Kelley Blue Book just handed out its 24th annual Best Resale Value Awards, and the 2026 winner list gives fall SUV shoppers a real number to shop against: a typical new vehicle keeps roughly 45% of its sticker price after five years, while KBB’s category winners hold onto 55% or more. For anyone cross-shopping a three-row family hauler this season, that gap is worth several thousand dollars at trade-in time.

Key Points

• The 2026 Midsize SUV winner is the Toyota Grand Highlander, projected to retain 50.9% of its value after five years.
• Toyota took home the overall Best Resale Value brand title for the 10th time, with an average 53% residual across its lineup.
• Lexus won the luxury brand award for a fifth straight year, averaging 47% residual value.
• Every SUV segment winner beats the roughly 45% industry-average retention KBB cites for a typical 2026 model.

The methodology behind these numbers comes straight from KBB’s own valuation shop. Awards are built off projections in the Kelley Blue Book Official Residual Value Guide, which models projected auction values for a vehicle in average condition with 75,000 miles at the end of a five-year lease or ownership term, then has analysts sanity-check the statistical output against real transaction data. It’s not a popularity contest — it’s what dealers actually expect to pay for your trade-in five years from now.

Toyota Grand Highlander — 50.9% retained

The Grand Highlander is the reigning Midsize SUV champ, and the number attached to it is specific: a projected 50.9% of its original value after five years, against a starting price of $43,155. That’s the largest of Toyota’s three-row family SUVs, and the resale strength tracks with a brand that has now won the overall Best Resale Value: Brand award 10 times since the awards began.

Lexus RX — 51.5% retained

Step up to the luxury version of the same size class and the Lexus RX actually holds a slightly higher percentage: 51.5%. Lexus as a brand has now taken the luxury resale crown for five consecutive years and seven times total, and the RX is the segment anchor doing most of that work. If you’re weighing a loaded midsize SUV against an entry-luxury one on a similar budget, the resale math tilts toward the RX more than sticker price alone would suggest.

Honda CR-V — 53.2% retained

One size class down, the Compact SUV winner actually out-holds the midsize category entirely. The CR-V’s 53.2% projected retention is the best of any mainstream SUV segment KBB tracks, a reminder that going smaller doesn’t automatically mean losing money faster — for buyers who don’t need three rows, it’s the stronger financial play.

Toyota 4Runner — 58.0% retained

The Off-Road SUV winner blows past every other segment on this list. At a projected 58.0% five-year retention, the 4Runner holds value better than any other SUV category KBB scored for 2026, a pattern that’s held for years as body-on-frame off-roaders build a cult following that keeps used prices firm long after the new-car warranty runs out.

Toyota Sequoia — 48.0% retained

At the full-size end, the Sequoia’s 48.0% retention still clears the roughly 45% industry average, even though full-size SUVs typically depreciate faster than their smaller siblings thanks to higher fuel costs and a shallower used-buyer pool. For shoppers who need the extra towing and cargo capacity, that’s a meaningfully smaller loss than segment norms.

“Toyota and Lexus continue to reign supreme with top average residual values,” said Rheia Szymczyk, Kelley Blue Book’s senior manager for vehicle valuations, in the company’s announcement of the 2026 winners. The pattern isn’t limited to SUVs — Toyota and Lexus also swept the sedan, hybrid, minivan, and pickup categories this year — but for fall SUV shoppers specifically, it means the safest resale bets are concentrated in a fairly narrow list of nameplates.

None of this guarantees a specific trade-in number three or five years from now — auction values move with gas prices, interest rates, and how many other people bought the same SUV last year. But the KBB data gives fall shoppers a defensible starting point: within the midsize SUV class, the Grand Highlander and RX are the two names projected to give the most money back at the other end of ownership, and stepping down to a CR-V or up to a 4Runner both beat the midsize segment on pure retention if the extra rows aren’t a dealbreaker.