XF SV8: Why so few?

[Rochester TVR]

In the next 2-3 months I will be changing the family car (currently an Alfa Romeo 159Ti) and one of the car’s I’m considering is the XF SV8.

Assuming that generally speaking the used car market equates to around 10% of the total volume, I am surprised to see that there are only 5 SV8’s currently for sale on Autotrader, compared to 47 XFR’s.
I’ve read that the cars are chalk and cheese in terms of driving, but the SV8 was still the flagship model before the XFR came along and I've yet to find a bad review on it. The facts seem to suggest that 4-5 years ago whoever wanted a big engined luxury saloon for £45-£50,000 were not buying the SV8. Why???

For example there are 21 V10 S6’s for sale and that is generally reviewed as a bit of let down…

Lastly depreciation; seeing as the SV8's are so rare (or unpopular depending what way you look at it) how would you Jaguar regulars predict the depreciation to behave over the next 2 years? Has it bottomed out to a steady decline or can you see them falling off a cliff anytime soon?

Thanks

[NormanD]

Maybe they are to good to let go

[Domf]

The SV8 sales profile reads as follows, 2007 53, 2008 360, 2009 26, 2010 1. No guesses for which year XFR sales started, it killed the SV8 sales instantly.
Therefore the bulk of vehicles you can choose from will be 2008, many of these will be company vehicles on 3 year lease and before the end of this year will come onto the market, this could be good for you in that a glut of machines will send 2nd hand prices down, but it also could be that the majority of these machines will be high mileage senior management motorway machinery.
For those vehicles originally sold privately, these are likely to be low mileage posssibly retirement cars and as the owners didn't switch to the more aggressive XFR and Jaguar hasn't pushed the petrol non R versions, these owners are likely to hang on longer to their vehicles.
Another reason for the low numbers currently available is the wait for the 2012 model year cars in September, dealers may then see an upturn in SV8 trade ins. The other reason will be the continuing increase in petrol prices, has put many large petrol car owners off selling their cars at present as they will receive a rock bottom price if any price at all, the market doesn't want to know.

[Triple7]

The reason they are rare is that when the XF was launched it used the 'old' engine/CATS suspension from the previous generation of S-Types - 4.2 V8, 3.0 V6 and 2.7 V6D. The S-Type never sold very high numbers of V8 powered cars, so the market was never really there for the SV8 IMHO. The 5.0 XFR is a totally different beast and attracts a different buyer and is a far better car than the SV8 ever was. In a nutshell the SV8 is a fully loaded XF with a supercharged V8, it is neither an 'R, nor a regular XF.

It represents great value as they were about £50k+ new and are now in the low twenties. If it was me I'd wait until the budget allows for a 5.0 XFR they are fabulous.

[Rochester TVR]

Thanks. Some very interesting points raised.

In regards to the SV8 using the old suspension from the S-TypeR, was this the case throughout the entire production run?

Even with the older setup the XF (as an entire range) still won just about every possible award on its release so surely it shouldn't be something to be overly concerned about?

Wasn't the SV8 Autocar Car of the year in 2008?

[Triple7]

Not talking suspension per se, more the old CATS system which firmed the shocks when it sensed pitching under turning/acceleration. The XFR has 'adaptive dynamics' in lieu of CATS and is a far more modern system.

There is nothing wrong with the SV8, just a halo car really, awaiting the arrival of the 5.0 'R.