Best (and worst) three year residuals to Spring 2010

When motor reviewers or journalists refer to 'good residuals' they are stating simply that the vehicle concerned holds its value well, making it a good investment. Those familiar with business or accounting will recognise the term 'depreciation', which means the opposite thing - a fall in value over time.

When considering a new car you should always be aware of depreciation, so you can make a fully informed choice. The more you spend on a car the more important this is; you could potentially 'lose' thousands if its residuals are poor, as we'll see below.

So which cars offer the best - and worst - residuals? A recent WhatCar.com investigation looked at resale values over a thirty six month period with 36,000 miles on the clock, and came up with some interesting information.   

Best percentage
Putting aside amounts and instead looking at resale value as a percentage, the strongest vehicle was the Audi TT 2.0 TDi Quattro, which retained 71% of its value over three years. In fact Audi scored strongly overall, with residuals on their diesel coupes of up to 70%, and up to 69% on their convertibles.

Most cash in real terms
The winners here were, not surprisingly, budget models. Top was the Kia Picanto; although it lost 57% of its value, in real terms this was a £3755 loss on the original price tag of £6635. Coming close second was the Volkswagen Fox with £3810 (51%) lost from an original value of £7460.

The Losers
The biggest loss in percentage terms was the Xsara Picasso from Citroen which lost 80% in value. However this figure is slightly misleading because Citroen have offered massive discounts on new models - over five thousand pounds in fact.

Perhaps it's reassuring to know that the biggest loss in real terms can only be incurred by those with over £150,000 to spare for a car. Mercedes' S65 AMG lost over £100,000 in value from 2007-10 - that's nearly £95 a day!