There will always be consumers who think long and hard about what the next collectible car will be. Generally, limited production, high performance, and historical significance tend to play roles in determining collectability, but it’s really anyone’s guess. Who knew the initially very slow-selling BMW M3 from the late ‘80s would be worth more than its original MSRP these days?
It's equally surprising when some promising fare isn’t considered collector-worthy, like an early Audi R8 V8 with a six-speed manual transmission. Well, maybe its time just hasn’t come yet—they’re currently a deal in the mid-2020s.
Check out our list of potential future collector cars. We’ll stay away from the usual suspects: the Chevy Corvette, Dodge Viper, and Ford Mustang. Yes, those are all beloved sporty cars, and heck, the former two can even be considered supercars. But here, we’ll focus on performance cars that are obtainable for the rest of us, yet could prove to be smart investments in the not-too-distant future.
The Best Future Classic Cars to Buy in 2025
- Cadillac CTS-V Wagon
- Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat/Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk
- Ferrari 360 Spider
- Ford Bronco
- Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
- Hyundai Veloster N
- Jeep Gladiator
- Toyota GR Corolla
- Porsche Cayman S
- Subaru WRX Hatchback
Cadillac CTS-V Wagon
Priced from: $55,000
When the CTS-V wagon was new, pretty much everybody in the world of automotive journalism heralded it as the dawn of a new sports car era, when an American luxury manufacturer could build a sport wagon capable of wiping the floor with its German counterparts. The trouble was, the only people who wanted one were automotive journalists. Every other American ignored it with extreme prejudice. We wonder if that would’ve been different if it had a Chevrolet badge on its hatch.
Actually, let’s add to our “limited production” and “engine power” criteria to include “auto journalists love it,” because there have been dozens of auto journalist favorites that about nine people have ever purchased. (See: First-generation Nissan Sentra SE-R.)
All that aside, the CTS-V wagon is an absolutely hair-raising automobile. It’s hilarious to pull up to a stoplight in a grocery getter like this, and leave stunned faces of Subaru WRX owners in your wake. The value on these cars has already seen the bottom and prices are just now starting to tick up.
Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat/Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk
Priced from: $85,000 to $95,000
You get two for the price of one in this Mopar creation. The Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat and the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk are both essentially the same vehicle: a muscle car for the family. They ride on the same platform. They have the same 707-horsepower, supercharged Hellcat V8 engine. They both have a titanic ZF 8HP eight-speed transmission that’s rated for well over 1,000 hp.
The major difference between the two is seating capacity. With the Jeep Trackhawk, only four other passengers are going to suffer PTSD, while you can scare the life out of up to seven people—including yourself—in the Durango SRT Hellcat. Truly a beast among modern cars.
This selection sort of breaks our limited-production rule a bit, because while Hellcats and Trackhawks aren’t exactly plentiful, Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge/RAM went on a “Hellcat all the things” bender at one point, putting the powerful Hemi powerplant into just about everything it builds short of a Jeep Renegade. That will definitely have an impact on how valuable these vehicles will be in the future, but you can rest assured that for a long, long time, any number of people are going to be willing to part with cash for something with that supercharged mill under the hood.
Ferrari 360 Spider
Priced from: $80,000
Yes, we said we’d stay away from the cars that are generally lumped into collectible lists, but this Italian sports car is too good to ignore. The 360 Spider is about half the cost of the 360 Modena (which, frankly, is a much better-looking car when presented as a coupe), and it's about as close as any of us are ever going to come to owning a Ferrari.
For as long as we can remember, we’ve gone through the following mental exercise: “For the price of a new [insert normal car name here], you could own this Ferrari.” For a while, for the price of a new Camry, you could own a 308GTI. Those days are over. Now, for the price of a pretty well loaded F-150, you could own a Ferrari 360 Spider.
As with a lot of these cars, you’re not going to make a ton of money in the future: The original investment is too high. But these cars hold their value pretty much forever, and as the years tick by, that value accumulates like your retirement accounts.
Ford Bronco
Priced from: $35,000
The present-generation Bronco is still relatively new, but it’s almost guaranteed to be collectible in the future. And there are a whole lot of reasons you should be thinking about buying one.
The most intriguing part of Ford's whole marketing strategy is that even if you buy the base Bronco and stay away from the Wildtrak or Badlands trim levels, you can still order it with the Sasquatch package, which gets you all kinds of equipment that will rival that of a Wrangler Rubicon, without having to spend $54,000 to get it.
And if we can learn anything with the experience of the Toyota FJ Cruiser, it’s that whether these things sell or not, they’re going to retain their value for years to come.
Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
Priced from: $25,000
We’re mostly discussing the original, first-generation SVT Raptor, built between the 2010 and 2014 model years. Again, figuring out future collectability is an inexact science. Using our “limited production” and “engine power” indicators of future classic status, one would think that the second-generation SVT Raptor would be the one to watch, since it offers 450 horsepower to the first-gen truck’s 411, and there have typically been fewer of the second-generation trucks built every year than the first-generation pickups.
Ah, but we’re talking about trucks here, and the last thing most truck people are going to want to brag about is their lesser, turbocharged V6, when they could be crowing about a 6.2-liter Boss V8. Regardless, the SVT Raptor is going to have an audience no matter what engine it has—turbo or otherwise. The Raptor is a cool truck, and it makes a statement wherever it goes, whether you choose the six, the eight, the Supercab, or the Super Crew. As with all of these vehicles, mileage and condition are going to have a dramatic impact on the bottom line.
Hyundai Veloster N
Priced from: $21,000
This will be the second time we’ve mentioned the first-gen Nissan Sentra SE-R: It was a fabulous little car that was way, way more fun than the sum of its parts would suggest. The Veloster N is exactly the same story. It’s also the first legitimately thrilling sport compact from Asia that isn’t Japanese.
“Hold on a second,” you may be thinking. “Are these dorks telling me that a Korean car is going to be collectible?” Why, yes, yes we are. Not many people have paid enough attention to the Veloster N, because on paper, it doesn’t perform as well as some of the cars in its class—like the Honda Civic Type R, for example. Regardless, this car follows a purer hot hatchback formula than most others made in the past 20 years. It’s fit for all-day-long track duty and unbeatable at an autocross event. Low weight, exceptional balance, a feisty turbocharged four-cylinder, and a limited-slip differential made it the most fun car we drove the year it was introduced.
You may not get rich collecting the front-wheel-drive Veloster N. It’s sadly been discontinued for a while now, and we’re willing to bet that any true driving enthusiast will be willing to spend top dollar on a cherry example in just a few years.
Jeep Gladiator
Priced from: $34,000
We’re going to put this one out there because the Gladiator has the earmarks of something that may actually have some value in the future. Long in the future... If you’re hoping to beat the S&P 500 on your investment in a Gladiator, you have to play the long odds. They’re not going to be valuable this year, or next year, or even in 10 years, but variants of the Gladiator are going to be attention-getting at some point or another.
You only need to look at the Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler to see where we’re headed, because the story is playing out nearly identically with the Gladiator. When Jeep introduced the Scrambler in 1981, there was one decent year of sales before those trucks were absolutely nailed to the showroom floor. That’s kind of the way it’s been with the Gladiator. A busy first year, followed by model years where Jeep has really had to work to find a home for these trucks.
This is a wild statement here, but we’d guess that the Gladiator probably has one generation in it before it shuffles off into the sunset. One-generation vehicles with half of a following are pretty guaranteed as future classic fodder. Just don’t expect the Sport trim to be worth a whole lot. You’ll have to opt for the more capable off-road Rubicon, and you're probably best to think about a six-speed manual transmission.
Toyota GR Corolla
Priced from: $37,000
The Toyota Corolla is one of the best-selling vehicles of all time. A staple of the "cars as convenience" mentality, it's both heralded for being reliable and affordable and derided for an appliance. The Corolla, then, has no place on a list of future classics.
The Toyota GR Corolla, however, is an entirely different story. Those two letters, "GR," signify that this isn't your standard low-carb, low-caffeine Corolla. No, introduced for the 2023 model year, the GR Corolla boasts all-wheel drive (AWD), a manual transmission (although an automatic became available in 2025), and a 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine delivering 300 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque, plus a trick differential capable of delivering 70 percent of that power to the rear axle.
Unlike the low-calorie Corollas, the GR is sold in much smaller numbers. Fewer than 6,000 were sold in its initial year, and a limited-run trim—the Morizo Edition—is the rarest. However, even if a Morizo isn't available, any GR Corolla stands a solid chance of becoming a collectible, and every GR Corolla is guaranteed to be a good time.
Porsche Cayman S
Priced from: $25,000
When early Porsche 911s were finally starting to take off around 2005, we recall enthusiasts saying things like, “You can still buy an affordable early 911. It will possess a ghastly Sportomatic transmission, and maybe have some rust, but it’ll be affordable.”
The Cayman/Boxster twins have, in a sense, been the black sheep of the Porsche family. Porsche likes it that way, so it can sell plenty of 911s. But these are well-built, amazingly fun sports cars that look as good as they go. In a lot of ways, they’re closer to the original 911 design brief than the current 911—they’re not massive like the latest generation. And mark our words, as soon as more people catch on, they will be worth good money. We’re not sure we can say the same about its AMG contemporaries from Mercedes.
At the moment, the 987.1-generation Cayman S is essentially like buying a three-fourths-scale Porsche 911 for a substantially lower price. It’s got hydraulic steering, excellent chassis tuning, and a vibrant 3.4-liter flat-six engine situated right behind the cockpit. $25,000 buys a surprisingly nice model, but be sure to get plenty of service history and treat it well. These are starting to be considered old cars, and any signs of neglect could present a costly repair bill, including engine cylinder damage, cooling system issues, and more.
Subaru WRX Hatchback
Priced from: $16,000
You can find a WRX anywhere, right now, for short money. What you’ll find more challenging to locate is a WRX hatchback, either in the base WRX or the faster STI configuration. Obviously, you’ll pay more for the STI, but the WRX is no less appealing to the collectors who love them as they are both hot hatches, indeed.
Like the Solstice Coupe, there aren’t very many hatchbacks built that anyone would consider “collectible,” but this is absolutely one. Compared with the price of a competitive WRX Sedan, you'll likely pay a significant premium for the hatch, especially with less than 80,000 miles on the clock. Though, if you’re ok with 120,000+ miles, expect to pay less than $12,000.
These are explosively fun little cars that are exceptionally functional. They don’t get the best gas mileage thanks to being full-time all-wheel drive, but are still wonderful all-year for commuting, dirt road romping, or ripping laps on track.
