How many cars do you have? Two? Three or four? Somewhere north of five, 10 or even 20?
No matter the number, the answer always seems to be the same: To achieve true happiness, just one more car is needed.
I think it’s been a common quest for many of us since that first Hot Wheels car. If we had …
Yes, but it wouldn't be a car.
It would be one of those hated SUVs. Probably the one I have now. It's a very good all-around vehicle. Plenty of power. Fun to drive on a twisty road. AWD for softroading. Capable of towing 7700 pounds. Regularly returns 25-28 mpg.
If the SCCA would let me autocross it, I'd sell the Mustang tomorrow.
Toyman! said:Yes, but it wouldn't be a car.
It would be one of those hated SUVs. Probably the one I have now. It's a very good all-around vehicle. Plenty of power. Fun to drive on a twisty road. AWD for softroading. Capable of towing 7700 pounds. Regularly returns 25-28 mpg.
If the SCCA would let me autocross it, I'd sell the Mustang tomorrow.
Yeah, my wife's Explorer ST would fit the bill if I had to have one "do it all" vehicle. Fast, practical, comfy, decent economy.
But to answer the question, no, probably not. Variety is the spice of life.
If I still lived in Texas, I would say probably yes. But living here in the upper mid-west, I need a winter vehicle. I really wouldn't want to submit my fun cars to the mess that is the Nebraska winter.
The bonus is my winter vehicle doubles as my hauler, road tripper, soft-roader, and back-up car when I'm working on something. Right now the Element is serving in that role and It's already seen a trip from FL to NE, NE to Cleveland a few times, Summer camping in the badland, and a couple MTB trips to Bentonville this year alone. I wouldn't have been able to do that with just the Miata or Mirage.
An EV cafe racer/ scrambler style motorcycle with a sidecar.
Honestly no. I don't like driving bigger cars but I need one frequently enough that I could live without one and not be annoyed.
Probably not. I did the whole one car thing for awhile, but with my vast array of passions/interests one car cannot do it all. Two might be do-able for me, but right now it looks like three minimum.
Yes, it'd be an uber wagon, like a Panerama sport turismo, Mercedes E63 AMG S or Audi RS6. However I'm happy (for now) with my combo of 200 series land cruiser for DD/winter/hauler duties and 996 Turbo for fun car. The 996 Turbo is a forever car for me, unless I somehow get a ton of money and get buy a 997 GT3RS
I can definitely live with one sports car and if i decided to stop doing track events/racing I could live without a truck. But driving my daily to the track, running it hard, and driving it back home is a bit stressful. knowing I have work tomorrow and no backup vehicle to get there or even any way to get a broken car back from the track short of calling for a tow, I just wouldn't want that.
No.
The fiance and I shared our '18 Mazda 3 for 18 months when we were both working from home. I got REALLY tempted to put wheels/suspension on it, but knew I'd eventually get something just for myself.
So that is still her DD and I have the '23 BRZ as our fun car. Just need to get comfortable driving a manual again and being comfortable driving something that low to the ground so she can take it to work if she wants.
In reply to docwyte :
Good calls on the E63 AMG S and RS6 Avant. Those could be solid one-car solutions.
Nope. I get tired of driving the same vehicle after a few days.
i have a car, a truck and an suv.
When it comes to cars, I like owning vehicles which are specialized to the task, rather than trying to cram all that functionality into one -- "jack of all trades, master of none" and all that.
So for w2w racing I have a caged M3 and to get it to the track I have an F-250. For "cars and coffee" I have the RX7, my Audi is my default daily driver, and the CX-9 is my wife's car. I would not be happy getting rid of any of those.
The one that doesn't fit neatly into any category is my Miata, it used to be my "everything car" (in fact, it was my only car for several years). Track car, wrenching car, science project car, mountain roads car, etc. It was OK at many of those things but never stellar, and I haven't really figured out what its new role should be now that I've got single purpose vehicles to do most of the things I used to do with it. Arguably I should sell it.
OTOH, I bought it brand new, 25 years ago and it's got far more sentimental value to me than would ever be expressed monetarily if I sold it. My wife and I went on dates in that car. I'm not selling it. :)
If I didn't need to tow the enclosed trailer with race car, then yes, totally, an E63 wagon. We have an E400 wagon now and it is fantastic, going to the AMG like the CLS63 I used to have and it would do track stuff too and still haul all kinds of things and be able to tow my small boat.
Not a chance!
I argued (with myself) my way down to the present 6 plus my wife's car, from around 12 or 13, and can't see going down any more except that I would sell my old classic race car as I no longer use it. Have two modern sports car, one classic touring car, the race car, and two classic sports cars.
My unwavering two car formula: BMW estate + Miata track car. If the day comes that I must consolidate, it will probably be a manual M235i or OG M2.
I tried, but I can't. Especially if I am left driving the only GTI. Need to get the Integra fixed again, but getting my 00 EK manual swapped and mostly running, at least has me happy to drive an na Honda again.
I love simplicity and strongly believe in less is more.
However, after recently upping my active personal car list by 1, I can say I have doubled my happiness ... until I saw the bills. 
I am 100 certain I could live with just a Raptor and nothing else. I would not be happy but it does 100% of what I need and want in a car.
Right now I am at 14 cars/motorcycles so I am not a good example.
2-3 is the sweet spot. I've found that 4+ has me wrenching more than driving. Currently VERY happy with V60, IS-F and miata. If I could find a Polestar for a reasonable price I could combine the Volvo and Lexus, probably
Not with family.
Less than 3 necessitates a happiness reducing compromise. I have a need for both dynamic outlet and a creative outlet. I could possibly get to 2 for a while, by combing #2 and #3, if it stayed mostly stock and 'racing' was limited to autox. However, it would also then have to be something with 4 doors and an actually enjoyable auto transmission. If she didn't love her Forester so much, and I didn't have a stake in an endurance racecar, perhaps an Elantra N DCT... But while that might (or might not) provide enough of a dynamic outlet, I would also still need to eventually reintroduce a creative outlet.
One would be very difficult to be happy with, maybe impossible. Two would be a lot more doable because you could spread the compromises around - have a sporty 2-door 4-seat coupe and a 5+ seater that can haul large items and go offroad for example. I could easily be happy with 3.
Edit: Same thought as Driven5 really.
I am 77 and have been driving a Lotus Elise as a track car and daily driver for 17 years now. My wife has a CX5 Mazda, which is also a great car (3200 pounds!). If it was just me, I would keep the Lotus. I need a big car so seldom, I could either borrow or rent one. Otherwise, I am always in one of the most enjoyable cars I have ever owned and I have had some good ones.
It is never too late to have a happy childhood!
1 car per person in my family (just wife and I) would be possible but financially it's just quite justifiable.
When I got my most recent daily driver (a '22 330i) I had the option of getting rid of the corvette and going to an M3. The M3 would handle the track days that I like to do and also handle the daily drives that I have (which to be fair is only about 5k miles a year) I would have to get an automatic if I ever want my wife to be able to drive it (she refuses to learn to drive stick)
The problem comes down to the cost of it.
A new BMW 330i lease payment is around $520 a month and the corvette depreciation is effectively $0 but lets call it $1200 a year. Maintenance, Insurance, registration, etc. for the Corvette is another $2400 a year (I'm rounding to $200 a month, it's probably less than that). The maintenance on the BMW is zero.
A new M3 lease payment is ~$900 to $1000 a month meaning that the payment on the M3 is just a touch more expensive than the cost of ownership of the BMW and Corvette. Near enough that I could justify the delta and put a few thousand back into my investment account with the sale of the Corvette.
The problem comes in with Track insurance, right now per event coverage for the Corvette is $175 an event, compared to $700+ for the BMW. The more cost effective solution for track insurance on a vehicle at that value is to purchase a year long policy which would cost around $3000 a year compared to the 6~7 events I currently do with the Corvette which costs around $1000 a year.
So could I be happy with a single vehicle? yes, especially considering the wife drives an SUV and pickup truck rentals are readily available by the hour at our local home goods store when I need to haul lumber, etc. for $20 give or take.
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