Your Longest Relationship

As a group we seem to have a tendency to burn through cars fairly quickly. However I know there are some that have hung around for awhile.

What is the longest you have owned a car that has been driven the whole time you had it? A car thats been sitting in pieces for 30 years doesn't count (although it would be interesting to see who has the oldest garage art)

For me its my 03 Civic LX my wife and I bought new in June 2003. Almost 13 years and somewhere around 180k later, it still serves driver duty.

What other long term relationships are out there?

I don't do long term car relationships.

Longest we've had is my wife's old minivan. Had it 8.5 years and put 115k on it. It was used a lot by our nanny and then was my wife's DD, but I probably also put about 1/2 the miles on it.

My own personal car would probably be my '99 Mazda Protégé. Had it 3.5 years and put 75k miles on it. Next closest was my company car XJ Cherokee. Had it 3 years and 90k miles. Most of the rest are one to two years and under 40k miles.

I work at a large dealership, so the trade ins are always a siren song. Longest I've had was a DD Chevy Prizm: 4 years, 60k miles

My 2003 VW TDI wagon - bought new in 5/03 and I still own it, although it hasn't moved off the lift in my garage in 2+ years. Had 329K miles on it when I started working on it and got distracted.

Next would be my '73 Volvo 1800ES, which I purchased off eBay for $800 in 2004 and drove home. It's rusty as hell, but ran and drove great. Then we scavenged some bits off it for my ex's ES and then I tore it apart to part it out. And it's sat ever since. If I'd known then what I know now about how little the local law cares about vintage cars and registration/inspections, I never would have taken apart and I'd still be driving it. .

My 1991 318is. I've had it for 9 years now, and have put around 80k miles on it. It doesn't see DD duty anymore, but still gets probably 5k miles a year. I doubt I'll ever sell that one. It was also my first car.

I used to be more of a short term guy, but with the types of cars I like to buy (old and cheap) it takes a few years to really get them sorted. Getting tired of that pattern, and the wagon is almost sorted, so I think I'll stick with those for awhile. Fixing everything every time a new car comes in just gets old after awhile.

I owned my '79 Spitfire for fifteen years before selling it to IanF. The Spitfire accumulated about 20K miles while in my possession. Next is the Saturn SW1... I have beat the living E36 M3 out of that car for 13 years and stacked 250K miles on top of the original 89K. Still running!

The Spitfire now belongs to another GRM member... so sad to see it go.

This car will never die.....

10 Years on my '00 Silverado. I bought it in '06 with 72K miles on the clock. It's now got 123K on it and still running strong (yes, 50,000 miles in 10 years). Obviously I don't put many miles on it, but it's my winter DD and tow vehicle. I did break down and show it some love this past fall...new wheels and tires, had the seats re-done, put in a remote start and a few other little things. It's just too handy to have a full size truck around and it doesn't cost me much to drive/own. No plans on getting rid of it.

DD was my Ranger, 8 years, 110k

Overall is the Merkur...11 years...but it's a toy and we break it a lot, but we do still track and autox it

I bought my '90 Miata as used in 1993.
I've had it since.
It's never been a DD but I've never seen reason to get rid of it.
22.5 years. 23 years in May.

I've bought 3 cars in my life and still have 2 of them. The RX7 that I sold I'd owned for a decade and I've owned my winter beater Focus for 8 years now. I definitely don't have automotive ADD, it'd hurt too much paying tax on a used car every time.

It's been just about 6 years and 101k miles of DD-ing, bad ideas and questionably useful modifications with the Jeep... And at this point, no matter what I do with it, it's not going away, as it's just not worth enough $$$ for there to be a point in selling it (especially not with everything that's gone into it).

I don't really do the long term thing with cars anymore. Too many cars I want to own in my lifetime and not enough money or garage space to hang on to all of them.

The longest I've had a car is 4 years, that was my '96 SAAB 9000. Probably would have had it a lot longer if it hadn't got totaled when a tree fell into the road. The second longest was the '91 240SX, I think I had it 3 years before it also was totaled by a tractor.

I've owned the duster over 20 years, and its been on the road for most of the time. The other is the family subaru. 6 years.

I generally hold onto cars about 6 to 8 years... the oldest though, was a 1988 Hyundai Excel that was traded in on a 1999 Hyundai Tiburon. 11 years and a 167,000 miles later

Of the cars that we still have, two I would call long termers.

The Alfa GTV you see to the left- we bought in 1996, 4 months after my wife and I got married. We've been using it ever since- lots and lots of autocrosses, many track days, and just days of driving. It's been sitting for a little while not being used a lot, but it's never leaving.

And in 1999, when we were told we would get Mazda S plan, I went out and got a new 1999 Miata. Daily drove it for 14 years, snow and all (I always have been bragging what a great snow car that was). It now as 205,000 miles on it, and it waiting to be restored.

While I've had the race car for about 10 years, I don't count it, as it's just been a project that I really want to sell.

I've owned my 74 Mazda REPU since 2003 I think. That is the longest I have ever owned a vehicle before. I've now owned my 79 RX-7 since 2005 which is another really long ownership for me. Of course I think I've only put 16k miles on the Rx-7 in my ownership. I really need to drive that car more. We've owned my wifes 06 Sienna since Jan 2007 which has to be a record for her. I think we have only put 105k miles on it over that time, but it has been a good car, and nothing short of stone reliable.

Had my C4 Vette for 7 years, longest I had a 'toy'. My Saturn SC2 was a 4 year DD.

I run things until they die. Current record goes to neon #2 at 5 years and maybe 70k miles.

My current DD is a 98 SL2 I purchased in October 2011... so 4.25 years. I've put almost 60k miles on it. I'm getting the "itch" now but hopefully I can cure that with some mild upgrades and keep the car another 4 years.

Changing cars is a lot of hassle and expense that I just don't feel like dealing with. I'd be happy if I could manual swap this, do a few mods, and drive it for another 10+ years.

I've got a '91 GTI sitting in the garage. It needs an exhaust to be road worthy. It's been sitting there for 13 years. I really should get some use out of it. v

As for DDs, my wife's xB is 10 years old and we'll have it several more. My Miata has been in general use for 10 years ,too.

My Subaru Loyale 4WD Wagon that I bought in the winter of '12 after my Acura Legend exploded it's clutch. Grabbed it for the price of $1100, did minimal work to it during the 3 years I drove the wheels off of it, then replaced it with my $500 ZJ Grand Cherokee and my father bought it off me for $200 and is rehabilitating it for his own use.

Second would be my '90 Miata that is coming up on 3 years at that end of this March. No solid plans on selling it, but I have thought occasionally about trying to upgrade to a WRX or something. Probably won't happen anytime soon though, especially with me purchasing coilovers and a clutch kit to do over the winter.

9 years 88k on my ms3. Bought new 1-19-07

1965 Turner MKlll 1500. Bought in 1977 sold in 2007, raced in F production for all 30 years.

I've had my 1979 Trans Am since the summer of 2002, so it will be 14 years this year of telling people I'm going to "restore it someday".

My 67 Mustang Fastback. Bought at age 15. I'm now 40. = 25 years. Now it does not see winter use, but it has been used nearly every summer, with a hiatus for a few years awaiting a transmission rebuild. I bought an 04 Grand Cherokee in 2003 that I still have 187k on it.