Which is the best car to buy, to lease, to buy used, to drive into the ground? The recent Kelley Blue Book resale-value rankings provide useful clues. KBB projects the resale values of today's 2008 car brands and models for five years from now. There's good news for automakers from Germany and Japan, and more bad news for Detroit. To summarize: Just as you can profit in a down stock market (if you have the nerve to buy cheap), you can profit by adapting your car-buying habits.

Here's what I'd do in different scenarios, based on the KBB rankings (shown at the end of the column)...

It helps if you're not wedded to a single brand; and you do need to consider American cars, which are reliable and getting better all the time, if they're not quite the head-turners as the sexiest models from Germany and Japan. Also keep Korean cars in mind, especially Hyundais.

I want a car with current technology. Go ahead, and don't worry (too much) about resale value. Critics have said cars with lots of technology aren't reliable, that tech gizmos hurt resale value, blah blah blah. While some individual technology components may be frustrating to use, the automakers most likely to wind up in the PC Magazine/TechnoRide Digital Drive Awards are more likely to be ranked in the top tier on resale value. And you probably will be happier in a car with a killer audio system that plays your iPod seamlessly, or one with navigation.

That said, technology changes quickly (duh), so a lease might be the way to go. And yes, tech options outside the mainstream (such as premium audio) will depreciate more sharply. But then, what's a 3-year-old TomTom portable GPS worth now?

I lease cars. This one is a no-brainer; look to the top brands on the KBB resale value survey: VW, BMW, Acura, Honda, Porsche, Subaru, Lexus, Infiniti, Audi, and Toyota. A lease, remember, is a loan for the difference between what the car costs new and what it'll be worth in three to five years. (And you pay a whole bunch of dealer-added fees that don't pop up when you're buying new. But we digress.)

Take, for example, a $20,000 car worth 50 percent of its initial value after 5 years and a $20,000 car worth 30 percent after 5 years. If you have a five-year lease (it's more likely three or four, but the numbers work similarly), in one case you're borrowing (leasing) $10,000 for five years, and in the other you're borrowing $14,000. To close the gap between, say, a high-resale-value Honda Civic and a very nice but not-so-valued Ford Focus, Ford has to kick in lease-support money (not good for Ford's stock price)—or Ford accountants have to project an incredibly rosy resale value of what they think the Focus will be worth (not that automaker accountants ever have done this), and then if they're wrong, well, that's the next CEO's problem. Plus, your 2008 Focus will have the awesome Sync Bluetooth and audio system Honda lacks.

I lease and would consider a buyout. Some people buy their cars when the lease ends (that's a lease buyout). Should your car turn out to be a dog on resale value, but you like it otherwise, do your homework and make the dealer an offer that saves you both money. For example: Your $20,000 lease car is projected to be worth $9,000 after five years, and the lease buyout price is $9,000, but it's really worth $7,000. (Maybe the car company actuaries were too optimistic.) You'd be crazy to buy for $9,000. If you offer $7,000, the dealer may say no. Somewhere in between, though, he'll probably say yes (or convince the finance company to take your offer).

I buy used cars. If you buy used and keep the car a long time, go to the bottom of the KBB resale value rankings and work your way upward until you find a brand you can live with. Remember, the least reliable car today is better than the first Lexuses of the early 1990s that everyone thought were paragons of reliability. In other words, you almost can't go wrong with most cars.

You'll probably find a lot of American cars this way. And there's nothing wrong with a used, midsize Buick or Ford. Manufacturer-certified pre-owned cars are sort of good deal, because they have an extended warranty. Roughly speaking, a certified used car costs $1,000 to $2,000 more than a similar uncertified car, but the cost of the certification warranty is maybe half the total.

I buy new and trade every couple years. Same as with the lease—you probably want a car near the top of the KBB rankings. The cash-back incentives you get to buy the car probably aren't equal to the loss in resale value at the back end. But this is the way to go if you like to have current technology in cars and don't want to lease; for instance, if you're a high-miles driver. Be aware that things like navigation systems don't hold value as much as the car itself does.

I buy new, then keep the car a loooong time. You decide. If you keep the car a decade, that's essentially its entire life as far as value goes (the average car is scrapped after a dozen years). On the one hand, you can look for the lowest price among the cars you'd be willing to drive, meaning the one with the most incentives today. On the other hand, you only live once, unless you're a cat, and life may be too short to own a car you don't really like for the next decade.

If the car is a long-time keeper, I'd load up on options such as seat heaters, navigation, premium audio, leather upholstery (lasts longer than fabric if maintained), because $1,750 for navigation amortized over 10 years isn't all that bad. And if the nav system dies in year six, well, by then the best dash-mount unit will be $200. You don't have to worry about how much a tech option devalues. You know, if the next owner is the salvage yard, then depreciation is 100 percent.

About the KBB survey. Every year Kelley Blue Book predicts the resale value of cars five years from now. The current report, based on the November-December KBB guide, reports the best and worst brands as well as individual models. The best vehicles retain half their value after five years; the worst, about a quarter. KBB rates each of the three dozen automakers doing business in the U.S. But for some reason it doesn't count niche players with fewer than four models, such as Mini and Scion, in the overall (automaker brand) standings, though these brands actually had superior overall resale ratings of around 50 percent.

Here are the KBB winners and losers. This is for the projected value retained after five years for a 2008 model car, based on the November-December KBB guide.

• Best Brands for 5-Year Resale Value
• 1. Volkswagen, 48.1% of value retained (5 years)
• 2. BMW, 45.6%
• 3. Acura, 45.4%
• 4. Honda, 45.2%
• 5. Porsche, 44.9%
• 6. Subaru, 44.4%
• 7. Lexus, 43.2%
• 8. Infiniti, 43.1%
• 9. Audi, 42.6%
• 10. Toyota, 41.4%

• Worst Brands
• 1. Suzuki, 27.6%
• 2. Kia, 30;4%
• 3. GMC, 32.5%
• 3. Mercury, 32.5%
• 3. Dodge, 32.5%
• 3. Chrysler, 32.5%
• 7. Lincoln, 33.3%
• 8. Jeep, 33.3%
• 9. Ford, 33.8%
• 10. Jaguar, 34.1%

• Best Resale Value - Car Models by Category
• Sedan: Honda Civic
• Luxury:BMW 6 Series
• Coupe: Infiniti G37
• Pickup: Toyota Tundra
• Convertible: MINI Cooper
• Sport Utility: Acura MDX
• Wagon: Scion xB
• Van / Minivan: Honda Odyssey
• Hatchback: Scion tC
• Hybrid: Honda Civic Hybrid
• High Performance: Chevrolet Corvette Z06

• Best Resale Value - Individual Models (listed alphabetically.)
• Chevrolet Corvette
• Honda Civic
• Infiniti G37
• MINI Cooper
• Scion tC
• Scion xB
• Toyota Corolla
• Volkswagen Eos
• Volkswagen Jetta
• Volkswagen Rabbit