Until the last few years, every car I've owned has been 5+ years, usually more. The '93 Talon probably the longest, & most mileage. Hm, bought '97 and sold with 240k miles I put on it around '06 or so, wish I had kept it.
Until the last few years, every car I've owned has been 5+ years, usually more. The '93 Talon probably the longest, & most mileage. Hm, bought '97 and sold with 240k miles I put on it around '06 or so, wish I had kept it.
I bought my Escort new in 1991 and sold it in 2003 with 132,000 miles on it.
I've been through over 40 cars and am not even 40 myself so I don't tend to hang on to them long. But I had one that was a long termer and I wish I still had it.
In better times:
1966 Pontiac ambulance/hearse combo, short wheelbase ("short" meaning standard 1966 Bonneville wheelbase, as opposed to stretched, so it wasn't exactly a small car). I bought it in 1996 and for several years it was my only car. Unfortunately I didn't know better and parked it on a gravel pad during those years. Combine that with the road salt from driving it in the winter and it rusted really badly. I finally pulled it off the road "to restore" after I built a garage but a detailed accounting of its condition showed it to be beyond my skill and tool set (or money set, to have someone else do it).
In worse times:
I ended up selling it to a fellow Professional Car Society member, and he's got it stored indoors awaiting restoration. I miss it badly and it's the only car of the 40 that I really regret selling. But it was the right decision at that time.
One of these days I'll have extra money and then really wish I had it back to just write the big money checks to have someone restore it. That was (is!) such a cool car.
I sold it in 2009, so 13 years of ownership. I would guess it was on the road for 10 of those. It still ran and drove at the end but the body was in bad shape, so I didn't drive it. I drove it onto the trailer, sitting on a bucket on top of sheet metal that was screwed and caulked into place. :-(
82 Camaro bought new. It was sitting for a while waiting for me to fix a few nagging problems, but not long enough for the gas to go bad. I call that continuous... I also still have a 56 Chev I bought in 1977, but it hasn't run since about 1978, so we will call that one a retirement project.
I drove the '67 Le Mans that Curtis now has as my primary car from 1981 to about 1990, and then regularly in nice weather until about 2009. So that's what, 28 years? From 2009-2014 it was complete and driveable; I just didn't. So all told, 33 years.
Regularly-used cars that replaced it:
1992 Caravan bought new and driven until killed in 2003 (11 years).
1995 Neon bought new and driven daily until killed in 2004 (9 years).
2000 Grand Caravan bought used in 2003 and driven until killed in 2014 (11 years).
2004 TSX bought new and still in service daily for the foreseeable future (12 years and counting).
2003 325i bought used in 2006 and still in service daily for the foreseeable future (10 years and counting).
It is a tie for me. 7 years for my old 77 Toyota Corolla wagon and an 01 Kia Sephia.
Wifes saturn we bought cpo in the summer of 06. 10 years and 100k later. Its boring but effecient.
Me personally its a tie between my wagon and my old 81 marquis 2 door. Wagons garaged all winter though.
Longest ownership is the $250 RX7 I purchased in 2002, now has a 5.0 and 400hp plus Nitrous, I have owned well north of 100 cars, closer to 150.
Twelve years and 300k miles for the Civic Si that I bought new in 1989. Second place probably goes to my 2004 WRX, at seven years and 125k.
The GT from Hell has been abusing me since 1978. Not been driven much over the last three years, but still taxed and plated for the few dozen miles that she does get out.
12 years in a retired 95 Caprice 9C1. My first real car. I fell in love with it. After it started to eat itself alive, people kept asking why I don't get rid of it. I always said it's better to have the Devil you know rather than the Devil you don't. I actually cried when I sent it to the junkyard. It was like shooting your dog.
I've owned the Javelin since August of 2010, exactly 1 month longer than I've been married. 
I've had my TR250 since January 1981. Driven often and during the spring, summer and fall it is my DD. Next would be my '89 C1500 bought it new. 309K miles still driven as needed. Side note -the '99 4x4 Suburban also bought new has 315k miles on it.
I've had my 74 2002 since 1995, and it's been on the road that entire time. Some years it got more use than others, but no matter what it starts up every spring and hits the road as soon as the salt is gone.
16 years on my current daily driver. Bought at 132,000 miles, currently at 408,000. Paid $250.00 with a bad clutch.
I have bought and bounced 20 cars or so in that time.
Bruce
My 240z has spend the last 8 or 9 years in pieces but all told I've ad it for 14 years. The Z31 has been about 10 years now, it's gone years without use but was recently flogged by myself and many others at a night test n tune autocross.
The Explorer we're about to sell has been my wife's daily driver, later was the go-to vehicle when nothing else ran, and has drug us and a camper happily all over God's creation for near 15 years. 
Bought the Mustang new in 05, so this summer will be 11 years with no plans for it to go anywhere. I still DD it about 2/3 of the time and it only has 115k on the clock.
When I graduated college in 1993, my folks bought me a Mk1 Scirocco. (it was a 1981) I drove that car as far East as Cape Cod, as far West as Moab Utah, as far North as Ely MN, and as far South as West Palm Beach FL. Finally sold it to a message board member here.....hopefully it will show up at the Challenge one of these days. If I don't buy it back from him first!
My E36 M3 was bought nearly new by my father in 1998. I bought it off him in 2005, and it's been mine ever since. (just cracked 170K miles) I don't ever plan on letting it go.
This was just after I bought the VW.....and headed out West for some fun. The goofy rear spoiler was jettisoned soon after, and a set of snowflakes replaced the original 13" wheels.
The longest I owned anything was my Maverick. Built in 2003-4 with my dad and just sold this year, so 12 years. But for 80% of that time it lived in Baltimore while I was away at college in PA and then moved here. I only really had it for 1.5 years, then 3 summers, then it sat for 7 years until I hauled it up here and sold it.
The longest I owned, possessed and actually used a car was 5 years for my '90 Integra that I bought to take to college instead of the Maverick. 2004 to 2009.
It looked like this when I started:
Aaaaand it looked like this when I sold it. 75,000 miles. A deer ran into it. And it ran into a Grand Caravan
The Lethal Locost turns 10 this year. Has it been that long??
Don't know how to work out the math on this one. I started driving it when i got my license, 11 or so years ago, i still have it, still drive it. The math is confusing because my parents bought it new before i was born, and we would go on road trips in it, take it camping, etc... so i've never really been without it. i have a picture of me in it when i was like 4
I don't think it's automotive ADD, more just a case of getting the right car for the time as finances allow. Most of my cars have lasted about 3 years. Now I have more specialized vehicles so the Miata will probably never get sold since it sees limited use (almost 3 years and only gone 4,000 miles).
I tend to average about 4-5 years per car. Some of them just "run their course" as a project car and thankfully I've been smart enough to move on before I sunk a bunch of time and money into them. I've only owned 9 cars over the 19 years I've been driving.
The 84 GTI in my avatar is probably going to be held onto for a long long time though. I'm trying to finish up a suspension refresh on it and get out and drive it more in the next few years including autocross. I could see putting it out of duty for awhile again to get some body work and a respray at some point.
I bought my 2007 Silverado in Nov 2007. 156k on it now. I still have to real love for it but the damn thing is just practical and useful and I can't find anything to replace it with that will do what it does better.
'01 Integra bought new, sold in '14
a '86 Civic bought in '88, sold in '97
other '76 Civic bought new, sold in '88
my CRX (my avatar) going on 8 yrs
beyond these, my count is somewhere around 30 other cars ... most of which last between a few months, and 3 - 4 yrs
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