Recently, I reconciled the motor vehicles I have owned in my forty-two years of driving and counted twenty different cars. On average, that is a car every two years. Most people might own around ten vehicles in a lifetime, but I have owned over twenty, which doesn't count the cars other family members have owned.

Not surprising, my favourite brand has been Mazda, having owned nine. The vehicle tally includes two cars I purchased when travelling in the United States in the late 1980s, a 1975 Gran Torino and a 1980 Buick Regal. Though I have owned my fair share of Australian made cars, a Holden Kingswood and three Ford Falcons, my purchasing history shows I prefer Japanese cars.

My favourite car is my current daily driver, a Mazda MX-5 RF GT. After five years of ownership, it never gets dull. My least preferred car was the 1995 Daihatsu Charade. It had a three-cylinder petrol engine and had no power. My most indulgent vehicle was a 1994 Audi 80 because I wanted to own a German car. Unfortunately, it also became one of my most unreliable cars and cost a lot to fix.

I have come a long way since I bought my first car, a 1964 Ford Falcon, for $300 in 1981. I am not done yet.