How long do you keep your car?

Had the 300zx longest 8 years.

Shortest was a MK2 Supra which I wrote off after 10 days, a classic example why you shouldn't buy a powerful RWD car when you've only been driving 2 years, wet road + inexperience = mangled mess.

I've had 11 cars in 17 years.
 
Had the current STI about 5 and a half years. The WRX I had before was the shortest I've owned a car: nine months. That was because I realised quite quickly that I should have bought an STI, so I did. I may change cars next spring. Or I may not - depends on what is going on at work. Longest I had a car was first: a Peugeot 309 1.3GL which I had for seven years. Again, the reason was financial, not emotional.


M
 
Owned my Anglia for over 10 years now :eek:

Owned the hotrod for a year.

I tend to buy cars that I really want so I hang on to them and never want to sell. Selling my Ford Pop broke my heart because I didn't really want to sell it on it but I wasn't using it and didn't have the space to store it.
 
[TW]Fox;17576376 said:
Do exhaustive amounts of endless research on what you want next. Test drive everything. Dont buy something just because you fancy it - research it and drive it and see if you love it. That way when you do eventually buy, you buy right and can keep it for ages.
Click to expand...

Whilst I agree with the research and test driving theory, my problem is that I need a selection of cars to suit my moods.

In Summer I want a convertible.
In Winter I want a hard top
Some days I want to go fast and see if I can peel the tyres from the rims
Some days I want comfort
etc.

Obviously no one car can satisfy all of my needs so I've settled on something that can be pretty good at most of them (I decided against getting a convertible Mini and bought a motorbike for my open top needs)
 
Current Focus - a week

Before that, a Fiesta that we had 4 1/2 years (will probably keep the Focus 4-5 years too)

Before that, a Corsa, which was ours for 1 1/2 years, but which had been owned by my mum (and mainly driven by me) for about 3 years previously. Three people had learned to drive in it, and the clutch was knackered by the end of it, so we were glad to see it gone.
 
I've had the Skoda from new, it's just over 5 years old. Was originally planning to keep it 4-5 years but with the economy being a mess and a change of job meaning I only do a couple of thousand miles a year I'll probably just keep running it until circumstances change. It does everything I need and has been faultless so far. Having just had the cambelt changed it's good for another 5 years.

Shortest period was about 20 months for my first car - Vauxhall Nova. Was stolen and written off due to repair costs. Next two were just over 2 years each (Jetta, then a 306 DTurbo), then the Bora for 5 years.

In hindsight I should have kept the 306 and coughed up the cash to get the cambelt changed and the suspension bushes sorted. Didn't know I was imminently moving to Scotland at the time I got shot.
 
I thought I kept my cars for a fair while but damn, some of you guys make it look like I chop and change on a whim :p

The only way I can see me keeping a car for more than 5 years is if I have two, one pure "want" car that I only use on the weekends and one sensible, capable daily car... the problem with that is that my "want" car varies from a classic > sports car > turbo jap monster > retro > stripped out track car > comfortable cruiser on a daily basis :o
 
Current Car : 58 plate Kuga 2.5 Turbo - had it 11 months - no plans on changing for a while.

Longest : Fiat Panda 1000s 1987 (my 1st car) - 8 years till it rusted away.

Shortest : Fiesta XR2 (about 2 weeks - I swapped my Golf GTI with my sister to she if she liked it). Ignoring that 350z roadster 07 plate - 7 months.

In my 1st 15 years driving I had 2 cars. In the last 3 years I'm on my 3rd car - having more money deffo helps.
 
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I used to keep mine till I was bored, now I keep my cars until the company tell me I'm due a new one.
 
[TW]Fox;17576376 said:
Do exhaustive amounts of endless research on what you want next. Test drive everything. Dont buy something just because you fancy it - research it and drive it and see if you love it. That way when you do eventually buy, you buy right and can keep it for ages.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure...

I can hand on heart say that I don't think that I've rushed into buying any of my personal cars and all 4 of them were what I wanted at that exact time. I did want a Soarer for years before buying my one and have a fair amount of knowledge on early 90s big Toyotas so more or less knew what I was looking for.

I really do like my Soarer. It's quick, comfortable and has a nearly endless scope for modifications - It's exactly what I want in a car. Running costs have been pretty reasonable too.

Problem with me is that I get bored very quickly, then I find myself making paper thin excuses to try and justify a change - Remember me wanting a A6 because I wanted something more modern? Or looking at Toledos and Omegas because I wanted to save a tiny amount of money on insurance.

Now I'm looking at selling up in order to buy an old Supra with the same engine as the Soarer with a manual box :cool:.
 
I did my research on the 960/S90, found it effectively bombproof and then bought one.
I realised I hated it within two weeks :(

Didn't do any research at all on the Z3, but I found an immaculate, 1 owner, low mileage, BMWFSH etc and very keenly priced from BMW, so I though sod it and put the deposit down after a quick spin.
 
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