Think about it – if you buy a new vehicle for $25,000 and 7 years later it’s only worth $10,000, you’ve lost a considerable amount of money on your purchase. Homes, which tend to be the most expensive purchase a consumer makes over a lifetime appreciate in value slowly, and that’s a very good thing. But cars go down in value due to wear and tear, improving technologies, rust and entropy, better gas mileages with each passing generation of automobile innovation.
To help you make the best buying decision, we are proud to present a list of the cars that hold their resale value best according to the Kelley Blue Book. The Blue Book itself can give you a list of the criteria used to determine resale value; we’re just giving you the list of the cars that hold their resale value the best as a sort of stimulus to get you thinking along this important train of thought. And here they are, below:
- Acura TSX – 51% value retained in 5 years – the most affordable premium-budged car on the market today.
- BMW 5 series – 46% value retained in 5 years – a luxury car that’s also a legendary sports sedan.
- Honda Civic – 51% value retained in 5 years – the proverbial economy car that is attractive both to new-car and used-car buyers across the board.
- Lexus IS – 47% value retained in 5 years – recently redesigned, with some of the best quality ratings in the industry.
- MINI Cooper – 52% value retained in 5 years – cool-looking, tight handling, up to 36 MPG on the highway.
- Pontiac Solstice – 51% value retained in 5 years – a fun roadster, unlike any domestic competition.
- Scion tC – 47% value retained in 5 years – Scion’s got a very cool brand and youngsters as well as a young-in-spirit flock to this car.
- Toyota Prius – 48% value retained in 5 years – this gas-electric hybrid is a wanted animal on the road these days and makes a great passenger car as well.
- Volkswagen GTI – 48% value retained in 5 years – it’s a hatchback, it’s got 4 doors, and it’s turbocharged.
- Volkswagen Eos – 50% value retained in 5 years – a hardtop convertible with a built-in sunroof and Volkswagen’s second top resale value car on this list.