As car enthusiasts, we always enjoy an opportunity to discover the strengths, weaknesses, quirks, and characters of car brands and models we haven’t experienced before. Who among us would turn down the chance to drive a 700-horsepower super pickup truck from Ford, partake of the EV revolution in a Tesla, or – if you don’t mind dead brands – bask in the innovation and weirdness of Saturn and Saab?
Some say variety is the spice of life, and with my have-driven list stretching across more than 30 brands, I certainly agree.
I may have missed a few, but the lineup of brands I’ve had seat-time in includes:
Acura
Audi
Bollinger
Blue Bird
BMW
Buick
Cadillac
Chevrolet
Chrysler
Dodge
Ford
Geo
GMC
Honda
International
Jeep
Kia
Lexus
Mazda
Mercedes-Benz
Mitsubishi
Nissan
Nova Bus
Oldsmobile
Pontiac
Plymouth
Saturn
Scion
Smart
Subaru
Suzuki
Toyota
Volkswagen
One of my life’s missions is to experience as many vehicles as possible and writing for this wonderful site has opened so many doors to doing that. I mean, the list doesn’t include motorcycles, boats, planes, or locomotives! Still, I have a long way to go. You’ll note that I’ve never driven a Saab before or any truly obscure car brand. I also don’t have a ton of experience driving supercars and no experience driving any Jeep Wrangler. Yep, I’ve buried Smarts and minivans in mud and have gotten massive airtime in a Jeep Renegade on a dirt track, but I’ve never driven Jeep’s famed Wrangler. Thanks to David, my first Jeep drive was in a pristine XJ.
It’s hard to pick a favorite vehicle from that list because I’m a firm believer that every car is awesome in its own way. With that said, if I were going to throw down money on a new vehicle right now, I would buy a Ford F-150 FP700 and laugh all the way into a jail cell.
Here’s where I turn the microphone to you. Tell us about all the different car brands you’ve experienced, whether briefly or long-term. Which impressed you most – and least? Which brands seemed best able to maintain the brand’s “feel” across different models? Which brands have you driven most? Which brands do you hope to add to your list? Tell us all about it!
Ive driven a ton, perks of working at a dealership.
As far as ownership, I’ve had:
At least 25 Jeep Products,
8 Dodge, mostly pickups, but there was a K car and an old aspen in there too!
9 or 10 Fords, mostly old Pickups, but also had a couple broncos, a taurus, and a 99 Mustang GT
9 or 10 Chevies mostly 88-98 GMT400 trucks
2 subarus
2 Nissans, a Cube (it was GREAT!) and a Hardbody pickup
1 mazda, a 91 miata (I LOVED that car)
Acura
Alfa Romeo
Audi
BMW
Buick
Cadillac
Chevrolet
Chrysler
Dihatsu
Dodge
Ford
GMC
Honda
International Harvester (tractor)
Jeep
Kenworth
Mazda
Mini
MG
Mercury
Oldsmobile
Pontiac
Porsche
Plymouth
Saturn
Subaru
Tesla
Toyota
Triumph
Volkswagen
Volvo
Owned:
Pontiac, Buick, Chevy, Olds, Chrysler, Ford, Kia*, Hyundai, Jeep, VW, Honda
Driven:
All the above, plus:
Olds, Dodge, Ram, Plymouth, Mercury, Lincoln, Merkur, Nissan, Toyota, Datsun, Subaru, GMC, Mazda*.
*current vehicles – 2018 Kia Sorento SX AWD and 2017 Mazda CX-5 (FWD)
I’m testing my memory a bit with this but here goes:
Owned:
Pontiac, Ford, Chevrolet (Holden too if you please), SRT, Toyota, VW, Subaru, Chrysler, Buick, Saturn, Porsche, Cadillac, Mercedes Benz
Rented:
Jeep, Dodge, Peugeot, BMW, Alfa Romeo, Nissan
Owned by friends or family and driven:
Acura, Maserati, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Mitsubishi, Scion, AM General/Hummer, GMC, Geo
Driven for work:
Honda
Test driven:
Tesla, Mazda, Genesis, Hyundai, Volvo, Lexus, Audi, Isuzu, Ram, Kia, Jaguar
Drove only at driving school:
Plymouth
Notables missing:
Lincoln, Infiniti, Land Rover, Ferrari, Saab, Lamborghini, McLaren, Bentley, Rolls Royce, a bunch of small foreign ones.
Ooh fun!
Isuzu (Trooper II ftw)
Renault
Honda
Jeep
Subaru
Volvo
Ford
Toyota
Fiat
VW
GMC
Chrysler
Dodge
Chevrolet
Mitsubishi
Nissan
Land Rover
Kia
Hyundai
Tesla
Harley Davidson
Car brands I’ve owned. Renault, Pontiac, Toyota, Chevrolet, Packard, Nissan, GMC, Stephens, Ford, BMW, Mazda, Fiat, Infiniti, Mercedes, Austin Healey, Lotus, VW, Buick, Chrysler.
Driven? too many to count.
Driven: All of the brands currently under Chrysler, Ford, and GM, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Mazda, Volvo, Fiat, Peugeot, VW, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, Rivian, Tesla, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan, Maserati, Jaguar, Alfa, and a bunch of speedboats if we go aquatic. Need to find a way to drive some exotics.
Owned: Jeep, Audi, Ram, Mazda, Honda, Nissan, Toyota
Owned? Buick (1), Chevrolet(4), Suzuki(3), Ford/Mercury(3), Toyota(2), Subaru(2), Jeep/AMC(2), Honda(1).
Driven? Oh lord just about everything available in the US for the past 20 years or so.
I’ll go with cars owned, because — like others here — the list of cars driven is way too long and I’m sure I’d forget some. Among them are numerous cars I wish I owned, but didn’t….
In rough order: Hillman, Chevrolet, Kaiser (3), Honda (2), Mazda, Renault (6, I think), Austin-Healey (3), Citroen, Toyota.
Nice list!
And I miss all of them, some more than others. Except for the Toyota, which I own now, and would cheerfully trade for any of the other.
Sprites, 100s, or 3000s? Mine is a BJ8.
One Frogeye, one BN2 100 (sold after a “restoration” shop pinched all the original small bits and used them on other cars) and a ’60 BT7, previously owned by my father who put over a half-million miles on it. I was a piker; I only added 50K or so more.
If we include cars that I perhaps only drove a few minutes/hours when I worked for the old San Francisco Autocenter, test drives, friend’s cars, and staff cars when I was in the Military:
Ford
Mercury
Volvo
Acura
Honda
GMC
Chevrolet
Saturn
Hyundai
Dodge
Pontiac
Volkswagen
Toyota
Nissan
Isuzu
Mazda
Infiniti
Jaguar
BMW
Audi
Mercedes-Benz
I feel like we need a review series of Mercedes driving obscure vehicles with the goal of filling a bingo card of all the car brands. I would suggest starting with British roadsters for flavor.
Saab
Chevrolet
Pontiac
Oldsmobile
Cadillac
Ford
Mercury
Lincoln
Toyota
Honda
Subaru
BMW
Mercedes
Audi
Kia
Hyundai
Ferrari
Porsche
Jeep
Dodge
Chrysler
Plymouth
Lada
Renault
Citron (citreon)?
Seat
Skoda
Volvo
Acura
Mazda
Maserati
Jaguar
Nissan
Buick
Alfa
Lexus
Volkswagen
Infiniti
GMC
Suzuki
Saturn…
I will stop now. You never should have asked this one….
Ooo interesting question… Lets see how good my memory is.
Hyundai, BMW, Jeep, Toyota, Mercedes, Mazda, Lexus, Subaru, Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, Mercury, Ford, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Chevrolet, Honda. I’m sure there’s a brand or two I’m missing but that’s all I can remember at the moment.
Grew up in a Ford household. Learned how to drive in a 2005 Focus wagon and a 2010 Flex (non-turbo), then drove an Econoline for 7 years.
Toyota Prius v starting late 2019 – present.
Anything else I’ve driven was very brief. A sibling’s Buick LeSabre; U-Haul Chevy Express box truck; rental Kia Sedona.
That’s the entire list, to my knowledge. I got a lot to experience yet.
Well I work at a dealer, so if you count driving crapboxes 2 blocks to the bid lot or moving them 20 feet for the snowplow; probably every non-exotic brand.
Ones of any significant time: Ford, Chevy, Jeep, Nissan, Lexus
From 1st through current:
Owned:
Oldsmobile Gutless Ciera
Ford Mustang
Toyota Tercel
Oldsmobile Achieva
Toyota Tacoma
Honda Fit
Honda Civic
Mercedes C300
Mitsubishi (it was an Evo X, don’t hate)
Acura TSX Wagon
Jeep XJ
Mazda ND GT-S
Ford F150
Honda Accord
Ford F250
Driven but not owned:
Kurbmaster (box truck)
Isuzu (box truck)
Clark (forklifts)
Baja (boat)
GMC
Allis Chalmers
Bobcat
I worked at a tire dealership for a year. So, lots of them. But it was 40 years ago, so I can’t remember all of them.
Now that I actually think about a true list, far more than I would have guessed.
Mazda, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Tesla, Mercedes, Porsche, Chevy, Dodge, Kia, Subaru, Lamborghini (Xtreme experience counts right?!). And yet as far as I can think, no BMWs. Passenger certainly, even wrenched on one or two, but never driven.
And as a CX-30 owner, that’s a very good title card photo
I’d list all the cars I’ve driven but that’d probably get pretty boring – instead here’s my list of bizarre omissions:
I’ve driven cars from every major Japanese brand and their luxury offshoots: but somehow I’ve never driven a Mazda. This omission explains how I’ve driven cars with front engine, mid engine, rear engine, cylinders between 3 and 12, and in electric/straight/boxer/and V configuration – but have never driven a Wankel rotary engine.
I’ve driven every extant GM brand except somehow I’ve not driven a Chevrolet badged as a Chevrolet or a Corvette (currently own a Holden, RIP)
Euros: I’ve driven and owned Mercedes, MINI, Audi and Jaguar, and have driven cars from Porsche, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lotus, Volvo, Volkswagen and even an old Triumph. Somehow I have never even set foot in a French car.
So in thinking and typing all this out: I think I gotta drive an RX-7, like, immediately
(by “Chevrolet badged as a Chevrolet” I mean I’ve driven one of those awful mid-00’s SUVs that GM sold under 90 brands but it had a Buick badge on it).
Modifying the question to be “what cars (brands) have you OWNED”, because the list of ones I’ve driven is too long. In roughly chronological order…
VW Rabbit
Toyota Tercel SR5
Ford Mustang GT (’94)
Dodge Ram 1500
Dodge Dakota
Dodge Viper ACR
Dodge Viper GTS
Honda FRV
BMW X3
VW Passat
Honda Pilot LX
Ford Mustang (’65)
Ford F150 Custom (’76)
Subaru WRX
BMW 430i
Tesla Model 3 Performance
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (’65)
Land Rover Defender 90 (’86)
Porsche Cayenne S
Mini Cooper S
Ford Bronco Badlands
I rent a lot of cars for work. So, pretty much everything Enterprise has! (except the “exotic” collection) My rentals are usually one-way, and they don’t want those to end up in Lawrence, KS!
I grew up in Johnsburg and for years would see the double features they would play there. Also marvel at the number of almost car accidents at the four way stop outside of it from people looking at the screen. Back when movies were moving to digital, we almost lost it until a mystery donor donated I believe $40K for a new digital projector.
I was an eager beaver to drive as many of my friend’s cars as possible in highschool or college so I racked up quite a few, combine that with flipping some cheap summer cars gives me quite a list:
Ford – My own
Geo – My own
Honda – My own
Volkswagen
Suzuki
Pontiac
Mercury
Buick – Summer car
Nissan – Summer car
Toyota
BMW
Mitsubishi
Chevrolet
Plymouth
Chrysler
Jeep – a very very dangerously modified one with a big lift, tires, and no brake upgrades.
If I can think of any more I’ll add them.
Best, not counting my own cars, The Toyota was a 2001 Landcruiser and drove like a dream. The worst, was the Mercury, nearly got me T-boned cutting out at a crossroad, it didn’t even die, just did nothing when I put the foot down and then acted like nothing happened afterwards.
The most unique was probably the Suzuki Wagon R+, tried to learn RHD stick shift and it didn’t go so well but at least I drove it around a parking lot. It was so tall!
Of all the major US brands, the only ones I can’t recall driving are Mercedes and Mitsubishi. That includes dead brands like Plymouth, Mercury, Pontiac, etc. Never been behind the wheel of anything exotic.
Mercedes. You a big glaring omission on your list that I would like to see corrected quickly. Volvo! Get yourself a c30 or v60 and have a good ole time.
for myself: Pontiac, GMC, Nissan, Mazda, Ford, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Volkswagen, Volvo.
I typed a list, but it was a lot of boring stuff. So I’ll just add the weird ones (for the US anyway).
AMC
Opel
Peugeot
Skoda