eBay Motors recently flew me from LA to Vail, Colorado, where I had my choice of four machines to off-road: A Porsche Taycan Crossturismo on all-terrain tires, a Lexus GX, a Toyota Tacoma, and a Jeep Cherokee XJ. As much as I loved the Lexus GX (as I wrote about earlier), it was the XJ that has my heart, even though it may not actually be objectively better than the Lexus. And that’s simply because the XJ — more than any other vehicle ever built — just makes me feel at home.
The first car I ever owned was a 1992 Jeep Cherokee XJ that I bought from the Scott Stadium parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia for $1,400. It had 220,000 miles on it, rusty rocker panels, and an exhaust leak, and I was pretty nervous because I had just turned 19 and I had absolutely zero experience working on cars.
What followed, though, were years of me simultaneously learning how to wrench on cars and learning about mechanical engineering in college. The combination of hands-on and theoretical engineering work — at the same time — was life-changing, and gave me a profoundly deep understanding of how cars work.
I drove that Jeep from 2010 until I moved to LA in 2022, and right now it’s sitting abandoned in the woods in northern Michigan. Hopefully I’ll rescue it someday.
Anyway, I mention my trusty old XJ because my drive in eBay Motors’ XJ — one the company had purchased from eBay Motors and modified using parts obtained through eBay Motors — had me feeling all nostalgic.
Yes, the eBay Motors XJ is built to a much greater extent than my XJ. I had just 31-inch all-terrains and a three-inch lift; this white Jeep out in Colorado had 35s and probably a 4.5 inch lift. Plus, the eBay Jeep was a 1999, with the facelifted interior and exterior.
And yet, it still felt so familiar.
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The trail took us through gorgeous Rocky Mountain woods, with the dirt having been eroded and worn away by previous trekkers. This allowed the Jeep’s solid axles to show their stuff, just flowing right over the terrain with alacrity:
 
Even though I’m fairly sure the vehicle hadn’t been re-geared, the 4.0-liter motor’s prodigious low-end torque, combined with the Jeep’s low-range gearing and light curbweight, meant I barely had to touch the gas pedal to get up steep grades and over large boulders.
When I look at that engine bay, when I tap that throttle pedal and feel the instant response, when I turn that steering wheel and feel that vague but buttery power steering, when I tap on those marginal brakes, when I look through the huge greenhouse at my clearly-visible surroundings — it all just makes me feel at home. It’s the Jeep that taught me everything — how to off-road, how to wrench, how to drift in the snow, how to rip donuts, and on and on.
It’s not an objectively great vehicle when it comes to ride quality, noise, fuel economy, and I could go on and on. But it’s got soul, it can off-road like a monster, it’s cheap, parts are available (on eBay Motors, my hosts would probably like me to remind you), it’s small and lightweight, and most importantly: It feels like home. If it were possible for one to have a “best friend” automobile, the XJ would be mine, and as was made clear when driving this white one in Colorado, I don’t think that will ever change.
What vehicle makes you feel the most “at home” when you’re behind the wheel?
NB Miatas, and 99-04 Mustangs, especially the 04 specifically. They just feel like home after thousands of hours in each
My 2012 Fiat 500. I’ve owned better cars, and I’ve driven cars even better than the ones I’ve owned, but there is something compelling about it. It has the shortest wheelbase of anything I’ve ever drive, and was the first car I could buy after I finally started to come back from the 2008 crash, which murdered my real chances of fast car ownership for All Time. So it taught me to love “slow car, fast.” It’s slightly broken most of the time. It ate two AC compressors. The hatch hasn’t opened since 2022, and hasn’t done so reliably since 2019.
But I love it. I love driving it on my short commute to and from work. I love the cutesy looks and, ahem, challenging gear change. I love the enthusiastic sound when it revs a little further up the range than it needs to. I just plain love being in it. It’s also a five speed, and paid for.
And that’s simply because the XJ — more than any other vehicle ever built — just makes me feel at home.
Bzzzzt! Wrong!
The correct answer is the Pontiac Aztek. When’s move-in day?
Given that he had Matt drive him around in his own minivan at Goodwood, I’m starting to suspect that he might subcontract this out as well.
Well there’s no shortage of unhoused/homeless persons in LA to take that contract.
Probably as soon as it isn’t unbearablely hot outside.
So drive up to a campground in Big Bear at 7000′ or on the coast. Both will be far cooler than inland.
Where’s the fun in that?
Chevy nova from 68 until 74 it just feels like I fit that car
The first vehicles I drove on a regular basis were 1974 and 1976 Chevy pickups. The 74 was a “heavy half” and the 76 was a 3/4 ton. Both had manual transmissions. I’m always at home in a truck. Currently my 2021 Bronco Badlands fills the slot even though it’s not a pickup. It still has the ride height and seating position of a truck as well as the gearing. Having said that, I’ve always had a bit of wanderlust when it comes to vehicles. The one that got away was my 1979 IHC Scout II Terra. And I’ve always had a love for fast cars. From the 06 Charger Daytona R/T to the 08 Mitsubishi Evo X to the 2017 Golf R to my current 2018 Cayman, I’m just as comfortable in a fast car as I am in a work truck. Will I ever really be satisfied? Probably not. And having travelled extensively in my career driving a wild assortment of rentals including an SRT Challenger, a Volvo, and a Saab, there’s always something else interesting to drive. While some may say that “there’s no place like home,” if there really is such a thing for me when it comes to driving, I still haven’t found it.
Nobody will be surprised by this, but GMT400s. My daily is a ‘96 K1500, my tow pig is a ‘99 K2500, and I’ve also owned an ‘88 C1500. I’m used to them. I know their idiosyncrasies, I like how I they drive, and I’m comfortable working on them.
That reminds me of my son, he had a K1500 Suburban and now has a K2500 which is his preferred road trip vehicle.
Mercedes 123 & 126 diesels. I had them for 20 years, and, when I loaded my last—a 300TD—on the trailer, I couldn’t even speak to tell that grand lady goodbye. So I just patted her on the console, secure in the knowledge that I had sold her to the right people. She’s still running around in Mississippi, being driven & enjoyed instead of neglected.
The smell of the interiors—and especially that solid ‘chunk’ of the door closing—will long be with me.
I have owned 5 Fox-platform Ford LTDs since 1998. One of them was my 2nd ever car, and another one I have owned continuously since 2001. I know them like the back of my hand.
My ’11 328i wagon. I only drive it summers at my place in Maine, so it’s like homecoming every year to disconnect the tender and fire it up and go for a drive. 6spd stick, RWD, the way God intended 3-series to be no matter the number of doors or roof length.
Fits me like a glove, and drives delightfully. I bought it new Euro Delivery, and it only has 54K on the clock 13 years on. We even share a birthday, as I got the notice that production was complete on my birthday in 2011.
Almost equally, my ’74 Triumph Spitfire that I have owned for nearly 30 years. Just about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on.
Uhh. An 05 Subaru Legacy GT 5mt Wagon
My first car was a 66 Nova 2 door sedan bought at 14. I have no idea how many cars I owned in between, but my current car at 52 is a 67 Nova 4 door sedan. It feels like home for sure.
deep inhale
Take a guess. (Also check out the last Reader’s Rides)
My 2008 Honda Odyssey for its practicality and comfort as well as the memories it carries from road trips, child and pet shuttling, and all other parts of family life. The battlewagon is nearing 200k and I won’t part with it until it grinds into the dirt. LOVE my Odyssey!
I always feel at home in 90s GM sedans for some reason, usually of the front wheel drive variety. Growing up my dad had an 89 Bonneville they used to drive me around in to get me to sleep as a baby, they kept it long enough that I learned to drive in it, then got grandma’s 94 LeSabre when I got my license (grandma upgraded to a 560SEL, go her!) Today I still have 5 FWD sedans, the two most precious to me are a 92 Bonneville SSE and 03 Park Avenue Ultra. They’re big and comfy, they have decent ride and handling in uplevel trims, and they have some style to add to the cool factor. But probably the biggest upside is the way they eat up the miles on long trips, never uncomfortable and the 3800s barely make a peep about anything, hardly ever.
Different engine (V8), but I loved my 87 DeVille. Beast in the snow and comfy as hell.
I love the styling of those cars, I’m glad to still see them on the occasion that I do.
David, are those Milestar Patagonia X/Ts on that XJ? If so, can you give me your opinion on them? I’m in the market for some new ATs and those are on the shortlist. Mostly concerned with on-road manners if you have an impression of them.
Mine are a set of cars I’ve owned over the years. Each was a different experience and still shine in my memories. First would be my 72 240 z pre small block swap. It was a comfortable buttery fun car to drive both in the city and on the highway. I often used it as a ski car in the winter months. It was transformed into a more powerful version of itself with the v8. Next was my TR6 with small block. Visceral, powerful, but not ac corbra level of performance. Not as comfortable but a great tossit around weekend blaster. My C6 corvette was the best of both those, smooth, powerful, comfortable. A dream. My current daily Honda Accord. Smooth, powerful, dead reliable, and a dream to drive.
Second the Accord. I have the last of the V-6 (2017) models. It just wafts along with more than “adequate” power, but really wakes up when you give it the beans. I love the way its doors thunk when shut. Solid, like a late-60s Mercedes.
Mine is an 18 touring with the 1.5 cvt. I know loads of people deride these, but it’s a great car for long distance touring and daily commuting. It goes and handles extremely well for what it is.
My ’93 Sentra SE-R. I got it new in May 1993 and over 31 years and 225k miles I know absolutely everything about the car. Thieves vandalized my JSW TDI *again* and in addition to the cats they shorted the ECM so the car is bricked. So when I choose to drive to work, I’m driving the SE-R. I’m glad I put the time into it in the spring to take care of most of its maintenance needs to bring it back to drive-anywhere condition. The whole car is muscle memory for me, from extending my ring finger to press the igntion release button as I turn it to remove it, to the way I automatically flip the lock paddle when I get out, or spent 15 years closing the drivers door, with its worn hinge pin, *just* so, or change CD tracks by putting my hand on my right knee and extending my middle finger, to rev-matching downshifts, to etc. etc. etc. The glass has 31 years’ worth of stickers all over it that tell me stories about different chapters of my life that it was with me for. When it comes to places and houses, ‘home’ has always been a bit complicated to me due to things like being born in one country, growing up in that and a second, and much of my family being from a third – it’s not like my dad, who always knew and felt that wherever else home might be, there was always the city he was born and raised in and in which his family had been for generations. I’ve lived in Chicago for 16 years and it is most home for me. But as much as any car can feel like home in the way a place feels like home, it’s my SE-R.
(After all that, I could probably say the same of my Fiat, which I’ve had even longer than the SE-R, but it’s been off the road for years and won’t be on the road again until next year.)
Based on the last 11 years of ownership, along with multiple dealer loaners:
Any Mercedes-Benz CLK or E Class convertible built from 2002 to 2024.
Yes, they’re flawed in their own ways – but I can get into any one of them and effortlessly take off across the continent if necessary.
Nothing else feels quite as right.
Mine.
I didn’t own a car for 35 years. Then I retired at the same time my car first became available. I shopped dozens of cars at the NY Auto Show. I sat in the 2015 Fit and immediately fell in love.
A few months later mine was ready when we arrived in Florida. Ten years on it’s still the most comfortable pair of slippers imaginable.
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2015-honda-fit-ex-long-term-verdict-review/photos/
My 2010 Lotus Evora. It just feels perfect to me. It’s not particularly fast, but I like being in a cocoon with my ass just a few inches above the ground. And it has enough cargo space for my needs.
If you figure an average speed of 30 mph for over 500,000 miles driven, I literally spent two years of my life behind the wheel of my eighties Saab 900 Turbo. That’s longer than all but three out of 23 dwellings I’ve inhabited in my life. It’s been eight years since I parted with the Saab and my right hand still drops reflexively to the center console with the ignition key whenever I get in my current ride. I drove an old 900 a couple of years ago that I considered buying and everything from the burble of the exhaust, the grip of the seat, to the view out of the windscreen felt just right. Miss that car. So, Saab 900.
Datsun/Nissan pickup with I-4 engine, stick-shift and 6′ bed. I think the D21 Hardbody with bench seat is the most “homey” combo of old pickup and “all the mod cons” but any will do.
I’m on my 3rd NA Miata. I’ve been hooked since my father bought one brand new as soon as they came out. It’s a driving experience that’s hard to replicate in any other vehicle. My hand feels at home working that perfectly short shifter through the gears and the engine revs eagerly (even though it’s just a 1.6) with a gentle tap of my foot. I came back to an NA Miata after my adventurous move to a Thunderbird SC got wrecked by a careless driver and I felt guilty for daily driving and wrecked a really perfect SC with documentation even though it wasn’t my fault.
When my insurance check came in, that Miata was waiting for me – Not just any NA Miata, mind you, but this one is identical to the Miata had had 25 years ago when I took my soon-to-be-wife out on our first date. A black and tan package C car with the BodySonic stereo. I thought it would be hard to find one, but a low mileage, unmodified one popped up in driving distance. I probably payed too much for it but who cares. I was back home.
I remember looking under the hood of a NA when they came out, and admiring how *clean* it was with the FI replacing the usual vacuum-hose spaghetti of the era.
When my father bought his first NA they had just come out. He had to put a deposit down before it even arrived and didn’t have any choice over what he got – luckily he got a gorgeous red package A car. People would stop us randomly as we drove around in it to ask about it or points out. One person got us to pop the hood and started pointing out amazing details in the engine compartment, like how they added some subtle chrome lines. It still holds up as a really amazing engine bay.
Had an NB then an NA that I daily’d for 5 or 6 years, they’d definitely both be in the running for most comfy/familiar car for me. Something about the way everything falls to hand is just intuitive and reassuring to me.
For me, it’s the B5 Audi S4. I bought my first one – a silver sedan – in 2002. I daily drove it for 15 plus years before selling it to my brother-in-law and buying a pearl white Avant (wagon) – It was my “Holy Grail”. I flew out to Colorado and then spent a n amazing week and a half driving driving back to Southern California exploring a lot of Southern Utah in the process. Sadly, after a few years I wrecked that one but, was not deterred and bought another Avant, this time a well modified one in black – 460hp/larger turbos/Ohlins coilovers/BBK/LSD/etc. Which is still my daily driver.
Yes, they occasionally live up to their reputation but, I’ve been lucky (or have taken good care of them ) and haven’t had any major issues.
The Avant, especially, is such a amazing car. The interior was way ahead of its time and does not feel dated, I can put the rear seats down and fill the entire back with so much stuff and put a pod on the roof rack and still fly up the steepest grades and confidently carve the twisties.
It’s probably not the ideal car for where I’m living now, but I’m telling myself that if I raise the coilovers and put on some softer springs and replace the PS4 tires with all seasons. It will handle our terrible dirt and pothole roads just fine. 😀
For a daily, normal car, practical experience, any current or former generation Mazda product. My family, both direct and extended have so many by now that the UX and ergonomics are so beautifully similar and entrenched in my mind that every other modern vehicle feels alien and wrong to operate in comparison.
For fun cars, like everyone else, and generation Miata. I used to own an NA, and my dad has an ND that I’ve put over a thousand miles on, and while I juuuuust barely fit, they’re so welcoming to drive.