Let's face it - A car says more about you in LA than is does any other place on earth. It's not uncommon for commuters to spend an excess of 2 hours a day in their cars, eating food, putting on makeup and listening to the radio.

My wife didn't think all that much about the southland car obsession when she moved down here (Marina Del Rey Area), but now that she drives a good 90 miles a day on the 405 she's counting the days until she can put a downpayment on an Audi A3.

People don't just move in and out of cars for fashion's sake, although that's a big reason. People also love to lease down here, and terms tend to be 36-months. I myself am seriously considering the possibility of a lease sometime next year, especially since I live a block away from work and wouldn't have to worry one bit about milage restrictions.

Nevertheless, there's plenty of lifetime owners-runners around here. Primarily, we're talking about Hondas and Toyotas. It's just that you probably wouldn't notice these people amongst the teeming masses of shiny new vehicles.

This is only ancedotal, but there's plenty of folks in my family who've bought Hondas or Toytas and have run them until the wheels fell off. The most recent casualties were a '79 Toyota pickup with 500k+ miles on it, and a 84' Celica GT manual, which ran like an absolute dream until the day the gas pump died.