Full value

Over my last few post on this blog, I've focused on pretty much getting the full value of your car, whether it be in the buying process or the up-keeping. Why? 'Cause it's my blog posts and I want to...and I care. More so the latter :) I care because I am a consumer like you all and my goal in any purchase is to be the smartest consumer as possible. On this post, I wanted to focus on another important factor in buying a car and that's the resale value of the car.

In the short term effect when buying a car, you bargain and bargain hoping to walk out of the deal with as little damage to your wallet as possible. However, this doesn't really make a difference if down the line the car does not retain much of its value. Mind you, this is for people that are buying their car. Those that lease are mainly looking for the residual value. Just to let you know a little about me, Rack of Lam...when something is uncertain to me, I have an "itch" to research on the topic. This is what I came up with; a list of some cars that hold their value the best (these stats are mostly from a time period of 3 years after the cars release year).

1. Toyota Prius

We've heard of all the perks that come with the Prius. Insane gas mileage, solo carpool driving (with HOV stickers), etc. It's no wonder this car can retain about 90% value of the original MSRP during a 3 year period.



2. Porsche 911

The German engineered legend is probably one of the greatest exotic sports car to roam the roads. Because of its design and performance, the demand for it will always be there...and also, it's more easily maintained then its peers. The Porsche 911 is known to retain about 75% of its resale value.



3. Infiniti G35 coupe

There's probably not too many cars that appeals to such a wider audience then the Infiniti G35 coupe. It's the vehicle perfectly balanced between sophistication and performance, which appeals to the young speed demon or even the well-mannered businessman. It figures that this car retains about 94% of its original MSRP value during the resale.



4. Mini Cooper

Don't listen when people say this is a chick's car 'cause this car has been the "sophisticated-yet-adventurous man's" vehicle for decades, even with the BMW revamp of the Austin Minis. Since it's such a versatile car that appeals to such a wide audience, you better believe that there's a high demand for it. How high? It holds about 98% of its value!



5. BMW 5-Series

Who'da thought? I certainly didn't. BMWs usually aren't known to retain their value well but after the 2002 model came out, the 5-series has been somewhat of of the standard for the mid-sized sports sedan class. Because of this, it cane hold up to 80% of its value.



Hopefully now, you can start to consider more about the long term plans of your cars when purchasing them. This is often something that is overlooked by the automotive consumer. This list of cars will give you a head start hopefully.

-Rack of Lam