WVCR-V

It seems like a lot of car enthusiasts on social media (youtube channels, car forums) buy and sell a lot of cars, not keeping them for long. I understand this from an enthusiast perspective since most of us can't afford to own a large collection at one time so the only way to experience variety is one at a time. I tend to keep cars long term but that is often for financial reasons. I have owned my 2004 CR-V for 11 years and counting. Its 5spd manual with 145k that is dead reliable, super practical and not really depreciating anymore. I have a hard time actually justifying spending any money to replace it with anything else. Nothing newer in its class is really much better in my opinion. Same goes for the S2000 which I've only owned for 2.5 years so far but I really see NOTHING in my wheelhouse to replace it with.
Whenever I drive a different prospective daily driver that I can afford, I always feel like keeping the CR-V. Lately I am very tempted to swap it for a 4th gen 4 Runner because I like offroading and its a real truck. It would look sweet with a mild lift and some slightly larger all terrain tires but the gas mileage stops me in my tracks. So I retreat back to the safety of the CR-V...lol. Now keep in mind I don't have the budget of some of you folks who are exchanging BMW M series car for Porches or Newer Toyota Land Cruisers/Lexus GX series etc. I would probably do the same if I had the dough not to worry about the cost of doing so but here in automotive mediocre ville I don't see an end in sight for the trusty CR-V. I mean this thing could easily go another ten years (I only drive it 7-8k per year). Wow...that's a lot of rambling about a boring CR-V. I guess my point is I'm do like variety in vehicles but not just for the sake of it. Do you have a similar vehicle that just won't go away?

So how about you guys/gals. Are you keepers or traders?

mosesbotbol

So far it's been about 3 years average for any car. There are just too many cars I would like to own.

vader1

I am 49, and got a new daily every three years like clockwork since I graduated college. I have had two toys as a second car (an MR2 and an S2000) that I kept for 10 and 12 years respectively. My one exception is that my current daily, the 2014 3 series I have had for five year and 3 months but I am itching to swap as we speak.

There is a leftover 2018 GTI that I might swap for down the street from me that I plan to drive this week, and also a new Wrangler and Colorado are on the list for test drives. The last two only because I can hook a snowplow to them as we have a 130yd driveway and I am getting old. I don't imaging either of them are what I would think of as an enthusiast car from a driving perspective, but everybody seems to have fun in their jeeps in other mud-filled ways.

I think the days of me swapping every three years are gone for me though. Cars are too expensive now. It was easier to lose 30% depreciation on a $25,000 car in three years than say a $40,000 (or higher) car now. I also have some other interests I would like to plow money into and have my fun car for the next decade at least in the Cayman. Just one more payment to go on that one. Woohoo!

I have found myself going from looking at Bimmers and Porsches back to hot hatches and Miata type cars just because I found that I can get the same fun out of them and enjoy them just as much as the spendier ones for a ton less money.

TheDonEffect

So I've been a long term owner but lately have been playing car hot potatoe, 3 cars in a year. I've been searching for my next long term car but my eye keeps wandering.

JonBoy

For family vehicles, I keep them forever. There's no good reason to take a constant depreciation hit and pay more taxes, etc, on vehicles we just run into the ground. Our family vehicles are 8 and 10 years old, respectively.

For fun cars, I swap them out every two or three years, pretty much. I'll hold them for a while, sell them for what I paid (give or take) and then wait for the next good deal on something I find interesting. I like to play the game!

darcyw

bought the EM1 new- its 19 yrs+. My GTX is 30 yrs old. We have a mazda5 11 yrs old. So, yeah, we keep our cars a long time since we hate car payments so much. Cars are a big fat waste of money- When you lose thousands on something in the first year of ownership, well, just do the math. If you have a truck ton of money or a healthy wage, knock yourself out. I can think of many other stupid things to spend money on, but cars are a worthy hobby.

darcy

noodels

Ha!!
think I had my 98 civic mc2 for 8 yrs vw polo from new 20 yrs & S2k 5 yrs

JonBoy

For the record, I've only bought one new vehicle in my life (and that's because used ones were only $500 cheaper at the time). Otherwise, I always buy used. For family vehicles, usually 4-5 years old with moderate mileage works for me. If I can find a CPO car with a long warranty, that's a great find. However, I have no problem doing most basic maintenance on my vehicles and moderately difficult repairs so I don't mind putting in some elbow grease to offset lower purchase prices.

Just did the starter on the 2008 Civic last month. Cost me under $150 but I spent 5 hours under the car, scraping my forearms constantly to do that stupid thing. Totally worth not paying someone $600 to do it, though, and since I'd never done it before, there's a sense of accomplishment that goes with it as well. For the record, that 2008 Civic has over 180K miles (nearly 300K kms) and I've spent under $300 in actual repairs (starter, windshield washer fluid pump, HVAC fan inside car) in nearly 11 years. Other than that, just brakes, tires, oil spark plugs and one valve adjustment...

Bullwings

Planned long term owner. 35 years old.

For my enthusiast cars, until I got the S2000, it was average 1.5 to 2 years.

The S2000 I've had for over 7 years. I plan to keep it for as long as enthusiastically possible where parts, expertise, ease of maintenance, and cost to do so continue to make financial sense. Even a $6-7k motor replacement in today's market still makes sense for me with how it is being used and has been modified to do so.

I kept my truck for 17 years. it's now with my brother in law approaching 20 years (bought new feb-1999). It has over 200K, original motor, original transmission.

My current DD boring slush box cvt 2.0 impreza 5-door was bought used cpo. I've had it for 2 years now. I plan to keep it at least another 6-8 years. As much as I like cars, I place certain other financial priorities, goals, milestones over experiencing different cars. I also try to do 6-10 track days a year, which is expensive enough.

Saki GT

With the exception of the S I usually swap vehicles about every three years.