While the much-prophesied death of the manual gearbox hasn’t come true just yet, it still feels like it’s very much in the post. For everyone who continues to self-operate a clutch on a daily basis, this must seem like a distant event - but for everyone else, the automatic transmission is now so omnipresent that the thought of returning to a manual, rear-drive sports car is the stuff of hazy daydreams. But throw in a lusty petrol engine and curvaceous body and you’ve got the perfect antidote to the tedium of today’s fuel-sippers.
Smash cut to this Firesand Orange F-Type, complete with flat-top gear lever and supercharged V6. Jaguar built the manual in the halcyon days of ten years ago with the intention of capturing more US market share - the sceptics at the time still pleasingly certain that a stick shift was crucial to any fun-having. The domestic market wasn’t so sure, which has made the variant something of a unicorn in the UK. Not sufficiently rare for it to be saved from the effects of depreciation, it must be said - but much less common than the (admittedly superior) eight-speed auto.
In other words, perfect for making your daydream come true without the outlay required by a contemporaneous, three-pedal Porsche 911. The manual gearshift in that will be on another level, although don’t let anyone tell you the Jaguar six-speeder was a poor man’s choice. It was another ZF solution and very decent indeed, just not quite on par with the sort of cut and thrust that Porsche seems to have spent a century perfecting. The F-Type’s ‘box is there to do a job; it does it.
It is plenty good enough to get the best from the 3.0-litre motor, which is itself a wonderful throwback. Jaguar tweaked the manual cars for a smidge more noise, and while it misses out on the ballyhoo of the V8, the shortened unit certainly has a supercharged character all of its own - and 340hp to go with it. You can expect to be endlessly surfing the ratios, although with 332lb ft of torque, that’ll be more out of choice than necessity.
With 67,500 miles on the clock, this F-Type has clearly been enjoyed rather than stored away as an investment piece – which is exactly as God (and Jaguar) intended. The vendor claims meticulous maintenance from just two previous owners and a full service history. You’ll obviously be wanting a peek at that, and the full extent of the ‘huge factory spec’ - but it looks in decent nick from the pictures, and while it hasn’t added hugely to the mileage in recent years, the MOT history is impeccable.
But it’s the asking price that takes the biscuit. It’s no secret that rampant depreciation found the F-Type early and that older, higher-mile examples are available for less than £20k, yet the rarity of the manual makes the £23k asking price here seem like great value for a car chock-full of old-school appeal without forcing you to sacrifice ease of use or relative modernity. Added to which, you’ll own one of the last three-pedal, rear-wheel-drive sports cars that Jaguar ever produced - and paid half what you would for an electric Skoda vRS with the same power and none of the panache. No-brainer, right?
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