I get it, and even agree, that the vast majority of us only really need one car. And even then, a lot of us could probably get along fine with zero cars, albeit with much less convenience and infinitely less happiness. But if you were to have all the optimized cars (or trucks, or transport modes) for the various use cases in your life, then how many and what kind of machines are we talkin’ about here?
Take me, for example. As a homeowner, I need something that can haul a bunch of mulch or concrete pavers or shrubs or whatever it is I need to recreate – badly – the thing my wife saw on HGTV the previous weekend. Can my 2015 RAV4 do this? Yes. Is it ideal? No. I shall need a Ford F-150, the most basic one will be fine.
But do I want to daily a Ford F-150? No, I do not. And never mind that I work from home. For my imaginary 30-miles-each-way commute, I require something frugal to own and operate, comfortable to be in, and at least kinda cool. The Toyota Prius ticks all those boxes, and if it’s good enough for Bozi, it’s good enough for me.
OK, so I’ve got my hard-workin’ F-150 and my sensible daily, but what do I drive on those four-hour schleps to Austin (I’m up near the DFW airport)? Yeah, fine, the Prius can do it, but I think I need a more dedicated highway cruiser. Toyota Crown Hybrid, maybe? I’ve seen a few on the road, I like ’em.
All good choices, I think, but do they stir my soul? Not really. And doggone it, every car person needs a soul-stirrer. I shall have a Mustang GT.
Your turn:
How Many Cars Do You Need?
Top graphic images: Ford; Toyota
47 and I don’t have to justify that to you or anyone.
Once upon a time I played the zero sum game. But at the time I lived in San Diego and could walk nearly everywhere I needed to go. I Ubered if I needed to and for longer trips there was always Hertz.
Now that I’m in Texas (also in DFW) I have a 2017 Jaguar F-Pace S which covers the three basics of transportation. My commute to Fort Worth doesn’t break the bank. The ample cargo space accommodates my addiction to estate sales (only amplified by having the tow package option….). And Big Kitty currently registers a 49 second slalom time.
That said, while I only need one Big Kat to satisfy me, a two-car garage and ample driveway requires three cars (a 2017 Jaguar XE that is the commuter car of my Better Half and a beater BMW 3-series that periodically comes out from under cover to accept the sacrifice of another new part before returning to a peaceful slumber under a reflective cover).
Zero.
We have a 15 yrs old Volvo that is driven about 5000km/a (that’s 3000 miles per year). We live in a European city with not too bad public transport and not too bad cycling infrastucture.
Keeping the Volvo is just laziness. I don’t mind people having a few cars that are driven a few hundred kilometers per year. I had fun with BRZ’s and Miatas and Coupe Fiats, but throwing a few thousand Euros per year on a few hundred kilometers per year, awfully looks like 10€/km…
What everyone needs is three bikes: A daily commuter, a mountain bike and a fast road bike. For that reason, this family of five has around fifteen bicycles. Maybe 20, but not all do count.
If you live in a decent city, you don’t need a car. I could live without one, I don’t drive for fun, and am getting too old to wrench. Having a car is more convenient, though. If I need to haul, renting a truck is the cost-effective thing to do.
Three for me in an ideal state. One for commuting that can double as a family/workhorse around town and towing (Bronco). One sports car for pure driving joy (911 – my forever car). A project/classic/tuner car that I can switch up every few years to itch the scratch to hunt for deals and dive into car culture. (I’ve had many jeeps CJ, 2 TJs, Jl, a 944T, 65 impala). I’m missing category 3 at the moment, but it’s fun to know I have a slot open. I do miss the 944 – best car I’ve ever owned.
For one person, 2 or 4. Kind of an odd jump, but here goes.
The fun daily driver, self explanatory – mine’s a 2016 WRX. It’s pretty efficient, safe, reliable enough, and fun enough that commuting isn’t boring.
The truck, self explanatory – mine’s a 2001 Ford F250 4×4. This is good for “truck stuff” like picking up materials from Home Depot or camping or mild off-roading. One beneficial thing here, if you get a nice enough truck, it can be used as a daily in a pinch. This used to really be the case back when my “fun daily” was a car with over 300,000 miles.
Now a normal person can stop here with 2 very practical cars. But we’re not normal here, so let’s carry on.
The “street project” – Basically this is a fun car for roads, whether that be a track or not. This can be running or not, a garage queen or a beater, a dedicated race car that needs to be towed by the truck or street legal. In my case, this is a 2004 Subaru Legacy that was my daily until about a year and a half ago when the head gaskets went. It’s getting a H6 from an Outback put into it right now.
And finally, the “off-road project”, this is basically the off-road version of the “street beater/project”. In my case this is a 1975 Ford F-150 4×4 with a 3” lift that will be getting 33” tires eventually.
If we’re talking straight need, then one – a minivan. Haul people, tow a bit, decently comfortable, and plenty of people have actually raced them. What I have and can be pried from my cold, dead hands?
2016 Outback – daily, pet hauler, little bit of off-road shenanigans.
2000 Silverado – big hauler, towing, camper setup in the back
2001 MR2 – project car, top down fun, slow car fast, slowly converting to a dedicated race car.
1988 Mustang GT – wife’s car, project car #2, burnouts, donuts, straight line fun
What I plan to slowly accrue?
4-door drift car, likely an e39 or g35/37
Convertible corvette – when the MR2 gets turbo’d/engine swapped and unruly for the streets, this becomes the top down cruiser
Suzuki sidekick/geo tracker – off roader for my wife
Something for rallycross – currently thinking a Del Sol with a lift kit, awd conversion, and engine swap because that just seems hilarious.
For 6 years, we had 4 drivers in the household and had 2 vehicles. One big one (Honda Odyssey) one little one (a stick shift Elantra, which the 2 kids wouldn’t drive). Kids could walk to high school and neither of the kids had a car until senior year in college, when they shared a used CR-V. Fall semester for one, spring semester for the other. Worked fine for us, thanks to good mass transpo in our area, one of us who could work mostly from home when not traveling for 2 weeks every month, and the ability of one of us to commute either by bicycle or subway. Both cars often sat in the driveway/garage undriven for days on end once the kids were in college. As depreciating assets, why have more?
The funny thing is that now with 2 drivers in the household, we still have 2 cars, a big one for shlepping/towing (CX-70) and a little one for fun (428iX). So I guess my answer is two.
Three between the two of us is feeling right. The Chrysler as our daily, my wife’s Yukon for her business (she makes and sells jewelry and soap, setting up a tent at festivals and craft shows) and my old truck as a combination classic/project car and occasional stuff hauler. We’ll see how it goes with just those three for a while.
1 car is the correct answer! I don’t have time for more (foxbody currently)…. In addition a daily driver (Ridgeline), F350 dually for a truck camper and big runs from Menards, plus a daily RAV4 for my spouse. I work from home so the Ridgeline becomes the spare if I have to work on the RAV4…. So 1 car is plenty, all the others are transportation and thus don’t count.
Need? Well, I’m a (car) addict, so…lots. In chrono:
Classic to tour/show: 1963 Triumph Italia 2000
Classic to take a dog with me: 1967 Triumph Spitfire
Classic to take my wife with me: 1973 Triumph TR6
Classic to take my family with me: 1967 Triumph 2000 SEm Sedan
Race car: 1975 Triumph TR6 (Lucky Dog Racing League budget endurance)
Project car to feed dreams of The Red Car by Don Stanford: 1976 TR6-based Hunter kit car
Project car-in-waiting: TR6- based Fiberfab Jamaican
Fun driver that always starts with AC: 2019 Fiat 500 Abarth
Tow vehicle for all of the above: 2019 Ram 2500
Wife’s car: Hyundai Tucson Hybrid
Animal to vet vehicle: 2014 Dodge Caravan
Is your middle name Lucas?
Coventry…. ????
do i NEED? 1. hat would be Ideal … 3 probably. A “daily driver” something like a corolla or prius that i would keep bone stock never miss a maintenance interval and get me back and forth to work. some sort of utility vehicle like an old pickup or full size van to tow or do the home depot/costco runs. and 3 would be some sort of fun car. that would be the dream! But i see why trucks are so damn popular because they combine all three into one vehicle for most people!
Coming from bicycles N+1 because you always “need” another. There’s some truth bicycles can be specialized, you don’t take a 6″ travel dual suspension MTB on a century ride, nor do you hit the bike park on a road racing bike (at least sane people don’t).
Cars like bikes depend on what you’re doing and how much space you have. Spitballing, a truck to act as a tow rig and hauler, one good car for getting to work and fetching parts, and some combination of fun cars project cars etc. plus non-enthusiast spouse’s car and kid’s beater where applicable. Earlier this year we had 4 cars, 2 motorcycles and 7 bicycles.
2016 Mazda CX-5 family hauler, now sold
2013 Fiat 500 wife’s baby and errand runner
2002 F150 long bed, hauler, tow rig and occasional road trip vehicle
2003 Buick LeSabre, kid’s beater
1978 BMW R100S, big motorcycle and lifetime companion
1983 Honda CM250C, wife’s motorcycle
2 CX bikes turned gravel bikes
2 old dually MTBs
3 miscellaneous bikes
and 2 kayaks which is why the Fiat 500 is the only car I have garaged in 20 years
Family hauler duties are devolved to my son’s Toyota HiAce.
Bikes are also (typically) cheaper and take up far less room!
We have 12 and two frames (one needs to be sold, the other built up) for two people.
Yeah I envy my neighbor’s garage/driveway with wall of bicycles, a bugeye Sprite, an early WRX and an old Tundra with a “one less Sprinter van” bumper sticker
I adhere to the number of household drivers plus 1, or n = d + 1. At the moment that is just my wife and myself, but with 3 kids, one of whom is only a couple of years from getting his permit, our stable of 3 will at some point permanently increase that to 4 (and then some.)
Brand new Bronco Herritage in Robin’s Egg Blue (for the boss – her daily and family mover, purchased this week.)
2023 Sierra 1500 diesel – truck things and occasional people mover
2021 Jetta R-Line w/6MT, daily driver and fun vehicle that gets remarkably great gas mileage. Has been known to move people as well.
I have been in the camp of:
1) A Truck
2) A Fun Car
3) A daily (you can either daily the truck or the fun car or just have a separate daily).
Right now, my family has 3 cars. My wife has the 4th gen CRV. I drive a Maverick Ecoboost. Fun car is a MINT 1994 M Edition Miata.
Works pretty good right now. Got a little crowded when I had the truck and the daily (along with the wife’s daily and the Miata).
Commuter. Camper. Co-conspirator, Comrade.
Hyundai Ionic thing, 99 RX300 with improvements, project 86 cabriolet, 94 Del Sol
So 4 + 2 Specialized Como’s and a 68 Trail 90 in the shed. And it would be 5, some electric grocery store transit: cheap used Fiat 500e, if I can talk spouse into it. (That prob wont happen)
At a minimum, we could get by with a reliable replaceable sports car, an AWD crossover and a utility trailer.
No kids at home. If I need anything more than can fit on the trailer I can have it delivered. The home stores are close enough that I can make multiple trips if needed (I’m not dealing with a trailer load of mulch in a single shot anyway). The dogs can squeeze into a 2+2 if needed, but the crossover would do most of the dog duties.
In reality, I have am ’09 Outback (~140k) I haven’t driven in a year – I keep- it because it may be the last manual brown wagon I can find, a Miata (’01, ~140k) that sees less than 4k miles/yr, a ’17 (~85k) Forester that I’m using as a commuter and a ’24 Ioniq 5 (~12k miles) that my wife uses as a commuter.
We have a garage / barn that could hold 12 Miatae, but is really set up right now for 3 cars so the Forester lives outdoors (I have always hated that thing. It’s my metallic silver step child)..
… I have 15 titled/tagged/insured vehicles in my name.
All start, stop, steer, drive, and paid for.
Vehicles from 1964 to 2025.
No shame here. Just blessed to be able to afford them.
– Number 16 arrives in December.
I’m ashamed to say that I own two cars but I only need one. My wife and I are both retired. Sometimes we don’t even leave the house for two or three days, and then we’re usually together. I just got an email today telling me the insurance is due on one of them. Will I ever grow up?
I need all of them. However I can afford few of them. So the answer is you need as many vehicles as you can afford.
So true. So sad, but so true.
I could get by with just may truck, but it would be mighty inconvenient. It’s a two door Comanche so it lacks dry interior space. It would also kill me to drive it in the salt. I’d prefer also keep my BMW e36 M3 as it is a great daily driver, seats more than just two people and I autocross it, which is something the Comanche isn’t allowed to do.
Need. . .my general rule of thumb is number of drives + 1.
We live rurally, so public transport is not an option, nor is uber/lift/whatever. So personal transport is kinda required.. The plus one is “maybe” not fully nessecary, as we can get a rental sometimes for repairs, but not always.
Our plus one is also the truck that we use for bad weather, weekend projects, or trips to camp, etc. Which is nice.
Now want. . .that is another story!
I also subscribe to the n= Drivers + 1 equation.
In our case that makes 3 vehicles (although for a brief moment we were n = D+2 that proved to be a bridge too far.) It’s great peace of mind knowing if you find your daily with a flat as you’re walking out the door to leave for work that the truck can be called upon from the bullpen.
A BRZ has been just fine as an only car for the past ~8 years, and a similarly sized 2+2 was fine before that. It was a great commuter when I still had a commute, it holds a lot of stuff, and is reasonably comfortable. I can’t see a need for anything more unless you are married or have kids.
But I will steal someone elses line and say the real answer is ‘as many cars as you have covered parking for’. An empty garage space will usually result in a new project or fun car, even when the daily satisfies the exact same use case. I went through several, felt silly owning multiple cars that served basically the same purpose, and settled on the BRZ and a converitble.
Three.
1. Miata (almost always the answer)
2. BMW 5-series
3. Unimog
Being garage space deprived in a major California city, we have a Chevy Bolt for 95% of our routine use and a ’25 Ridgeline Trailsport for hauling tools and equipment to job sites, road trips and towing the camper trailer several times a year.
I’d love to have a fun old car again but with a small one car garage, sharply limited on street parking, stiff residential permit parking fees and high registration/car property tax bills the ’67 Cougar XR7 or ’65 Corvette 4 speed will likely have to wait until I retire.
Need?
One commuter for me, one for my wife.
One truck (3/4 ton+ for the camper/car trailer.)
My 68 Valiant. Can’t sell that one ever.
2 motorcycles, one for each of us.
If the truck is new enough, my wife can daily it since her commute is so short and she rides her bikes most of the year.
What do we have?
A lot more cars than that, but I use the extras as family loaners quite frequently