It was the only non-Fordish vehicle in our drive way in my life (we had a Mazda 626 back when Ford owned them.) Now mind you there were 2 other cars I remember growing up that were non-Ford

VW Bug Chrysler New York aka USS Enterprise Sr. (Because the Enterprise the Navy has is smaller) but that was when my Dad was looking for work and those were the cheapest and most available cars he could find.

Now fast forward 20 years

I went from being a Ford guy to having one from all of the Big 3 (You know, Ford, Chevy and Toyota!) and a few odd balls here and there, even a Chrysler product or 3. My Toyota and BMW livery is great. I love my Bimmer and the wife likes bouncing around in her little, loaded out, cute-ute of a Rav4L.

But I think back to how I felt as a 1 brand household. It was nice. We raised the Ford dealer so when I walked in it was like talking to my Uncle (My Dad taught him how to count in the barn with ears of corn.) I have been thinking recently what if I went back to a one brand house and what would that brand be?

My wife and I have about as different wants in a car as can be. If you could make an Excursion a convertible and get a bazillion MPG, she would be tickled. I on the other hand like sporty cars. Zippy if you will. I love my pickups but I am more of a Raptor fan than Bigfoot.

So what say you GRM, is there a brand out there that could cover all of your wants? Or is there no way out of the multiple brand household? If there was a way would you even want to?

I had a great uncle or someone who owned a ford dealer, so my parents tended towards fords. They went through a brief GM phase and went through 2 sierras and a chevy express work truck, all 3 were failures. Multiple problems within 50k miles, all 3. Now back to fords. Also, now my brother works at a ford dealership, so it's unlikely they'll ever go back. They weren't super brand loyal, though. They've gone through a few toyotas and vw's. They also are very interested in acquiring my brother's NC miata when he's bored with it.

As for me and my wife, combined, we've only owned 4 cars between us. One Infiniti, one Ford, one VW, one Mazda. I guess Ford and Mazda are sort of related, but that's not why I got them.

VERY! I have both HonDUHs and AcuRUHs!

There is no reason to be brand loyal. Really. Buy what suits your needs whether it be an F250 to tow a Miata and a Busa on the side or whatever but I can't see having all my automotive needs met by one manufacturer.

I

No want.

Grew up Fordish, but not the Calvin-peeing-on-bowtie kind, the "I know how to work on these and am familiar with the corporate mechanical habits" kind.

My folks broke out of it with a '73 Volvo 145 wagon, though they've stuck mostly to Fords and Volvos.

I maintain a fondness for old Fords, Falcons in particular above the GM/Mopar equivalents, but that's more childhood imprinting than corporate loyalty.

The current stable is Subaru/BMW/Dodge/Ford.

I've also had VWs and a Mazda, and my first car was a Chevy.

Lemme see.... 1 Dodge Dakota, 1 Ford F250, 1 Ford Mustang, 1 Chevy Avalanche, and 1 Chevy Impala.... I got all of the domestics covered, but would actually like to get rid of the Dodge. I miss driving my big old battle axe F250.

I just don't drive many imports. I have worked on almost all of the brands though and can't really tell them apart within their given manufacturing "location"....

IF I had the money, I can easily see being a single brand household, but it would be a battle of which brand.

F350, Mustang GT500, Focus, Excursion, Fusion hybrid, Crown Victoria, E250. Maybe a Ford GT for the track.

I could live with only Fords and be quite content!

I think my needs could be covered by old Toyotas. 3 generations of good experiences with them so far. In fact my grandmother's old Toyota's engine is powering some little DIY tractor right now.

I have little brand loyalty. In fact, I can't think of any cars I've had back-to-back from the same brand ever, aside from one transition from an Integra to an Accord coupe back in the late 90s.

Brands constantly vary in their quality, coolness of their cars, etc so I just find whatever one fits my needs when I buy a car at any given time.

Currently I have a Triumph, Subaru, BMW, and Toyota.....plus an American-made trailer (carry-on) and a Chinese-made trailer (Harbor Freight) :)

I have no brand loyalty except for old Volvo's.

My parents were Chrysler people when I was growing up due to a close family friend owning a Chrysler dealership (which he lost in the meltdown 5 years ago) My wife's family is all GM due to her grandpa being a lifelong GM employee and being able to use the GM family discount.
My wife and I currently own a Mazda, a Chevy, a Toyota, and a Porsche. In addition there is a dead Range Rover in the back yard and a mostly dead Dodge in the garage. A Ford should be on a car transport to our house soon.
I had a friend that once said he would only date white girls. He was an idiot. The world is full of beautiful women of every color. I feel the same way about cars. It doesn't matter who made the car, it matters what the car is.

Very little brand loyalty here. I have had:

Mazda
Toyota
Subaru
VW
Mercedes
Saab
Austin
MG
Peugeot
Ford
Chevy
Dodge
Jeep
Volvo

Maybe some I'm forgetting...

My daily driver has been a Mazda for 25 out of the last 30 years. That covers exactly 3 Mazdas in that 25 years, and 3 other cars in 5 years. I like Mazdas.

Also, my "other" car has been a Mazda (RX-7) for the last 10 years.

I've owned 2 vehicles that weren't a Chrysler product. I grew up Ford though, my dad worked at Ford dealerships for years. He had a giant F250 that was blue when I was 8-10. There is a history of Mopar in my family though. I have an uncle that worked at a Chrysler dealership in the 70s. Other than an Isuzu pup my G'pa had for years (that was replaced by the 90 Ram I own now), they always had a Chrysler product. There are photos from way back of Satellites and Furies. My grandma had a 600 convertible with a 2.2 turbo in the 80s. Later she had a string of Chrysler minivans. I was converted when my dad brought home a 67 formula S barracuda 273/auto as a project. Been mopar ever since.

No brand loyalty at all, either from myself or my parents. Sure, I've got a few Miatas. But no other Mazdas.

Pontiac LeMans

Chrysler New Yorker Turbo

Olds Cutlass

Dodge Shadow Turbo

Honda Civic

Honda Civic

Acura Integra (88)

Acura Integra (91 - current DD)

CRX

CRX

Civic (86 - 9-time Solo II Nats champ)

Civic (85 rusty turd.)

CRX

CRX

Ford Exlporer

GMC Pickup (the mexi-express)

Festiva

Mazda 323 GT (the two soon to be wed.)

Honda Fit.

So yeah. I own domestic E36 M3, but never for very long. Call me a berkeleying fanboi if it makes you happy 80's/90's Hondas are the ultimate oil/brakes/tires machines in my experience, where 80's/90's domestic 4-cyl stuff is largely constant headachey poor handling garbage (BP powered Escort GT excluded.)

If I'm spending $1500 on a car, it ain't gonna be a crapalier or a lumina. That's for goddamned sure.

To me the dealership means more than the brand.

Growing up my father always had Chrysler products until the dealership where he dealt was sold and he didn't get the same service. Then he switched to Fords until he died.

I started out with a variety of British and Italian cars but later switched to Fords based on the local dealerships reputation. Been buying at the same place since 1976.

The wife always had Buicks until the newest one. She bought a Subaru But that's OK the Ford dealer where I get mine is also the local Subaru dealer.

No brand loyalty whatsoever. I've got a soft spot for my first car, a Mercury Comet, but other than that, I've owned cars from most major manufacturers worldwide (other than Chinese cars) and don't forsee that changing soon. Funny that the OP had called me a fanboi that bowed at the altar of GM at one point, when out of the 120+ cars I've owned, maybe 10% have been GM. Out of the 5 cars that I've ever bought new, two were Fords, one was Chrysler, one was a MINI and one was Chevy.

I grew up with Buicks but other than a few 'Burbs, I havent driven a GM car with one exception since the early 80's. My wife and I started with early Accords and Civics but after we went to Mazda in 1988, Mazda has built the majority of the cars we have owned. 10 or so RX-7's, 14 Miata and a Speed 6; additionally an Altima and Maxima fit my wife's needs. Now a 4runner, GTO, 911, Miata and Speed 6 sit in the driveway. Whew

I have or had:

GM

Ford

Mopar

Mazda

Mitsubishi

Toyota

Honda

Hyundai

VW

Volvo

Lotus

I like GM & Ford trucks, Dodge pretty much nailed the minivan, compact furrin cars, and old euro-trash.

Dad had 2 Chevies and a Plymouth before I was born, but after buying his new 1965 Catalina wagon, he was a Pontiac man, buying:
'67 Le Mans new for mom (I still have it)
used '69 Bonneville wagon after 2nd my sister totaled the '65
new '72 Grande Ville convertible after he made a very lowball offer and they took it (my 3rd sister still has it)
given a '68 GTO convertible which he fixed up for my 1st sister

Somewhere in there were also:
'67 Catalina wagon ($100)
'69 Catalina sedan

After we tripled our commute, he had an '81 Civic, a used '78 Olds wagon, a new 1st-gen Grand Caravan, and I think that's it. He gave the Le Mans to me in '82 and bought my mom a new '89 or '90 Accord Coupe SE.

We currently have: Dodge GC, Mazda Miata, Subaru Impreza, Acura TSX, BMW 325i, and the aforementioned Poncho.

Previous cars in my life include a Toyota, and Neons of both flavors. My wife had a Ford - '81 Fairmont Futura - which was so horrifically awful that we've never even considered a Ford since then. By now I would definitely look at Fords, but it has taken 20 years to get over that Fairmont.

I too have zero brand loyalty. I just like cool cars. Some companies have made more cars that I consider cool than other companies have, so I might seem biased against certain marques but that is just because their cars don't interest me as much.

I've had

• Olds
• Geo
• Toyota (x2)
• Nissan
• Datsun
• Ford (x5)
• Volvo (x3)
• Fiat (x2)
• Yugo
• Alfa Romeo
• Maserati
• Mercedes (x3)
• BMW (x2)
• Mitsubishi (x3)
• Subaru
• Mazda

my parents have only ever owned american cars. as far as i know they have owned gms, fords, chryslers, my dad even had an amc spirit when i was really young. his current impala is getting pretty tired, he's even been cross shopping hyundais/kias this time around. go dad.

I have zero brand loyalty. protip: that info sometimes doesnt go over well on brand/car specific forums lol. they get salty.

ive had 3 fords
1 gm
1 chrysler
2 mazdas
1 hyundai
and wanted at least something from probably 20 other brands. wow i guess when you look at my list in retrospect its not very diverse. my diversity is more my flowchart of ownership...sedan > minivan > conversion van > miata > land barge sedan > subcompact hatchback > minivan > truck

I own three black chevys