One of the biggest costs of buying a new car isn't insurance, tax, or financing. Instead, it's a hidden cost called depreciation that hits your pocketbook the most when you decide it's time to move on to a new set of wheels. Each year, Edmunds' bestows its Best Retained Value Awards upon models that depreciate the least over five years of ownership using its own True Market Value measurement. For 2018, Toyota and Porsche have again run away with handfuls of trophies.
In all, Edmunds gives out 20 separate trophies as part of its Best Retained Value Awards—two for brands and 18 for different market segments. Toyota took the “Standard” brand award, beating out Honda and GMC, while Porsche took the “Luxury” brand trophy to lord over Acura and Lexus. For cars, Edmunds gave out eight separate awards: Honda Civic (Compact Car), Audi A3 (Luxury Compact Car), Honda Accord (Midsize Car), Lexus ES (Luxury Midsize Car), Dodge Charger (Large Car), Porsche Panamera (Luxury Large Car), Subaru WRX (Sports Car), and Porsche 911 (Luxury Sports Car).
Moving on up to SUVs, Edmunds gave out a total of six trophies to the Honda CR-V (Compact SUV), Porsche Macan (Luxury Compact SUV), Toyota 4Runner (Midsize SUV), Lexus GX 460 (Luxury Midsize SUV), Toyota Sequoia (Large SUV), and Cadillac Escalade (Luxury Large SUV). Toyota nearly swept the truck and van categories, taking home honors for the Toyota Tacoma (Midsize Truck), Toyota Tundra (Large Truck), and Toyota Sienna (Minivan). The Large Van award was given to the Nissan NV Cargo.
