Evaluating Depreciation

If depreciation is a concern, the Acura is your only choice. Look at what 3 year old Ford Suv's and Disco's are going for, then compare to the MDX. I don't know of a website that lists rates, but I usually start watching things for at least a few months out if I get interested in a vehicle. Check autotrader, ebay, local classifieds etc. to give you an idea of how prices are moving.

 

Consider the Honda Pilot if you tend to be hard on interiors (vs the MDX) not to mention about $10K cheaper to start with. Hondas usually do fairly well with depreciation.

It seems to be geard toward muddy soccer shoes more than the genteel MDX.

 

As a used car dealer, I can tell you that the SUV's that stand far and above the rest in terms of depreciation are Toyota products. Highlander, 4Runner, Land Cruiser, and less so for the Sequoia. Toyotas bring crazy money even after they are 10 years old with oodles of miles. Just take a look on ebay on the "buy it now" prices for 4Runners and Land Cruisers. I just bought a 2000 Land Cruiser for inventory for $27,000. That's my wholesale. Now, this Cruiser is a nice one, but heck, the vehicle's 5 years old and still fetching half its sales price as a new car!!!

On the other hand, I just bought a 2.5 year old Tahoe for inventory for $20,000. Like the Cruiser, it's worth half its original sales price, but after 2.5 years!

No other make comes even close to Toyota. But a distant second would be the Honda/Acura products. A distant third would be the Chevy Suburban/Tahoe lineup.

Rovers are neat cars but break a lot and cost lots of $$ to fix when they do. That's the reason most third party warranty companies WILL NOT write Rovers. That speaks volumes. So, they aren't worth "squat" as used cars. Same for the Mercedes ML320. Very, very soft resale values.

Hope this helps.

 

The best way to do this is to get some lease quotes on the cars that you are interested. Because the cost of money is the same, the differences in the residual values will tell you what you want to know.

Dale

 

Betting can be fun, but not in the used car business.

 

My father in law just bought a new 2004 Pilot last week.

He drove the MDX (and many others) and the 2005 Pilot. The 2005 Pilots have 15 more hp, but he drove it over 100 miles before buying the 2004, and he said he could not tell a difference.

He previously had a 2000 CR-V that he put 200,000 miles on, and will be putting the same 40-50k miles a year on the Pilot.

 

We are very happy with our 04 Pilot.

Only oddity is you have to change the differential fluid every 15000 miles (at least til 30,000 miles, then 15k severe use or 30k regular use), a hard chore for a do-it-yourselfer like me.