This Is The Jalopnik Staff Fleet As We Head Into 2026

You did it! You survived 2025, as it’s now the very first day of 2026. Do you feel any different? Are you excited for the year ahead? We sure are. Here at Jalopnik we made it through 2025 with at least some of our staff intact, and we’ve already told you our favorite cars we drove last year, so now it’s time to tell you all exactly what we personally drive or ride when not whipping around work vehicles. This may be the shortest list we’ve yet put together, given that we may have the smallest full-time staff Jalopnik’s ever had, but at least we still manage to keep things interesting. Quality of vehicles over quantity of vehicles.

Someday, we all may reach the highs of David Tracy and Bradley Brownell’s levels of Jeep and motorcycle hoarding. Today, though, most of us live in major cities where space is at a premium, and cars and bikes take up a lot of space. We don’t exactly make car warehouse money around here, but we’re all making the best of the space and cash we’ve got available. Well, maybe except Andy. He may need some work. 

The sole member of my fleet is my 2017 Mini Cooper S 4-Door Hardtop, and that’s a-okay with me. Working in this business, people often ask what my dream car is or what car I’m going to get next, and they’re shocked to find out that I am happy with what I have. My Mini does everything I need, whether that be a roomy, efficient commuter with a kickass sound system, or whether I decide to take a detour and thrash on it a bit in the canyons. 

I installed a thicker 24-mm Whiteline rear sway bar a few years back, and the only other thing I upgraded this year were the all-season runflat tires, which I replaced with some sticky Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 summer tires. Those two changes really bring the car to life in the twisties without punishing me on more mundane drives. I love my car immensely, but I did just tick over the 100,000-mile mark and my CarMax MaxCare warranty expired in the summer, so I’m a bit wary of potential expenses. But it’s actually been pretty damn dependable over the course of the 60,000 miles I’ve added to its odometer. If you’re looking for a zesty little car, I implore you to leave your toxic masculinity at home and hop behind the wheel of a Mini. It has brought me endless smiles, and I hope that continues for another 100,000 miles.

I kicked off 2025 by replacing my entire fleet all at once — that is, someone stole my BMW F800GS and the fine folks at Progressive bought me a Suzuki GSX-8R to replace it. I may be getting bored of 270-degree parallel twins, the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder of motorcycles, but this Suzuki will serve me perfectly for some track time I want to put in next year. It’s got a broad powerband, smooth torque, and a riding position that’s comfortable enough to ride to the track while still purposeful enough to ride on it. 

I also expanded the fleet a bit this year, adding an Orbea Terra H40 to my bedroom. Sure, it overlaps my bed a little bit with its pedals, but my Brooklyn apartment doesn’t exactly have a million square feet to play around with. I’ve liked taking it around the city in the summer, because it’s honestly faster than my motorcycle — mostly because the bicycle gets its own lane without any pesky traffic. Plus, exercise is supposed to be “good for you” or something. 

I’m still whipping around my 2006 Mercedes-Benz CLS500 that I bought in April 2024, and I still absolutely adore it. Actually, I love it even more now than I did when I first bought it. It’s just a truly excellent car. I’ve owned some cool cars in my day, but never have I owned something that got this much positive attention, and that I constantly am looking back at whenever I park. It’s also the first car I’ve owned that I actually care about keeping (relatively) clean.

I put around 5,000 miles on the CLS this year, and it’s been basically flawless. I finally put on a much-needed set of new tires — Michelin Pilot Sport 4 all-seasons to replace the decade-old Pilot Sport 3 all-seasons it had — and wow, can you believe that made a big difference? I also had to put on a new belt tensioner and spend an annoying amount of money to get an SRS warning light cleared, which luckily was just a wiring problem instead of actually needing a driver’s seat side airbag, but otherwise it’s been flawless. It turns out the car is still using its original battery from 2006, too, and it’s working just fine.

Honestly, I think I’m gonna keep my CLS for a long time. It’s just fabulous. Looking at it makes me smile, driving it relaxes me, living with it is a dream. OK, filling it up sucks, especially as I get around 11 mpg from its V8 around town, but then I floor said V8 and I’m not as mad. It’s got a six-disc CD changer, and I’ve been enjoying buying discs of my favorite new music and blasting it from the Harman Kardon surround-sound system. Best of all, it fulfills a childhood dream. I’ve loved the CLS from the moment the concept was revealed when I was nine years old, and that kid would be so happy to know how happy owning one makes me.

My big fleet update this year is that, well, there is no more fleet. I’ve sold off both my 2007 BMW Z4 3.0si and 2006 Ford Explorer. Yes, I know it’s blasphemous to be an automotive journalist without a car, but let me put it to you this way: I’ve now got more time to test out the cars I’m reviewing and sharing with you. If you think about it, going all in on press cars means my fleet as only grown. In 2025 I drove over $10,000,000 worth of cars, and you read about many of them. Sure, some haven’t showed up on the site yet, but I’ll get to those eventually, too.

Giving up my cars wasn’t an easy decision by any means. Well, the Explorer was. I didn’t really care about that thing, but the Z4 took a lot out of me. First, it cost a hell of a lot to get it into selling condition, and then there was the whole process of listing it on Cars & Bids and working out a deal with the seller, but it was all worth it. Honestly, I just wasn’t driving it enough. In the past two years, I drove the Z4 maybe 200 miles. That wasn’t fair to the car, and it really wasn’t fair to me, since I was paying for insurance on a car that did nothing. Now, it’s off at a new home down the shore in New Jersey. The new owner tells me he’s dailying it, which is really great to hear. One day, I’m sure I’ll get another car, but as long as the press cars are flowing and Zohran Mamdani’s subway system keeps showing up, it won’t be for a while.

AD: Andy sold his Explorer and his Z4 months ago, and he still hasn’t replaced them with the Moto Guzzi he said he wanted way back when he took the MSF. I leave it to you, commenters, to tell him he needs to fix this. With enough of us, surely we can peer pressure him into buying something he wants anyway. 

The MTA’s R142 subway cars are the workhorses of my fleet. Living in New York City, I don’t personally own a car. I used to own a 2015 Toyota Corolla for my daily driver, but stopped driving it after I started commuting to Manhattan. If I need to drive anywhere in the city or on a trip, I just borrow someone else’s car. While I could buy a car, it really wouldn’t be financially responsible or worth the effort. I really shouldn’t be paying for insurance and fighting for street parking on a car that I’ll drive maybe once a week at best. I have the luxury of having North America’s best public transportation system to use while I save up for a car I genuinely want.

I sold my trusty 2015 Volkswagen Sportwagen TDI two months ago, and I’ll be honest, I miss that car all the time. But it was needed by my sister and her large family while it was just taking up space in my garage. Plus, for a while now, I’ve felt like I need the garage space for something new and even more fun. My husband has a boring workhorse vehicle (a 2019 Ford Escape I had nothing to do with) for hauling groceries and dogs so I am currently on the hunt for our just-for-fun vehicle.

I’ve considered a wide range of vehicles, from a 1960 Ford Thunderbird convertible to a Saturn Sky to a little Nissan Pao. As you can see, my criteria is pretty wide ranging. I just want something that’s fun and quirky and a little weird. Something that speaks to me and would be fun in the sun. I don’t care if it drives like a shoebox. This car is for cruising around town at 35 mph, not canyon carving. It’s been fun shopping and soon I’ll get serious about making a call, but until then I am carless.

It certainly doesn’t have the longest range or the fastest charge time, but I’m still perfectly happy with my little red 2024 Fiat 500e and mostly charging it with a good, old-fashioned wall outlet. It also remains an outstanding daily driver, even in a decidedly rural area. Would more range have been nice on my summer road trip? Of course. But it still handled that drive better than I expected, and now that it’s winter, it handles cold temperatures far better than its predecessor.

Speaking of the previous-gen 500e, I still have my baby blue 2015 500e, but I’m currently planning to sell it this spring. Now that my girlfriend and I live together, we just don’t have the space. Or at least we won’t if we want to make room for her ‘64.5 Mustang convertible. As much as I love my 500es, I’d say that’s a pretty easy decision to make, even if the Mustang is an automatic.