diff --git a/src/tool_operate.c b/src/tool_operate.c
index 8ccd791bf5..56e3544ca2 100644
--- a/src/tool_operate.c
+++ b/src/tool_operate.c
@@ -1552,7 +1552,13 @@ static CURLcode add_parallel_transfers(CURLM *multi, CURLSH *share,
     return CURLE_UNKNOWN_OPTION;
   }
 
-  if(nxfers < (curl_off_t)(global->parallel_max * 2)) {
+  if(all_added >= global->parallel_max) {
+    /* we are at max parallelism, no need to create more transfers */
+    *morep = TRUE; /* pretend there are, we have not checked */
+    return CURLE_OK;
+  }
+  /* if the list is empty, create one to kickstart the loop */
+  if(!transfers) {
     bool skipped = FALSE;
     do {
       result = create_transfer(share, addedp, &skipped);
@@ -1560,6 +1566,7 @@ static CURLcode add_parallel_transfers(CURLM *multi, CURLSH *share,
         return result;
     } while(skipped);
   }
+  /* add transfers until max parallelism is achieved again */
   for(per = transfers; per && (all_added < global->parallel_max);
       per = per->next) {
     if(per->added || per->skip)
diff --git a/tests/http/testenv/curl.py b/tests/http/testenv/curl.py
index 3071d7dd4a..90b7b28856 100644
--- a/tests/http/testenv/curl.py
+++ b/tests/http/testenv/curl.py
@@ -729,7 +729,10 @@ class CurlClient:
         if extra_args is None:
             extra_args = []
         if no_save:
-            extra_args.extend(['--out-null'])
+            if self.env.curl_version_at_least('8.16.0'):
+                extra_args.extend(['--out-null'])
+            else:
+                extra_args.extend(['-o', '/dev/null'])
         else:
             extra_args.extend(['-o', 'download_#1.data'])
         if limit_rate:
diff --git a/tests/http/testenv/env.py b/tests/http/testenv/env.py
index 4a18d65ffa..78ab3abec9 100644
--- a/tests/http/testenv/env.py
+++ b/tests/http/testenv/env.py
@@ -512,6 +512,13 @@ class Env:
     def curl_version_string() -> str:
         return Env.CONFIG.curl_props["version_string"]
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def curl_version_at_least(min_version) -> bool:
+        version = Env.curl_version()
+        return Env.CONFIG.versiontuple(min_version) <= Env.CONFIG.versiontuple(
+                version
+            )
+
     @staticmethod
     def curl_features_string() -> str:
         return Env.CONFIG.curl_props["features_string"]