The 10 Cars People Almost Never Drive

Miata is always the answer, they say. Apparently, though, whoever “they” are, they don’t like to drive very much.

The average driver in the United States puts 12,307 miles on their car every year. Owners of minivans and SUVs tend to drive more, and owners of small sports cars and electric vehicles drive a lot less. In fact, there are three cars that rack up miles at a rate that’s less than half the national average.

A few things stand out on the list above. First, people who buy Miatas, both the traditional droptop and the hardtop convertible model, don’t put many miles on their playful toys. Second, buyers who choose EVs put fewer miles on their machines than drivers who choose gasoline.

That makes sense, though—buyers who don’t have far to drive aren’t likely to be put off by an electric car’s range rating, and may in fact choose the EV so that they can easily keep it charged at home.

A few more interesting nuggets: Ford Mustang convertible (17,660) drivers rack up more than 10,000 miles per year compared to Ford Mustang coupe (7,142) drivers. We’re surprised to see the Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe on the list of the least-driven cars; SUVs in general tend to be driven more often than other vehicles types, so again we’re left thinking buyers may choose the plug-in powertrain on purpose if they have a good charging setup at home and don’t need to drive long distances every day.

Finally, we have to wonder why people who spend more than $100,000 on a new vehicle—in this case, we’re talking about the Hummer EV—just to leave it parked the vast majority of the time. Here’s hoping the few miles the big, brash EV racks up are driven in the machine’s Watts to Freedom (WTF) mode that runs from 0-60 in 3.3 seconds.

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