This Car Holds Its Value Better Than Any Other, According To A New Study

Buying a new car is cause for celebration, but selling it for half-off in a few years time certainly is not, which is why you might want to pick a model that historically benefits from strong residual values. Unless you're intimately familiar with the used car market, or don't mind spending years logging sale data on a spreadsheet, you'll likely want to refer to this survey from iSeeCars. It shows data collected from over 800,000 transactions of five-year-old cars between March 2024, and February 2025. From this data, iSeeCars has concluded which models suffer the worst from depreciation — hint-hint, EVs and luxury models are the cars you'll regret buying the most –- in addition to which fare the best. It's good news for gearheads and driving enthusiasts, as the car which holds its value better than any other at the moment is the iconic Porsche 911.

According to iSeeCars, a Porsche 911 will still be worth 80.5% of its original MSRP after five years of use, which is a pretty impressive stat, considering the average across all models is just 54.4%. It is worth mentioning that some 911 models, such as the GT3 RS, are notoriously famous for losing next to no money at all. There are even instances of people selling lightly used examples for more than what a brand-new one commands, with buyers choosing these expensive used cars as a means of skipping the waiting list. It's possible that examples like this are skewing the figures a little, but nevertheless, the Porsche 911 is the clear winner when it comes to residuals.

Porsche's 911 has been in production since the 1960s now, and while these aren't cars you'll find dotted on every street corner, they aren't exactly rare — so why is it they are able to retain so much of their value? Part of the reason is down to simple supply and demand. What most buyers find is that they cannot simply walk into a Porsche dealership, write a check, and walk away with the sports car of their dreams.

Rather, buyers are having to register their interest, and for models like the 911, have to wait sometimes years before they are provided with an allocation. Once an allocation is given, some owners suggest the wait time could still be around six months or so. With a wait time so long between registering your interest and driving off in the car, it seems reasonable that, so many would consider a used model. This keeps used prices strong, as the pool of eager buyers is always kept full.

It stands to reason that buyers would be so keen to get hold of a new-shape 911 too, whether it be new or used. We recently drove a 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera S and loved the immense performance on offer, even if the option of a manual is no longer present. They really are a sports car with near-supercar levels of performance now which can be used every day, and so long as Porsche maintains this recipe, it looks as if prices will always stay high for the iconic 911.