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I'm almost 45 and haven't owned that many cars. I dislike the whole transaction process of cars. I have owned the following, in order:
-86 Peugeot 505 GL wagon, first car and a and-me-down; a complete dumpster fire of a car. Will never own another French car
-85 Jetta coupe: I was young and attracted to the new paint and GTI wheels. However, after owning it for a little while, it was clear that the car was in an accident and safety of the structure was compromised. I had this car about 6 months
-93 VW Fox Polo: This was my first decent car. It had low miles and decent paint. I probably put 80k miles on this car and in that time one rear shock blew and the exhaust manifold cracked. Super solid otherwise. This got me into modding, changed out the stereo/speakers, added sportier shocks, and sportier tires. Not much, but I got a taste for it.
-94 VW Corrado SLC: This was my affordable dream car being a huge VW fan. I still own the car and I've done a lot to it and with it. It's a great vehicle. It sits at about 84k miles.
-85 Jetta coupe: Not the identical car as before and it was much better structurally. This was my first foray into have 2 cars---one to daily and the other for fun. The paint wasn't in great shape, the engine needed some work, and the odometer didn't work when I bought it---it was stuck at about 176k miles. I fixed what I needed to keep it on the road. It was a great car for $700. It was called "the turd" (the interior was brown, the red faded into brown in some spots, and the car wasn't very nice in general).
-99 Jetta GL: Given the shaky situation with the 85, it eventually became evident that something newer was in order. I found a 1st yr mkIV Jetta 2.slo. It drove like a Rolls Royce compared with the mkIV. I wanted to do some visual mods to the car, but only ended up putting on some accessory VW (Rave) wheels. The coil pack went and ended up taking out the cat. Overall, it was a decent car and a big upgrade to the mkII. However, it was also horribly boring to drive.
-06 GTI: Big thing were going on in my life around the time of this car. Mainly, I just got my first real job that paid real money. The mkIV was getting more and more boring the longer I was driving it. It had >100k miles. I mean it was just time for a new car, right? As a big VW guy, I always thought a prerequisite was to own a GTI (although I was a bigger corrado fan). The magazine reviews and catchy commercials sucked me in. I drove one of the first mkV GTIs in the area (I think it was technically VWoA tester car) and I LOVED it. 6 months later, I leased a package 0 (base) GTI. I loved it. It's the only car I've owned that I look back fondly on. I sold it after about 16 months into ownership however.
-08 Crossfire: When I owned the GTI, I liked it, but also started to realize that there is a life outside of the VW brand. And that there is a world outside of fwd cars. I happened to come across a thread on a forum about chrysler taking like $12k off the price of the Crossfire. That got my attention as I liked the crossfire I sat in at a dealer several years earlier. Plus, the car was assembled in the same factory as the corrado. I found a manual transmission car at a good price and bought it. The car itself was fine, the service was terrible. I mean absolutely atrocious. After about a year of ownership, the car was back at the dealer to fix something the dealer did wrong or neglected to do at all. I could start an entire thread on this car, but in the end, at about the 2 yr mark, it was time to move on. I paid about $26k for the crossfire; chrysler paid about $16k in warranty work.
-2012 Mustang GT: I needed something different at this point. I've done the german economy car thing and I just did the european "sports car" thing. The American muscle thing was an itch that needed to be scratched. The performance envelope on this was much higher than anything I've ever owned before. It was my first V8 as well. It was a great car for a mustang. The coyote motor was beautiful. It sounded great. But over time, the cost cutting that Ford did to keep the car relatively cheap, irritated me.
-2011 e92 M3: Never a big BMW or even an M guy, one drive in this car had me sold. There's reason why this car was twice the price (when new) of the Mustang. I liked this car quite a bit. After 5.5 yrs of ownership (longer than any other car I've owned except the corrado), it was time to move on.
2018 GC SRT: I didn't replace the m3 with this---both cars lived together for a little while. This is the first vehicle I bought since I got married, so it was a joint purchase. I wanted something that could tow a vehicle, was fairly reliable, and wasn't huge. I think the triple black styling is what sold my wife on this. And while I love the styling as well, I've never owned a OHV V8 (the peugeot was an OHV I4 however). And I can't say no to as much hp as I can get away with. I've had this vehicle coming up on 2 yrs. I dig it. It's not a sports car, but I like the muscle-SUV swagger of this vehicle. It's loud and brash, even stock.
2007 997.1 turbo: This is what replaced the M3. I recently purchased the car, so I don't have a lot of experience with this example. I will say that my rationale for purchase this isn't terribly objective. Frankly, a switch flipped with me regarding the M3. It was simply time to move on. And I always wanted a Porsche sports car. I was thinking about the various Cayman 718 4.0 offerings. But really, my dream was to own a 911. One drive in the turbo really shocked me with the experience. And it was less expensive than the GTS 4.0 that I would have wanted. Win-win!
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