Resale win or fail? Best and worst versions to buy of the best-selling medium SUVs in Australia - the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Outlander

Australians love a medium SUV.

Last year, it was the biggest-selling sub-segment of all new vehicles, accounting for one-fifth of all registrations in this country. That's 216,151 out of 1.08 million cars, SUVs, trucks, vans and buses sold in 2022. Second was 4x4 pick-up trucks, at 195,208 units.

Leading the medium SUV pack, not surprisingly, was the Toyota RAV4, with a healthy 34,845 units, followed by the Mazda CX-5 (27,062 units) and Mitsubishi Outlander (19,546 units).

Keeping in mind the sheer strength of these models in Australia and abroad, each ought to be worth a healthy portion of its original purchase price three years down the track.

But which version of each is best to buy from a resale point of view? Which specific grade will yield the best – as well as worst – return after three years?

The answers may surprise you.

Mazda CX-5

The original CX-5 saved Mazda Corporation's bacon back in 2012, reversing a worrying sales decline in the aftermath of the global financial crisis that saw the Japanese brand on the brink of ruin.

Nowadays, the medium SUV from Hiroshima has become the worldwide staple for Mazda, and remains a hot ticket despite the existing KF series having debuted more than six years ago. To its maker's credit, constant improvements have been introduced, to help keep the series near the top of the charts.

But which is best from a resale point of view? The smart money is on the Maxx Sport 2.5-litre 2WD, which currently retails from a tad under $40,000. It's forecast to fetch an impressive 67 per cent in three year's time.

At the other end of the ledger is the troubled turbo-diesel version of the same Maxx Sport grade, even though it eschews front-wheel drive for all-wheel drive (AWD). Dubbed the SkyActiv-D, it's rated at 54.5 per cent. Not far behind that is the up-spec GT SkyActiv-D diesel, at 55%.

Toyota RAV4

Launched in mid-2019, the current model – the fifth since this series singlehandedly pioneered the modern SUV in Australia in early 1994 – has been one of the biggest success stories of recent years, introducing a wildly popular petrol-electric hybrid option.

Some hybrid grades, like the GXL and Cruiser, have attracted waiting lists stretching into years. Today, the RAV4 is the second most purchased Toyota in Australia after the HiLux ute range.

So, it may come as a surprise to learn that the base GX – from $38,050 for the 2.0-litre petrol and $40,550 for the hybrid version (all prices are before on-road costs) – is predicted to have the best resale value of all RAV4s bought right now, at 66.3 per cent.

And the worst? The GXL 2WD petrol (which is the next grade up from GX), that is currently pegged at 60 per cent after three years.

Mitsubishi Outlander

What a rebirth! The latest Outlander – the fourth to wear the badge since the series debuted in Australia in 2003 – has been a smash-hit, with sales leaping a whopping 35 per cent in its first full year in the market last year.

Now ensconced in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, the ZM series departs from its patchy predecessors by sharing its platform with Nissan's just-released T33 X-Trail, though you'd be hard pressed to pick the similarities given the amount of visual differentiation that the Diamond Brand's designers brought.

Obviously, the change is working, but which one would work for buyers seeking the best for resale come 2026? Well, it seems the base ES 2WD in either five or seven-seater configurations from $36,240 and $38,740 are the winners, rating as high as 60.3 per cent and only just edging out the LS and Aspire seven-seater models that reach into the mid-$40,000 area.

Fascinatingly, considering how on the nose the CX-5 diesel is comparatively speaking to its petrol counterparts, it's the Outlander PHEV Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle range that languishes in the resale race, managing just 45 and 47.5 per cent depending on grade.