Everyone loves Keanu Reeves. He’s a good actor who’s been in some iconic roles, and even more importantly, he’s a good person. And possibly even more importantly than that, for the sake of this article, he’s a serious gearhead. The 53-year-old Canadian actor has dealt with some harsh tragedies in his life, but he’s always persevered and come back stronger. In fact, following his sister’s diagnosis of leukemia, he became an extraordinary advocate for helping kids with cancer. He’s always remained anonymous, not wanting to make a big deal out of his charity work, but it must be mentioned how much of a hero he truly is. He donates to that blockbuster cancer research fund, as well as to the Spinal Cord Opportunities for Rehabilitation Endowment (SCORE), a charity that supports hockey players with spinal injuries.
Updated March 2022: Keanu Reeves has impeccable taste when it comes to his rides—not just on-screen, but in real life as well. That's why we've taken the time to update this list to include cars and bikes that Keanu has driven both on the silver screen and through the streets of the world!
Beyond that, Keanu has driven some awesome cars during his tenure as a Hollywood actor. From John Wick to Point Break to Speed to The Matrix, he’s been behind the wheel of some serious machinery. John Wick’s stunt coordinator, Darris Prescott, has even said that he is one of the best actor-drivers in the industry. That’s because he loves motorcycles and cars in real life, so he frequently does his own stunts whenever possible. He hasn’t owned many cars—opting to take the subway to work like so many celebrities (don't) these days—but he has strong opinions on many of them. He loves Porsches. He loves motorcycles. He loves Ferraris. And he also might love old-school Mustang.
23 Drove in Real Life: Kawasaki KZ 900
Keanu is well known for buying a different bike for whatever city he's working in. That was true for when he was in Chicago, where he purchased a Kawasaki KZ 900. What's incredibly wonderful is that he never buys his bikes new, buying used whenever possible.
The Kawasaki KZ 900 is a beautiful bike from 1976. It features a four-stroke, transverse four-cylinder engine that puts down 81 horsepower. It may not seem like much, but the KZ 900, it has a top speed of 120 MPH. More than enough for cruising the streets of Chicago.
22 Drove in Real Life: 1984 Kawasaki KLR 600 Enduro
The very first bike Keanu ever sat on was the Kawasaki Enduro. The woman he met in Germany on a filming break was riding one, and it is the first bike he ever learned to ride! Good thing, too, because his love for this bike-fueled a passion that translates to film in a meaningful way.
Though Keanu learned to ride on the Enduro, it is more of an off-road bike. It has a single-cylinder four-stroke engine that is 564cc in size. Putting out a whopping 42 horsepower, it wasn't mindblowing, but it certainly did what it needed to, as it kicked off Keanu's collection.
21 Drove in Real Life: Volvo 122
Keanu has come a long way since he owned this car. The Volvo 122 was his very first car. It was a British racing green car that he called “Dumpy” because that’s what he felt the car was—a dump. There were bricks jammed into the interior to help hold up the seats. But back in 1985, Dumpy helped get him from Toronto to Los Angeles, and that’s all that matters.
Just as Dumpy started to go out on him, Keanu found his love of motorcycles. The Volvo Amazon (of which the 122 was a model) was a car manufactured from 1956 to 1970. It actually looks pretty sweet, and we wonder if Keanu misses ol’ Dumpy today.
20 Drove in Real Life: 1973 Norton Commando 850 MK II Roadster
The Norton Commando was an old-school Norton-Villiers motorcycle produced by the Norton Motorcycle Company between 1967 and 1977.
It used an OHV pre-unit parallel-twin engine and was famous worldwide during its 10-year run, including winning Motor Cycle News’ “Machine of the Year” in the U.K. for five successive years, from 1968 to 1972.
This was the first bike Keanu owned and the one that turned him on to motorcycles (following the end of Dumpy). He loved this Roadster for its speed and the simple pleasure of the ride. He bought this ’73 in 1987 and still owns it today.
19 Drove in Real Life: Porsche 911 Carrera 4S (Type 993)
Having fulfilled his lifelong love of motorcycles, Keanu finally wanted something with four wheels (that wasn’t Dumpy) after filming Point Break and Speed. And he settled on a Porsche. He decided on a black Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, the classic Type 993 model. It had a sunroof and manual transmission, and he loved the feel of the car.
He took the Porsche Driving Experience course and then won the 2009 Celebrity Race at the Toyota Grand Prix in Long Beach. Unfortunately, the 4S was stolen from him while away from home filming a movie.
18 Drove in Real Life: Arch Motorcycle KRGT-1
Keanu and renowned L.A. bike customizer Gard Hollinger met when Keanu was trying to upgrade his Harley, and Hollinger said that redoing the Harley was not his style.
Keanu liked the guy’s honesty, and they founded the Arch Motorcycle Company together. They designed and built the KRGT-1 (“Keanu Reeves” GT-1) as their first model.
This bike had custom-designed performance in its suspension, ergonomics, riding, and handling. Not intended as a one-off, Reeves and Hollinger have built nearly 100 such bikes a year since the company's founding. The one downside? The KRGT-1 retails at $78,000. For a bike. Ahhhh!
17 Drove in Real Life: Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide
At the time, Keanu wanted to customize his Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide, but we know how that turned out. The Harley Wide Glide originated in Harley’s FX series of motorcycles and is their first factory custom bike. The models were in production from 1991 to 2017, based on the Dyna Glide chassis, and offered in various trims and front ends. The bike filled a niche between the smallest and largest Harleys for a long time, but the platform was eventually discontinued for the 2018 model year in favor of a new Softail frame.
16 Drove in Real Life: El Diablo West Coast Chopper
West Coast Choppers (WCC) is a motorcycle brand that started selling T-shirts and stickers with the company’s iron cross logo while founder Jesse James was still in high school.
He created a brand for the chopper lifestyle well before they’d ever made a custom bike. In fact, 60% of their revenue still comes from WCC-branded marketing tie-ins from clothing, beverages, and tools.
They only sell around 12 to 15 bikes a year, at prices starting around $150,000, so you basically have to be Keanu Reeves even to afford one. He bought this El Diablo model around the same time as his Harley above, complete with a WCC custom engraving.
15 Drove in Real Life: Arch Motorcycle Arch 1s
The Arch 1s was the second bike that Keanu Reeves revealed to the public. He brought it along with the KRGT-1 and a third bike to the EICMA, a motorcycle show in Milan, Italy. The Arch 1s is a more sport-oriented bike than the KRGT-1, which is basically a cruiser, but they share many of the same accouterments.
The sportier, aggressive motorcycle is powered by a 124 cubic-inch, 2032cc V-Twin engine, surrounded by a CNC Machined Aluminum backbone and subframe. It rides on carbon fiber 7 Spoke BST wheels and is an expensive bespoke motorcycle for the true machine heads out there.
14 Drove in Real Life: Arch Method 143
The Arch Method 143 showed up at the Milan show as a concept bike. Arch partnered with Suter Industries to create a European distribution channel for the Arch brand while also making Arch the sole distributor of the Suter MMX 500 on this side of the ocean.
The Method 143 features a carbon fiber mono-cell chassis, and only 23 units were made.
The elegant craftsmanship and layering design concept include leather, carbon fiber, and programmed CNC machine aluminum. All three of these bikes were showcased at the 2018 Esposizione Internazionale Ciclo Motociclo e Accessori show (EICMA), though none of the prices are known yet. But you can expect them to reach six figures possibly so, just be ready.
13 Drove in Real Life: Ferrari 488 GTB
Back in 2015, Keanu Reeves made a pretty big splash in the tabloid headlines when he visited Ferrari’s headquarters in Maranello, Italy. There, he test drove a Ferrari 488 GTB and lapped the famed Fiorano circuit, though it’s unclear whether he placed an order for the 488 or twin-turbo 458 replacement. While there, he visited their Classiche department, which houses classic models spanning Ferrari’s glorious history. Reeves was taken in particular by the ‘50s-era 500 Mondial racer and the 637, both of which were designed to compete in the Indianapolis 500. Though the actor has only ever owned a vintage Volvo and a contemporary Porsche, we have a feeling a Ferrari is not too far down the road for him.
12 Drove in Real Life: Ferrari California T
This was the second Ferrari that Keanu tested at their headquarters in Maranello. Along with the Classiche department, Keanu made his rounds about the assembly lines, the Tailor Made atelier, and the new GES building. He insisted on seeing all of it.
When he drove these two cars, he had a couple of nice things to say about the Prancing Horse and about the 488 GTB. There’s no doubt about it: "Ferrari is the dream.”
11 Drove in Real Life: Ducati Diavel
Keanu Reeves took out a Ducati Diavel for a test drive while interviewing with GQ in 2011. They met near Chertsey at the Chobham Test Track, while Reeves was around London for three months filming 47 Ronin.
He told GQ he had been riding motorcycles since he was 22, right after he moved to L.A. when he was 20. He was working in Munich and met a girl who had a bike, and he asked her to teach him how to ride it, and she did.
He started on a Kawasaki 600 Enduro, then got that awesome Norton Commando, and he went on to own three different Nortons: a Fastback, a Roadster, and an Interstate. And then he rode this animal, a Ducati Diavel, and he loved it.
10 Drove On Screen: NASCAR Rally Car
Rally Car is a film that is supposedly still in pre-production, starring Keanu Reeves. It’s directed by Olivier Megaton and written by Stephen Hamel (the story) and Jeremy Lott (the screenplay). It centers around a rally race in China, and Keanu gets to do what he loves best: go really fast!
Lion’s Gate, the same company that produced the John Wick series, is set to produce this one, and we’re sure it’s going to be a high-flying, high-energy show. Variety revealed that the movie will “center around a self-centered NASCAR driver who revitalizes his career by entering in an international race around China, and learns to win as part of a team when he joins forces with a young Chinese woman who yearns to become a driver herself.” Reeves will also produce the movie himself.
9 Drove On Screen: 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1
In the John Wick series, Keanu Reeves drove this beast, a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. In the first movie, the car, which is Wick’s prized possession, was stolen, and his puppy was killed (the last gift from his slain wife). With all the grief at his disposal, Keanu goes on a rampage and becomes a one-man army to retrieve his car.
The Mustang spends a lot of time in a chop shop garage during the first movie, but we see some more seriously slick car scenes in movie two, where we get to see the true power of the late-60s iconic car, including a prolonged chase scene.
8 Drove On Screen: 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park (Bill & Ted)
The 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park was the iconic car from the first two Bill and Ted movies. And with talks of a third movie coming out soon, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in their original roles, we hope to see more of it! The film will be called Bill & Ted Face the Music, and pre-production will start in May 2018.
The films also spawned an animated TV series and a live-action series in 1990 and 1992, respectively, and comic books and video games. It was a true cultural phenomenon that has reached a cult-like status in recent years, and we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us with number three. Hopefully, they reprise the role of the old Mercury Grand Marquis.
7 Drove On Screen: 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8
This awesome 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8 was showcased and driven in Street Kings, a 2008 film that did so-so at the box office. In the movie, Tom Ludlow (Reeves) is a veteran LAPD officer who is mourning the loss of his wife (poor Keanu—his wives are always so unlucky).
He’s trying to navigate a criminal world that makes no sense to him anymore. When evidence implicates him in the death of a fellow officer, Ludlow starts to question everyone around him. It was a pretty good flick, and this car was absolutely sweet, so we can recommend checking it out.
6 Drove On Screen: 1968 Ford Bronco
There were tons of cars in 1994’s Speed, though this is the primary vehicle Keanu Reeves showed up in. It was an old, beat-up 1968 Ford Bronco—though it wouldn’t be half as beat up as some of the other cars by the end of the film.
The film's plot was pretty original for its time: Reeves is another LAPD cop who tries to rescue civilians on a city bus when it’s rigged with a bomb, set to explode if the bus slows down below 50 mph.
If you haven’t seen it, spoiler: chaos ensues. It became a surprise commercial hit, grossing $350.4 million on a $30 budget, and it won two Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
5 Drove On Screen: 1991 Jaguar XJS XJ27
Another classic from Speed, this one was a 1991 Jaguar XJS XJ27. Keanu used the car to board the raging bus just seconds before the classic Jag ran into those huge water stoppers and was totaled. There have been multiple debates online as to the authenticity of the car, as some believe it is a 1988 Hess and Eisenhardt car, rather than a Jaguar, because of the shape of the vehicle and because of the time period the movie was set. Either way, we believe that if Keanu could have his pick of cars to keep that weren’t totaled on movie sets, this might be one of them.
4 Drove On Screen: 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 LS6
In John Wick: Chapter 2, ex-assassin John Wick drives this 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS in the very first scene of the film only. While the car looks like the same Chevelle from the first John Wick, some media experts (bestmoviescars.com) say that this is the “King of the Streets” 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6, which was one of the great muscle cars.
In one stunning shot, Reeves power slides the car into a biker, and while some frames show the damage done to the vehicle, others show it as a clean sweep. And being the expert actor-driver that he is, Reeves drove the car during this stunt.