Some car enthusiasts allow themselves to collect or hoard more cars than some people may own in a lifetime. We recently wrote about a guy who collected 1,300 cars over 26 years, and now he’s finally selling them off. Then there are your favorite Autopian writers, who probably also own way too many cars. If someone forced you to downsize your fleet by exactly half, how would you do it?
This subject has been rattling around my head for a bit, and, admittedly, these thoughts have been supercharged by the responses to my post about the mechanical maladies of my spouse’s Scion. Maybe it’s time to be a responsible adult and downsize. Logically, downsizing would mean less time fixing stuff, less money spent on storage and insurance, and the miles that I drive each year would go into fewer cars; thus, all of them would get more miles per year.
As of publishing, I have 15 non-motorcycle vehicles in the fleet. That’s cars, SUVs, and a single bus. Let’s be a bit aggressive here and say half will be seven. That’s eight vehicles to get rid of. How would I handle that?
I think I would just go back to my roots, and also keep a couple of teenage dream cars. This would mean selling the manual BMW X5, the Honda Life, the Suzuki Every, the Plymouth Special DeLuxe, the BMW 530xi, the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI, the 2005 Smart Fortwo, and of course, the Nova Bus RTS-06. The Jetta was already on my “to sell” list now that I finally have a valid title for it.
That would leave me with four Smarts, which are super easy to take care of and cost me very little money. It would also leave me with the Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI, the MGF, and the Saturn Sky Red Line as the three teenage dream cars.
Admittedly, it would not be easy to sell the other cars, except for the Jetta. I generally enjoy every moment I drive all of my cars. I also usually enjoy cleaning them and fixing them, too. I think I have narrowed down the Plymouth’s lack of spark to one component! So, I would heavily regret selling the cars, even if doing so would benefit me.
Post-sale, I think I would press my 2006 Smart Fortwo diesel into service as my daily driver. It gets 70 mpg all day long, is nearly bulletproof reliable, and it would hit the spot of being weird and different. I used to daily nothing but Smarts for eight years, so I know it can be done.
I pitched this plan to my spouse, and she’s fully against it. But maybe I should do it, anyway. I don’t know, I suppose I should look deep within myself.
What about you? If you had to reduce your fleet by half, what cars would you get rid of? Which would you keep – and why?
Calling my two vehicles a “fleet” is stretching the term, but never mind that for now. It means I have a collection of units that can be evenly divided in half without digging out the angle grinder.
In my driveway I have:
1987 Toyota RN-series pickup.
2021 RAV4 Prime.
If I had to let one go, I would part with the RAV. No hesitation.
Rationale: they’re findable. I can get another one. I could have it in my hands by the end of the day tomorrow. I’m not really invested in the RAV aside from the fact that it’s powerful, thrifty and versatile. It’s useful and convenient. That’s about it.
I’d half to do a lot less cutting, but I guess I would keep the Forester and Ioniq 5 that get driven and lose the Outback and Miata that do not. Keeping the Forester would hurt, as would losing the Miata.
In another article you say you drive 5,000 miles a year among your cars. Statistically you are causing more harm to your vehicles than good.
Depends on what I could maximize my profitability on. Can I sell it? How much can I get for it vs what I have in it? I’d definitely keep the VX. I’D sell the Fiat spider if I could get my money back. Really that is a poor question.
I mean really if you came into money you could buy better cars so why not
I would keep the driver’s side, since it has all the controls and whatnot.
I dunno. I think keeping the front half would work better, since you could ideally be sitting way back in your chair, angled facing up. Plus FWD would still “””work”””.
Just don’t accelerate
at alltoo fast or it’ll flip over.Let’s see:
Lambo ST EVO2 (keep, will race ‘26 IMSA)
Lambo ST EVO2 (keep, my kid also race ‘26)
718 GT4RS-CS (keep, will race ‘26 season)
996 cup racecar (keep for WRL, PCA)
‘24 911 S/T (keep)
‘24 718 GT4 spyder (keep)
Kimera 037 (keep)
‘79 911SC (keep)
‘88 Ferrari 328 gts (keep)
Group-C Lancia delta rallycar (keep)
‘65 cobra (keep)
‘22 bmw m4 manual (keep, need a daily)
‘88 e30 m3 (keep)
‘73 911 RSR (keep)
‘24 GR corolla (keep, kid #2 daily)
‘21 VW GTI (keep, kid #1 daily)
‘22 BMW X5 (keep, wife daily)
‘21 Tacoma v6 manual (keep to carry stuff)
‘23 huracán Sto (keep)
Sorry, can’t do it
Shit forgot my wife’s classics
‘73 e-type series 3 (keep)
‘85 190E cosworth (keep)
So relatable. /j (that indicates ‘jealous,’ right)
Jeebus.
There was a time when my wife has a one-in one-out rule. But then she fell in love with the ‘73 e-type and that gave me an excuse to argue in favor of a proper warehouse to work on it and make the logistics easier (prior to that I would rent garage spots in apartment buildings near our house in San Francisco and do “car Tetris” to move them around). That was the end of any sort of restraint on the collection. It got worse when our second kid started racing for real. When it was just karting it was easy to keep in check. Now that we are doing IMSA it’s just become hard to contain
Having the space is half the inspiration, I’ve come to find. 🙂
Between the wife & myself, we have 6 vehicles in our fleet:
1.) 1977 British roadster convertible – Runs & drives – stored for 6 months of Winter.
2.) 1979 GM Coupe Utility – Runs & drives – stored for 6 months of Winter.
3.) 2003 GM 4WD midsize SUV – Runs & drives – Emergency Winter vehicle.
4.) 2010 GM 2WD regular-cab midsize pickup – Runs & drives – Daily driver.
5.) 2015 GM FWD 4-door compact sedan – Runs & drives – Daily driver.
6.) 2024 GM FWD 4-door subcompact wagon (SUV) – Runs & drives – stored for 6 months of Winter.
I guess we could get rid of the 4X4 and just stay home if we got 8″ of snow.
I wouldn’t want to get rid of any of the others.
Four cars, so I’d keep the 2016 CX-5 as the do-everything appliance and the 1973 Lancia Fulvia Coupe. I’d miss the 2003 SiR and 1993 Eurovan Westy though.
How is the Fulvia to drive and own? It’s been one of my dream cars for years!
Fantastic! Make sure you get one that isn’t rusty, but after that parts availability is really good and they are quite straight-forward. For driving, they are really fun on good driving roads, but can also manage city driving and long highway trips. They are a bit noisy at highway speed, and the gearing is short so high-speed freeway means 4000+ RPM. I hope to keep it for many years.
I’m a uni student, so buying a Fulvia is still a little distant for me, but I hope to get my hands on one before they become too unattainable!
Keep
Volvo V60 Polestar
Yamaha R3
Sell
3000GT VR4
Triumph Street Triple
Love all of them but the GT is wildly impractical on coilovers and the R3 will be with me forever
2011 Mustang GT – keep. I plan on owning it forever
2012 Kia Soul – regretfully sell I guess. It’s my family hauler (wife has a bigger better and new vehicle for our main family car).
Really the sensible choice would be sell both of mine and buy something like a Kia stinger so I could still get sportiness but also something that does a lot better in the winter.
“If You Had To Reduce Your Fleet By Half …”
I don’t understand what you mean by this.
Signed, Owner of 11 registered vehicles.
Easy question when you only have one car! I’ll keep the Tracker
I have occasionally fantasized about finding a Tracker for weekends in the mountains. It looks like the perfect little backwoods scooter for clambering around anything without taking up too much room on the road.
I do love it! I’ve squeezed through some tiny trails in it, and it’s also very maneuverable on-road
Cut my one car in half.
The front half since that’s where all the operating takes place (and my body’s too old to survive any back seat shenanigans).
We did this earlier in the year and went from:
2017 A4 Allroad
2018 Clarity PHEV
to:
2021 A6 Allroad
This got us less maintenance, slightly lower total monthly payment, slightly higher insurance, and fleet mileage 5% of what we had previously. The idea is to pick up an R129 SL500 for fun and weekends but that is on hold right now.
I had a nightmare a couple days ago that I sold my Scorpion and immediately regretted it, so that one’s locked in without question. My Marea is a good and faithful daily which means she stays as well. Unfortunately that leaves my X1/9 project and my MR2 on the chopping block.
You have a Fiat Marea in the US?
Sure do!
Neat!
This ought to be fun:
Cars:
RAV4 hybrid (2021) – keep (wife would insist)
F-150 (2012) – keep (needed to pull things)
Fit (2009) – sell
Miata (2008) – sell with tears
(This would bring the average age of the fleet down to 8.5 years, from the current 12.5)
Bikes:
Off-brand stationary exercise – keep
Specialized Hardrock- sell, as I never use it anymore
Tractors:
John Deere 1025r (670 hours) – keep
John Deere x324 (640 hours) – sell
(Okay, one’s a subcompact and the other a riding lawnmower, but they’re both technically tractors. Both bought used.)
Campers:
30′ Jayco (1998) – sell
22′ Wildwood (2006) – keep
Actually, sell them both and get something new(er). I hate pulling the big one, and the small one is just a bit too small and in need of too many repairs. Both of these were bought used, too.
Trailers:
14,000# 20′ tandem axle – keep, as the baby 1,500# utility trailer is already gone.
Keep:
2024 Honda Trail 125
2004 Honda Element ECamper
2008 Volvo S80 T6
Sell:
2009 Vespa GTS250is
1994 Yamaha Timberwolf
Viking funeral:
2024 VW ID.4 (leased)
I have a GT86, Europa, CBR600RR and a half share in a Z4 M Coupe.
So I guess the half a Z4 could go to save my entire motorcycle. And as brilliant as the 86 is at making every drive fun the Europa is better.
Huh, that was easy.
Now how to I get my MTB to the forest?
You can get a hitch-mounted bike rack.
https://old.reddit.com/r/BRZ_ZD8/comments/1e9qdxn/added_a_hitch/
Not for the Europa, which would be the car I kept.
I can get two MTBs in the 86 if I take the wheels and pedals off…
we currently have 4 wife’s lyriq, my escalade-v esv, a very special 996 and FF
it’s easy, get rid of the lyriq and very begrudgingly the 996 and keep the escalade and ff
Six cars in my fleet, but I don’t think I can cut it in half:
I can’t really sell my kids cars on them, nor can I sell the car my wife daily drives, so I would have to part with the JK and the LeBaron. I’ve already been thinking about this scenario. I’d rather not part with either, but you never know.
I mean really, your fleet is a gladiator, jk and lebaron
the other three aren’t “really” yours.
So it’s the lebaron and since we need a half a car, the trunk bed of the gladiator
Fair. But my name is on the title of them. I could make one of my kids drive the JK instead of theirs, but what shocks me is NEITHER OF THEM WANT A LIFTED JK. I think I’ve failed as a parent.
or succeeded, one or the other :p
To-MAY-toe, to-MAH-toe.
I’d buy a few shitboxes beforehand to keep all my cars!
I can’t sell my 280Z, that’s for sure. My Clio is my first car, I love it. I could maybe sell my Z4 but I’d regret it immediately. My pickup isn’t roadworthy yet but I’d hate to have to get rid of it. It’s very good when running.
What is this depressing scenario you force on us?
For me, this is 6 to 3, and not a hard decision. I will never sell my Fiat unless I have no other choice, I won’t not own an air-cooled 911 unless, again, I have no choice, and I need one modern, reliable car. So that means the JSW TDI, the Turbo Spider and the 911 SC. I’d miss my SE-R, though.
I kind of did this this year.
Started the year with :
2014 Elantra GT
1987 Olds Delta 88
2013 Ninja 650
2012 Honda Giorno
I sold both cars and now it looks like this:
2025 Kia Niro (only car for now)
2013 Ninja 650 (first bike. I will probably never sell it)
2012 Honda Giorno (my GF scooter. It,s not going anywhere soon I think)
1990-ish Peugeot Hudson (first bicycle since my previous Devinci was stolen 3 years ago. It’s kind of shitty and I like it that way)
I’m contemplating adding a cheap motorcycle or a JDM car next year but we will see.
0/2 = 0