It isn’t news that luxury vehicles depreciate faster than more economy-minded offerings. It further comes as little surprise that the highest MSRP cars often face the worst depreciation, sometimes being offered for fractions of their original cost just a half-decade after leaving the lot. BMW vehicles are not immune to these phenomena. But, if resale value is a priority, you can more easily arm yourself with data today than at any point in human car-buying history. And the data over at iSeeCars points to an interesting revelation: some BMWs actually hold their value pretty well.
BMW 3 Series
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the BMW 3 Series kicks things off, depreciating 51.4% over the first five years of ownership. Arguably the brand’s bread and butter for the past several decades, it’s no surprise that a fairly entry-level BMW would appear here. Perhaps much more surprising is the fact that iSeeCars’ data shows the basic 3 Series holds value better than the high-performance M3. Either way, the ubiquitous 3 Series is nearly a forgone conclusion when considering bang-for-buck BMWs in general.
BMW Z4
Roadsters and convertibles are niche cars, and the BMW Z4 is the niche-iest of them all, having no coupe equivalent. Well, inside the brand anyway — it shares almost everything with the Toyota Supra. Regardless, the ragtop holds its value fairly well, depreciating 48.5% over five years. We don’t have the data, but we’re willing to bet manual-equipped Handschalter cars will perform even better than that.
BMW 4 Series
Since the BMW 4 Series is, for all intents and purposes, a two-door 3er, it makes perfect sense to see it here on the list. Although, it is surprising to see a coupe outperform a sedan. Regardless, the 4 Series Coupe loses just 48.1% of its value over five years. Notably, the 4 Series Convertible doesn’t share its fixed-roof brother’s resiliency. It loses a more predictable 51.5% of its value over the same half-decade.
BMW M4 Coupe
Shocking enough that the BMW M3 didn’t make the cut, but the bigger surprise is that the M4 holds its value among the best. The BMW M4 Coupe loses 44.1% of its value over the first five years, which is frankly amazing for a high-performance coupe. Body style matters here, too. The M4 Convertible loses 50.1% of its value, which still isn’t too bad.
BMW M2
The BMW M2 Coupe retains value best according to the iSeeCars data. In five years the car loses just 40.6% of its original MSRP, making it the best medium-term buy in the entire BMW brand. It’s hardly surprising when you consider the F87 M2 is holding value well and the new G87 M2 was among BMW M’s hottest, proving to be the best-selling “real” M car in 2024.
Honorable and Surprising Mention: the BMW M8 Coupe
High MSRPs depreciate more, right? While that’s generally accurate, niche and interesting cars tend to ignore the trend. And — incredibly — the now-discontinued BMW M8 Coupe loses just 51.7% of its value over five years, placing it just outside the top five. A near miss, but still an incredible value held over five years for a car with a deep six-figure price tag. In fact, its base MSRP is nearly $60,000 more than the next costliest car on the list, the M4 Coupe.
In a segment wracked by steep depreciation, it’s surprising to find that several BMWs retain more than half of their original value after five years. Of course, when you consider the same data set puts Toyota Camry five-year depreciation at a measly 35.5%, things start looking a little bit worse. But then, a lot of us are perfectly fine exchanging that 5.1% of depreciation for the exponential increase in fun that an M2 provides.
Data: iSeeCars
