When Jaguar unveiled the new F-Type, we'll have to admit, we were a little bit smitten.
A good-looking, all-aluminium sports car with a range of V6 and V8 supercharged engines sending their power to the rear wheels -- it sounded like the perfect recipe for an involving and desirable sports car.
And then Jaguar dropped a bombshell; they said that the F-Type would only be made available with an automatic eight-speed gearbox.
This was a massive disappointment. Jag offering the F-Type with an auto-box as standard would be like Ferrari announcing that the new 458 will be available with a three-cylinder diesel engine. Auto and semi-auto boxes are fine in big saloons, OAP-spec superminis and full-blooded supercars, but in a lightweight, taut sports car they are emphatically 'not fine'.
Which is why we're glad that Jaguar has done a U-turn. Adrian Hallmark, global brand director at Jag, has told Autocar magazine that the company is introducing a manual gearbox to the F-Type range, which could also find its way into the XF.
Hallmark told Autocar: "Sports cars need a manual transmission for sports credibility" (we could have told him that), adding that Jaguar recognises the "cost and fun" benefits of manual gearboxes.
Unfortunately, however, it will be a while until the new gearbox is ready and the F-Type will have to wait at least another year before it gains a clutch pedal.
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