Lots of car consumers (carsumers™) are single-make buyers, steadfastly loyal to Toyotas or Fords or Hondas or whatever. No big deal there. Repeat model buyers are a rarer breed, but hardly uncommon. Yours truly owned not one but two Dodge Omnis (full disclosure, one was a Plymouth Horizon, but come on). My Dad was a Volkswagen guy for a good bit before going all-in on Toyotas. He started with a used Type 3 which (according to my Mom) made 2-year-old me cry because I saw it belch fire from the exhaust and I thought it was going to explode. That squareback was followed by two consecutive Beetles, but I only remember the last one–a red convertible Super with a black top. Now that was a car. Would Paul Newman lie to you? 
So tell us: which car models have you purchased more than once? Or enough times to extend to near-infinity, like whoever assembled that impressive fleet of Nissan Figaros in the top shot? What made you such a fan–or did you, like, just happen to end up getting two Honda Civics in a row? And FYI, it’s cool if your tale of multiple-models isn’t actually yourself but your mom, dad, brother, friend, weirdo on the outskirts of town … we’re not policing this thing.
To the comments!
I don’t know if this counts but…
I have purchase three Cadillac Hearses built by Superior Motor Coach
RuBella was a 1972, traded in for
Wednesday was a 1973, then skipped a couple cars until,
Fester was a 1977 (so named for his bubbling paint)
The ’73 was a 3-way, the ’72 & ’77 were both end-loaders.
All had V8s with 4-barrel carbs, 472 cu. inches, but the ’77 had a 425.
I’ve been a sucker for F-Bodies for as long as I can remember, I blame that on Burt Reynolds and the Hoff.
1980 Trans Am
1988 Trans Am GTA
1998 Firebird Formula hardtop/M6
2000 Firebird Forma t-top/A4
I still have the ’00, (I bought it in ’07) though I don’t drive it much these days. Currently trapped in my aunt’s garage. I need to pull it out of there, I haven’t started it in over a year now :/
As much as I love the LS1 cars, the L98 GTA was probably my favorite.
The ’80 was a WS6 and white with blue graphics and shaker hood, it would have been gorgeous had it not been a total pile by the time 17 year old me bought it in 1995.
Lately I wish I was like those guys I follow on IG that travel the country hoarding and buying squarebody Chevy trucks. I had one when I was 15 and I’ve always loved those trucks. You can blame Lee Majors for that one haha. I STILL kick myself for selling that. It was a shortbed 4×4 too, super desirable these days.
I’ve had a few repeats, mostly Bought as fixer uppers that I would drive, slowly recondition, and re-sell to make a little cash and buy the next:
88-97 era GM pickups (4)
F-150 (2 Bullnose, 2 bricknose, 4 OBS)
Jeep Cherokee XJ (3)
Jeep Grand Cherokee WJ (4)
Jeep Wrangler JK (5)
Jeep Wrangler TJ (10)
Chrysler Pacifica (on my 2nd)
2 Saab 92X, 2 Saab 97X, 3 Nissan 240sx (S13), 7 (I think) Nissan/Datsun 720 trucks. I still own at least one of each, except the 97X, which I sold the last one just a few days ago.
For the sake of my privacy I won’t be putting pictures up, but my family has been glued to Ford Econolines since long before I was born. They had some late 80’s model for a while before I was born, then got a 1999 not long after I was around, and that one died not long after I got my license. (I’m the youngest of 6.)
Then I had my own ’97 conversion one for a while. I serve as the “dad” of my friend group so it took a special place on vacations and day trips. Hoping to get another one someday.
A personification of Ford quality and high maintenance (never mind gas) costs on a van, to my family: “How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?”
P2 Volvos (’01-’06 in my herds over the years) with the 5 cyl and over 200k, some over 250k.
Stupid reliable, tough, last forever it seems, provided you keep old rubber components from getting tooo old and oil changed w/ mobil1 full synthetic dinosaurs. Now with a freshly installed drivers airbag from a recall, my 260k ’01 V70 T5 manual daily is ready for the next 24 years! Still has the orig clutch though, but that’s a problem for future me.
The somewhat embarrassing list
Two V70R’s, a passion red/nordkap blue M66 (favorite car ever) and a Silver/ nordkap automagic (100% restored)
Three V70 T5’s, black and silver M56’s, and a black automagic
Two V70 2.4 NA’s, a blue M56 and a black automagic
One XC90 2.5T family truckster/trailer towing unit.
I should write an article about how these cars are the perfect balance of incredible long distance comfort, every day utility, fuel economy (esp in the m66 R), fun for a turbo fwd, reliability, good looks, available parts, easy to repair and maintain, affordability, options, safety, etc.
I may have a problem. But at least the problem is manual 5 cyl. turbo rocket wagons. Could be worse.
Crap, i forgot about 5 F150’s, an ’86 302 4 spd manual, ’89 5 speed manual, ’98 5 spd manual, ’00 lariat auto, ’86 300 5 spd manual swap resto project grampa truck.
Mercury Lynx’s – ’84 RS, ’86 XR3, ’87 L (Combined the best parts of these three cars into 1 car in high school).
That’s me but P80s although I do have a 2P1s and now an XC60 I am down to 5 at the moment, 850r v70r v50 c30 and the xc60
I’ve bought two 1985 Pontiac Fieros. First one a stripper base model, then sold that one and got a better equipped ’85 Fiero… both in red.
I’ve never purchased the same model or the same paint color again. I would consider buying a late 90s Explorer again (and have indeed looked at the Bronco Sport, which is as close as you can get to a new 90s Explorer).
2 Beetles, a 63 and a 71. The 63 had a sunroof, which I liked, but it wouldn’t keep to the speed limit up the modest hills on I-95 between NY and Washington. No sunroof on the 71, but it climbed hills a little better. They had their foibles, but on the whole they were pretty reliable. As an added feature, they really do float.
My dad taught me to drive in a 1973 AMC Hornet Sportabout. When the body became more rust than steel, he replaced it with a 1970 AMC Hornet coupe.
My younger brother has had three Hyundai Elantras and two Subaru Forresters (Elantra, Elantra, Forrester, Forrester, Elantra).
My older brother’s family has had two Toyota 4Runners and two VW Jettas (one diesel wagon, one gas sedan).
My FIL & MIL had two Dodge Intrepids.
The only vehicle that I’ve bought two of was the Piaggio BV 350 scooter. First one was a 2013, second was a 2017.
Like many others, my mom spent the bulk of the ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s behind the wheel of a series of Chrysler minivans while I and my brothers were growing up. She had about a decade break where she drove a CR-V, but now she has six granddaughters, five of whom live within 2 miles of her, so she’s in a Pacifica.
As for myself, I have purchased (and actually owned at the same time) two very different Nissan 200SX’s. A 1988 SE V6 (RWD, S12 Silvia platform, VG30E) and a 1996 SE-R (FWD, B14 Sentra platform, SR20DE)
Beetle: A 1972 1200 was my second car, later on when being a student, I took a ’57 oval and made it a cal looker (in Northern Germany).
BMW E34: A 1989 525i sedan and after that a 1993 (I believe) 525tds touring. Nice, nice cars.
Mini (the real thing): A 1991 1000, a 1992 1300 and a 1995 1300spi.
P2 Volvos. I owned a 2004 S60 and upgraded to an 06 V70 (both cars were pushing 15 years old when I bought them). My wife drove the S60 (aka Meatbøll) for about another 150,000 miles (yes, miles) after I gave it up. The V70 (aka Pandora) did about 230,000km (yes, kilometres) under my stewardship. It helped me move house three times. It was a worthy bus for my young foxhounds. The saloon ended up going for part exchange, and the estate was scrapped just over a year ago, but I miss it terribly, as do my dogs.
All of this occurred on the strength of my brother having had an S60, and an old shape S40 prior to that, my dad having a newer S40, another brother having an XC90. First brother has had a V40 and now XC40 subsequently. So yeah. Definite brand loyalists.
Between my father and I we’ve owned four Cherokees:
1992 2 Door Sport
97 4 Door Limited
96 4 Door Sport
21 25th Anniversary Edition
I’ve also owned 2017 and 2018 Compass Trailhawks, and currently own a 2004 Wrangler X Sport.
I’ve also owned two 7th Gen Civics, a 2001 and I currently own a 2003, both black sedans first one was an Automatic current is a manual.
The first car I drove was my mum’s M2 VW Polo, by the time I was learning she had a new Mk2 Polo.
My first car once I passed my driving test was a Mk1 Polo, then a Mk2, then a Mk2 Polo Coupe, which I loved. Once that one got long in the tooth I moved to a Peugeot 206 which lasted me for 14 years and now my current car? A Mk4 Polo. A ‘Polo Sport’, with a whopping 1.6 litre engine!
Yep, 4/5ths of my cars have been Polos 🙂
(We’re apparently a VAG family, because after the Polo’s my mum has had two or three Golfs, and my dad went from a Mk1 Passat, to a Sharan, followed by another, and now drives a Skoda Yeti. My brothers have owned several Polos and Golfs over the years, and my little bro currently has a Skoda Fabia)
I had a pair of 1986 Dodge Diplomats that were identically optioned and colored. The VINs were 17 digits apart. I later had a 1982 Chrysler Fifth Ave and a 1985 Plymouth Gran Fury (all of which are essentially the same cars).
I’ve had two second gen CRXs. Oh and I’m on my second white Chevy Silverado 2500HD, 4×4, long bed coupe in a row, but they were of different generations. Does that count?
I had 4 90s era Jeep Cherokees, 2 Grand Cherokees, 2 Dodge Dakotas, and 2 Jeep Libertys.
Current roster is a 2002 Dakota, 2012 Liberty, and 2014 Grand Cherokee.
I’ve had two Peugeot 306s, and I’m currently on my third BMW E36.
Erm, that’s it. Every other model of car I’ve owned, I’ve only owned the once.
I’ve had four Toyota MR2s, two mk1, and one each of the other two. It adds up to about 15 years of MR2 ownership. I loved them all apart from the mk3, which wasn’t very rigid and I don’t really like convertibles.
I’ve had three Honda CRXs, two mk2 (one a JDM moonroof Si) and a mk1 16i16, all of which I loved.
I’ve had two FC RX7s, one standard, one a V8 project. I’d have another one right now if current prices weren’t insane.
And a couple of E30 3-series.
I’ve had 2 NA Miatas, 2 AP2 S2000, 2 2nd gen tundras, and 2 B5 Audis.
Have had some cousins – the current gen 4runner and gx460.
Man, we’re so bad. We actually have to order keychains with the BMW chassis codes on them so we know which key we’re grabbing. (E3, E9 (x2), E28, E30, E34, E36/8, E39, Other E39, E60, E61, E86, E90, Other E90, F10, F87 and so on…) Crap, we really need to stay off Craigslist.
But, the ONE car we’ve bought over and over. The Miata.
We’ve had at one point:
Stock 1.6 (x2)
Stock 1.8
Turbo 1.8 (x2)
German Rat Rod 1.8 (I mean, who doesn’t like a Borgward rat rod?)
Honda V6
GM Ecotec 2.2
Boss 302
It’s like 31 Flavors of Miata at our place…
You mean you had Miatas with an engine from a Boss 302 Mustang, etc… in them, or are those non-Miatas you’re talking about BP? If they’re ALL Miatas, well then, you’ve probably had more of them than anyone else here by far. If that’s the case, then I mean this sincerely: I’m jealous. 😉
2-gen1 Honda Preludes…would by another.
2-b5 Volkswagen Passats, sedan & wagon…never again.
6- Honda CB750’s, all gen1 single overhead cams…anybody got one cheap?
5-CZ dirt bikes, vintage motocrossers…priced out of my league now.
Subaru legacy. 1996, 1997, 2008, 2008. Driven them 750,000 miles collectively. Drive for work in MN. The best one (97 wagon) cost 6 cents a mile to own.
I had two first gen (’79ish I think) Toyota Supras, which were basically the same as Celicas of the time, but with longer hoods to accommodate two more cylinders. Maybe a few other extra bits, but indistinguishable from the Celica from the windshield back as far as I can recall. One was my first car, and the other was my first manual (which I bought without knowing how to drive a manual and sort of learned during my drive home).
I also had two VW Rabbits sort of: one was an ’84 GTI which I loved though it was forever rattly, being one of those cars built in Westmoreland, PA. 90 horsepower was never so much fun! The other was an ’81 Cabriolet, which I bought with a seized engine and had a mechanic replace that with a used engine. I think it was roughly $3K for everything including labor. It wasn’t a fast car or as fun to drive as the GTI, but it was better built (in Germany, I think?) so it rattled less. It also felt heavier than the GTI, presumably due to structural reinforcements for the soft top, and it was surely more softly sprung. Also, the Cabriolet’s trunk was surprisingly commodious, so long as you didn’t mind bending down to get stuff in/out, which I did not, since I was young back then. 😉
I think that’s it for semi/dupe models thus far.
Oh CRAP! I almost forgot: I also had two Miatas, one of which I still own. My first one was a 2000 (NB) that I bought with a salvage title. It had Bilsteins from the factory and a LSD. I wasn’t using it much, so I sold it (for only a couple grand less than I paid after having it for several years) and I missed it so much that I bought another one. That’s my current one: a ’95 (NA) with the optional hardtop. It’s a bit ratty looking, but mechanically sound and only has about 85Kmiles on it. I think it was originally sold in Europe (some lefthand drive part of Europe) due to the side marker lights. It only cost about $2,250 (via LA Craigslist, just before the pandemic, when used car prices were ‘normal’) and I’ve put maybe a grand into it so far, just to renew various bits. I still have to fix the AC, and maybe put in a decent audio system with a period-correct/looking head unit, since the car is such a pleasure to tool around in, a soundtrack would be nice.
OK, I think that’s all the dupe models I’ve owned so far. I think this is the completish list of other cars I’ve owned, and I don’t plan to buy any of these again any time soon, but you never know:
1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible with 427cu/435hp (supposedly; it wanted leaded gas and got <10MPG)
’79 VW Westphalia camper (air cooled) …did a 12Kmile loop of the US and Canada
Volvo 780 Turbo (I honestly don’t remember exactly what year or model it was… early/mid 80s maybe? It might have been a 760, but it was big, so I think 780
2000 VW Golf TDI GLS (turbo diesel) owned it for 22 years and sold it two weeks ago
2004 Volvo XC90 (5 cyl. light-pressure turbo/FWD) my current daily driver (low MPG)
That only comes out to 11 cars. There might have been one more. Or maybe two?
I did forget one: I put down a deposit for one of the first 1998 Mercedes Benz CLK 320 to arrive at that dealership, because I really wanted a middle-size MB two-door bigger than the SLK and SL, but not as Master of Industy as the earlier 500 SEC. I waited about two years, and took deliver of a sliver coupe with every option and a mint set of AMG Monoblock wheels with Bridgestone rubber. It’s the only new car I’ve ever had, and it’s also the only time I ever leased a car.
The car was sleek, more than powerful enough (the CLK 500 came out later), feature-laden, and smelled great inside.
It was also a horrific lemon of Dantesque proportions. The car was in the dealership for service visits of varying durations seven times during the first year. 90% of the problems seemed related to the electronics in the car, and how they communicated with the engine and/or various sensors. The dealership, though pretty, didn’t help the situation much, since at least two of the repairs involved fixing damage they did to the interior or exterior during repairs: one required the bumper to be repainted, and another meant replacing wood on the dash and console.
The car was great to drive when it ran without the dash lighting up like a pinball machine, which wasn’t often. Anecdotally, I gather lots of new six-cylinder Mercedes shared similar woes, based only on how many ML 320 and E 320 owners I met waiting around and drinking coffee in the dealership’s service lobby.
After a year, I got tired of all of it. The dealership was about an hour from my house, and at the time, I couldn’t afford all the lost time since I was very busy with a new business. Eventually, they agreed to re-sell or re-lease the car to someone else and I got out of my lease after about a year. It was all a huge PITA. The only positive experience from the entire experience was a loaner they gave me once: a base C230 that cost $20K less than my car. This was the last of the squared-off ‘old school’ Benzes: the W202 generation: four doors, rectangularish headlights, a wide, low grill. I had to drive from LA to SF and back the same day in that car, and aside from the sorta agricultural note of its small supercharged engine, I couldn’t believe how good a car it was for the price (low $30s at the time I think… this was late 90s). Plus: not a single complaint whatsoever from the car during the 12-hour round trip… they way I wanted a Mercedes to be.
CLKs are cheap as ass now, though of course most have pretty high mileage. Same with C230s (and similar W202 C300s, which I’ve also driven). Would I buy either one again, even if I ran across some pristine, creampuff example at a great price? CLK: no thanks. C230 or 300? Probably, though they’ve got issues of their own. That’s how satisfying that one long drive to and from SF was.
Added later: I knew there was still another one!
I also had a 1988 Audi Model 90, which I bought from Rusnak Audi in Pasadena on the spur-of-the-moment, while I was there helping a friend/coworker/employee buy his first new car, an A4. I didn’t even know what the Model 90 was at the time (or the 80, 100, 200… either) but though it seemed like an old man’s car, I liked it, had a bit of cash laying around (this was the 90s), and the leather and wood inside was nice and thick, unlike those found in my current old Volvo.
Anyway, I drove the car for several years, despite the fact that it had some sort of electronic/electrical problem that I was never able to get fixed: it would suddenly turn off without warning. This would happen once every few to several weeks, and it didn’t matter whether you were idling at a light, or driving through a busy intersection, or doing a steady 80 on the freeway. Without warning, the engine would be off and you’d either be stuck (in an intersection, with cars honking at me) or quickly have to muscle the now-manual steering to get the car over to the shoulder ASAP. The car might be willing to restart in five minutes, or it could take days before it deigned to run again. I remember once just leaving it at a girlfriend’s house in Culver City, and spending hours walking home to Hollywood Hills. It was a nice day out though as I recall, like most in LA, and for whatever reason I really didn’t mind that much. I credit my lack of anger towards the Audi to having younger-at-the-time knees and the fact that she was a very enthusiastic girlfriend, so I was in a good mood often. 😉
Despite this one glaring and potentially dangerous flaw, I really did like the car. It was a smallish sedan but felt very right-sized to me. It was heavy: the doors closed with the same bank vault German authority as on my Benz or TDI VW, and it was softly sprung and very comfortable. It was NOT a sports sedan, but rather something an older English professor might drive: it looked and felt rather conservative. That didn’t describe me at the time, but when it wasn’t trying to kill me, I really enjoyed owning and driving it.
When I finally decided it was time to move it along, I couldn’t bear inflicting its unresolved personality flaw on the next owner, so I donated it to the Red Cross shortly after 9/11.
It might be hard to understand since that tendency to shut down kind of put my life in a bit of danger more than once (usually on the 101 or 405 at 80 MPH) but I actually miss that car. I still like those 1980s Audis, but the odds of me owning another one are slim. I can’t swear it won’t happen, but if it did, it’d probably be one of the more performance-oriented ones like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPkc8Wks0B0 (short video complete with 80s euro soundrack!). A car exactly like mine, even down to the color, appears at 1:08 in this video.
That makes 13 cars total, which feels about right. I think I can shut up now, unless the dealership with the early BMW i3 I inquired about yesterday actually calls me back. 😉