Top 10 Luxury Vehicles with the Highest Resale Value

There is no doubt that BMW, Lexus, Mercedes and other expensive, fast and least-practical cars are often the ones that retain most of their value over time. But you’d be surprised how some Toyota’s and Honda’s, which are known to drop their resale value significantly, can actually be sold off for a reasonable price.

Here is ForbesAutos list of the top 10 new vehicles with a starting price greater than $30,000 that retain the most value over time. However, we disagree with ForbesAuto that Honda Accord and Toyota Avalon are considered luxury vehicles.

Click through for the full list and images.

Top 10 Luxury Vehicles with the Highest Resale Value:
Note: RVA = Residual Value After 5 Years

Honda Accord Hybrid: MSRP - $31,090 / RVA - 44%
2007 BMW Alpina B7: MSRP - $115,00 / RVA - 44%
2007 Toyota Avalon XLS: MSRP - $31,325 / RVA - 46%
2007 Lexus IS 350: MSRP - $35,705 / RVA - 46%
2007 Infiniti M45: MSRP - $49,100 / RVA - 46%...
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Will_ - 6/13/2007 4:12:55 PM

+5 Boost

Of course Lexus has great resale value. Not to mention that their products are known for their impeccable resistance to wear-and-tear. You go look at any Lexus from even a decade ago and see how well the interior has held up.

SevorbeupstryIsBack - 6/13/2007 4:50:12 PM

+4 Boost

Maybe it's the case with current Lexus cars but the old ones were rubbish. But then again hard plastic doesn't wear fast. If you want ultimate interior durability go see an old Merc or BMW. Also the Connoly-leather on Landrover is very strong.

lexusis350 - 6/13/2007 7:26:48 PM

0 Boost

Not just the interior. There's a 1990 LS 400 at my Lexus dealership that has over 500k miles on it and it still runs off of all original parts.

1970toyotamarc - 6/13/2007 8:08:39 PM

0 Boost

How does that MBZ and BMW vinyl hold up?

LexusKindaGuy12 - 6/13/2007 4:38:38 PM

-1 Boost

well that is the reason why lexus has such good resale. Its really all based on reliability.

SevorbeupstryIsBack - 6/13/2007 4:51:59 PM

+4 Boost

If it all based on reliability, then why does Lexus has horrible deprecitiation here in Europe? (especially in the pre-hybrid/diesel era)

Image is the word my friend.

Rupert - 6/13/2007 5:39:34 PM

+4 Boost

Lexus depreciation is awful in Europe, but they try to stop it by often buying back from customers, so they are kept within Lexus Dealers so prices can be kept artificially high.

Agent63 - 6/13/2007 11:32:09 PM

+4 Boost

LOL! that is true!

HeavyChevy - 6/13/2007 4:56:58 PM

0 Boost

I think BMW is going to let Alpina sell them out of their dealerships. Sort of like the M of the 7 series. Car and Driver has a road test of it in the latest issue. But I don't think it is even out yet.

snatchandgrab - 6/14/2007 11:44:51 AM

+1 Boost

It's out already. I see one on a regular basis. This guy the works in the building adjacent to mine. (I'm in Atlanta). Its beautiful.

chuck717 - 6/13/2007 5:23:52 PM

+1 Boost

All i can say is when we took a car in trade they all had to have some sort of recondition unless the vehicle had very low miles. As far as the Lexus interior i found after 50K miles the leather faired no better no worse then others so i wonder where this idea that Lexus has better wearing leather comes from, we didn't experience that at the dealership, matter of fact we had a lot of problems with the dashboard after 60k or so miles on a trade in?

Neverfollow - 6/13/2007 5:55:04 PM

-1 Boost

Since when has a Honda Accord Hybrid been considered a luxury car?

1970toyotamarc - 6/13/2007 8:08:03 PM

0 Boost

"But you’d be surprised how some Toyota’s and Honda’s, which are known to drop their resale value significantly,"

First off, it's Toyotas and Hondas, NO APOSTROPHE!!!!
Second, Toyotas and Hondas have great resale, they are not known to "drop their resale value."

Homer008 - 6/14/2007 1:52:25 AM

-3 Boost

1970Toyotamarc. I saw that also! This BMW fan has just lowered himself to a new low lol. I can't believe that he put those words in the article and published it. A snake.

charlik05 - 6/13/2007 9:47:10 PM

+2 Boost

I am curious why the 911 turbo is not on this list. Even slightly used models sell for over sticker

S4cabriofoxone - 6/14/2007 1:58:45 AM

+1 Boost

It's the honeymoon period. In two years, you'll be able to pick up an '07 911 Turbo for $90K (when it was $130K new).

charlik05 - 6/14/2007 9:29:23 AM

0 Boost

thats only a loss of 31% still better than all of the cars on the list.

eje160 - 6/14/2007 12:22:22 AM

+1 Boost

Do you guys have any minimum standards at all for posted articles to meet? Read slowly.. Honda's have good reasale value, Mercedes have horrific resale value. And come on, the Alpina B7... besides this being useless data to all but 1 or 2 people who may ever read this, how can you accurately gauge resale of a vehicle that is designed of which under 5,000 examples have been made? Where's the liquidity??

S4cabriofoxone - 6/14/2007 2:00:26 AM

-1 Boost

No surprise about Toyota/Lexus. IS350 is my favorite Lexus at the moment, and it's right up there with 3 Series/A4/G35 in terms of class favorites. I hope they come out with the IS CC soon, because my wife is probably going to end up with a convertible in our next batch of cars, and I know she'd like that one. If not, we'll "settle" for a 335i cabrio or CLK350, which are both fantastic.

S4cabriofoxone - 6/14/2007 3:07:32 PM

+2 Boost

Still de-boosted? Huh.

JUGNU - 6/14/2007 6:06:28 AM

-1 Boost

Alpina B7.I don't think so.
In fact a regular 7 series will have a better resale value.

I recently sold one, a used 2005 model (in my showroom) for nearly half the price.

JUGNU

david999 - 6/14/2007 7:33:21 AM

+1 Boost

No surprise with Lexus/Toyota vehicles. Audi not on the list is a surprise considering how some people keep telling us how great they are.

S4cabriofoxone - 6/14/2007 3:07:10 PM

+1 Boost

Why? You keep saying how horrible they are, so it balances itself out. Audi doesn't have the HIGHEST resale, but they're higher than you've made them out to be.