What car have you owned the longest/shortest?
What car have you owned the longest/shortest?
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white_goodman

Original Poster:

4,521 posts

220 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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What car have you owned the longest/shortest? Was this through choice or not?

On average, I tend to keep my cars for 18 months. However, I've owned some for a lot longer/less time.

2004 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon (29 months) - loved it and would have loved to keep it longer but forced to sell due to emigration.
2008 VW Polo 1.4 TDI (29 months) - cheap lease and was doing high mileage at the time, so made good financial sense but wouldn't have been my first choice.
1995 Vauxhall Astra 1.4 LS (24 months) - owned whilst I was a student, so couldn't afford to change it.

My wife also had a Fiat 500 from new for 42 months, which is some record for us!

1999 Mercedes-Benz C250TD Estate (1 month) - decent car for 700 notes but bought as a stopgap after selling the Subaru.
1994 VW Corrado VR6 (8 months) - bought a more practical and newer Golf but should have kept the Corrado, as the Golf was a lemon.
2003 Mazda MX-5 1.8i (9 months) - Decided at 24 that not living with my parents was more important than having a flash car, so it had to go!

Captain Muppet

8,540 posts

294 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest: mk2 CRX 16i16, mk2 MR2 and mk1 MX5, all owned for 7 years. The Elise is catching them and likely to outlive them all.

Shortest: S13 200SX, six months. Terrible unreliable sofa of a car. Fast though, when it wasn't broken. Although the E36 has more faults I've kept it longer, although I was test driving possible replacements 5 months after I bought it.

TurboHatchback

4,236 posts

182 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest was 3yrs for my Clio 182. I never intended to keep it that long but it was so good that I couldn't get rid of it, I should probably never have sold it. The shortest was my Jeep Commander Hemi at 11 weeks. It was fabulous but I had hugely misjudged my annual mileage and the fuel expense was proving ruinous frown.

uuf361

3,168 posts

251 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest - 997 Turbo Cab (3.5 years) - just a great car in the colour (white) I'd said I wanted to buy if I won the lottery (I didn't) when it was first launched.....

Shortest - Escort XR3i convertible (about 7 weeks - only bought it last year too!) - it had a great body and interior, the rest was a bit of a let down......

Pixelpeep

8,964 posts

171 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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had a Mk3 Escort 1.6 Ghia for a weekend. Bought it on the friday, overheated on saturday, found out the MOT was fake on Sunday and it had £450 worth of 'immediate' repairs before it would pass a real one so returned it on monday.

only paid £500 for it but even so.. smile

Longest was a Mark4 Golf GTi - had that for 6 years.

Tend to try and get rid of my cars before they hit 50,000 miles.

illmonkey

19,815 posts

227 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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I've had 3 cars that I've owned less than 3 weeks each.

Coolbanana

4,419 posts

229 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest for me was an Isuzu KB200 LE pick-up for 11 years.

Shortest would be my Range Rover Evoque I think at 11 months. Nothing wrong with the car at all, really liked it but wanted a RRS instead at the time. RRS last 12 months before I got the 911.


stumpage

2,209 posts

255 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest Current TVR Chim 450 and Just departed VW Passat - both 4 years and 3 months however I still have the Chim and have not intention of selling it so that wins.

Shortest 1998 Peugeot 406 2.0T Exec. Nothing wrong with it but 5 months after I got it a garage near where I worked had a nice Black 306 Gti-6 appear on the forecourt and it had to be mine. So bye 406

Rickyy

6,618 posts

248 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest was my second Focus, owned it for approx 26 Months. Shortest was my Alfa 156, which died after 5 weeks!

PeetBee

1,036 posts

284 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest so far was wife's Ford Focus estate at 6 years, prior to that I think it was 3 years for a Fiesta Zetec.
Shortest was a Talbot Solara auto, kept it 2 weeks, only changed it as I had the chance to get an E21 3 series instead.

paul99

822 posts

272 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Ive had my Mk2 MX5 for 14 years now, can't see it going anywhere soon either. Ive had a lot of daily drivers in that time though, usually keep them for 12-18 months before I get bored.

dapearson

4,456 posts

253 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Shortest: DC2 Integra. 2 weeks. Rubbish thing 95% of the time.

Longest: 205 GTI. 2 yrs. Had this at uni back in 1998.

Zerotonine

1,171 posts

203 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Toyota MR2, approx 2 months before I killed it.

Honda Accord, 3 years or so.

530dTPhil

1,419 posts

247 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Shortest was a Classic Range Rover in the early 90s. Bought on a Thursday, spent Friday and Saturday cleaning it, went out for lunch on Sunday in it; someone bid me on Monday 30% more than I paid for it. No room for sentiment!

Longest, probably my old V8 Disco 1 which is now coming up to two and a half years.

Pints

18,451 posts

223 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Shortest: 1 week (Golf mk4 estate)
Longest: Approaching 6 years and counting (Golf mk5)

Hooli

32,278 posts

229 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest so far was nine years with my MG Midget. Only sold it as I got into motorbikes & stopped using it on sunny days when I took the bike instead.

Shortest was a Subaru Legacy, got it as a winter shed & it turned out to have a cracked head or block. Keep it a couple of weeks & sold it at a 50% loss.

slash79

127 posts

153 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Shortest, tornado red golf VR6 - 3 months. Got it cheap, cleaned it up and my brothers ex wife loved it and bought from me (before she was an 'ex' wife).
Longest, MG ZT190 - 2 1/2 years approx.
Loved that car. It was immaculate, and I kept it immaculate. Got so many nice comments about it. Got bored though, so sold it. Had a few cars since, but all been a bit disappointing!
Got a Saab 9-5 Aero estate now. She's a leggy old girl, but I'm hoping to have this one the longest. Ive grown out of chopping and changing cars as Ive got older. I'm intrigued to see how long it lasts....

Bill

58,638 posts

284 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest is my second Caterham at five years, but I hardly used it in the last year, followed by my MG ZTT, Impreza, previous Caterham and Mk1 MR2 all at four years. Shortest is a 2CV at about five months, bought to drive to Nepal and dumped in Mumbai.

FerdiZ28

1,355 posts

163 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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Longest:

2005 - Present



Love the thing, itll be with me for many years to come.

Shortest:



3 months. Crap.


ch108

1,127 posts

162 months

Tuesday 11th March 2014
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My first car, old W reg 950cc mk1 Fiesta. 6months as underneath was rotten, got minimal welding done for m.o.t. Spurred on by my dad giving me his Cavalier as he was getting a newer car

I also only kept my R reg 1.6 Citroen Xsara 6months as it had a fault, cutting out when braking which no one seemed able to cure, least of all the garage I bought it from!

The longest has been 4 years. My last 3 cars in fact by coincidence been kept same amount of time.

X reg 1.2 Clio which was the Xsaras replacement and was meant as a stop gap. It never broke down. So I just kept it going.

52reg 1.8 Laguna. I've said before I got the reliable one! Only got rid as I was getting nervous nothing had really gone wrong in 4years and decided to sell before I got a big bill.

My current car, 56 reg 1.6 Astra 4 years so far and not planning to change it. Apart from 2replacement rear springs no issues. And for the last 5years my commute has been local at around 60-70miles per week. The car has only done 44000miles so no great accumulation in mileage.