The Jaguar F-Type roadster is, undeniably, one very fun and stunningly good-looking car. But for the enthusiast, it has missed one key element of the overall sports car experience: the manual transmission. That may soon change.
This video, from YouTube user Gumbal (via Road & Track), shows what very much sounds like a manual transmission version of the F-Type V6 S testing on the Nürburgring. Just listen to the upshifts. There’s a characteristic throttle release and pause between gears.
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Adding a manual transmission to the F-Type won’t likely make it much lighter or more nimble—two things we’d love to see happen for the car—but it would add a definite degree of driver involvement. It would also get rid of the mostly agreeable but sometimes frustrating eight-speed automatic that’s currently the only option.
When might such a three-pedal F-Type arrive, if in fact we’re seeing what we think we’re seeing in this video becomes real? Possibly as early as 2015, should Jaguar decide to push closer to an F-Type R roadster and R-S or R-S GT versions of either the convertible or the coupe.
