Autoholics

I cannot help but notice that the Chevrolet Cavalier is not on the list.

GA for making me laugh!

Oh Happy Easter !

Hey thanks!

Hope your Easter was grand.

Probably the OP is a current Cavalier owner, eh? ahahahahaha

In the completely other end of the spectrum, I find it odd that these claims of "best resale value" never include the exotics like Aston Martin, Bentley, McLaren etc. that can actually go up in value after a model gets discontinued. Even when the model is still available, the depreciation percentage will be considerably smaller than any Jeep model.

It all depends on where and how you select your domain.

I have an FJ now.

I've had Nissan Juke (very fun, too small, sold it to buy the FJ), Jeep J2000 (beast, in 1986), Wrangler (1998), Mitsubishi Montero (2001, full size), Nissan Pathfinder LE (2008), Kia Sportage (2003,lost my mind, POS).

The FJ is the best AWD/4WD vehicle I've ever driven. The clearance and 4WD is first class. It's smooth, comfortable, very rugged, powerful, (I pull 4000 lb trailer) and just all around efficient (I get 22 hwy, 18 city). The 4 liter V-6 is like butter. Downside, no window action in rear, and awkward entry to back seat, so if I carried four people regularly, that would be an issue. It is fine for use intermittently. It cost much more than I thought it should, and I learned that they actually retain great value. I paid 55% of list (fully loaded with every option) for a 5 year old vehicle. But it looks and runs like brand new. My two cents.

I have to assume that we are talking only about new cars that are within the reach of the average American buyer. I exclude the exotics, like Porsche, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, etc. $50K would probably be the cutoff point between exotic and non.

Resale value depends on how well it was received by the public; how many were made; a good price and how much the public is willing to pay. it is hard to pin the best one down, but I would certainly include Lexus in any list.

I would never consider an off-road capable vehicle as having good resale value.Then again, you have to consider different types of buyers. Some look for basic transportation; others look for performance or economy, so best resale value must take buyer category into account.

It may just be an Oz thing, but Ford F100's (in the 70-mid 80's models) tend to keep their value if they're not totally full of rust, some of them actually gain value. Not bad for a work truck.

A worrying trend happening here though is that cars over 5 years old now tend only to be worth scrap value, partly because replacement parts make them uneconomical to repair. Not that many people bother to do much in the way of repairs anymore, I certainly wouldn't buy a car at auction anymore especially upmarket ex lease cars.

Recently heard of a person getting a $4.5k(Oz dollars) bill for a "regular" 100K km service on an Audi, my fleet of cars isn't worth that! I can imagine that provenance will make up a lot of the resale value in the future.

If they made a Diesel version of the FJ (it would be then called the HJ) then I might be interested, in the interim I'll stick to my ol HJ45... Although I could be tempted by a Diesel JEEP FC (the new concept one) forward control Ute..

Re: your F100 comment. That seems to be true of all pickup trucks here in the US. I recently started shopping for a used pickup just to use for weekend chores, and was shocked to see the asking prices even for 4 year old trucks with 50K+ miles on them. All brands and all sizes, too; not just for the larger ones with 6 and 8 cylinder engines; even the little 4-bangers seem to command a pretty high price as compared to passenger cars of the same age and mileage.