If you buy cars and then drive them until the wheels practically fall off–as I usually do–then you don’t need to worry much about “retained value.” You can take pride in squeezing all the value out of your vehicle before it’s hauled off to the dump. If you plan to trade in a car at some point, though, it can make sense to pay attention to how well the value of that make and model holds up over time.
Edmunds.com just released its 2012 Best Retained Value Awards, to single out the cars that depreciate less over time. Honda and Acura are the top brands, while Ford had the most model-level awards. You can see the complete list, complete with runners-up, here.
My 3 series BMW tends to retain its value and not drop as quickly as other cars.