Jaguar Shares a ‘Manual’ Manual

To help educate drivers about the benefits of rowing your own gears the folks at Jaguar released a pamphlet extolling the humble stick shift’s myriad virtues.

This so called “Manual (transmission) Manual” is totally tongue-in-cheek but it’s the kind of humor we gobble up like a platter of deep-fried snacks after a grueling auto show. In fact we’re still licking the salty grease off our fingers now from the day-one lunch.

Whatever you call them – manual gearboxes, stick shifts, standard transmissions or something else – these cog-filled torque-transferring devices can be confounding to new drivers. If younger generations have even heard of them they probably think they’re something their great grandparents used to deal with along with beating rungs and canning peaches.

But that’s simply NOT the case, as Jaguar happily points out. This instruction manual is rife with helpful tips and clearly worded suggestions. It explains how to operate a clutch, it covers the vagaries of downshifting and even warns about stalling, plus much more.

Complete 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show

But the big question is, why release something like this? Well, in case you’re mentally deficient or just particularly recalcitrant, because it’s AWESOME!!! It’s also a brilliant way of promoting the 2016 F-Type sports car, which gains an optional all-wheel-drive system and an available manual gearbox.

One memorable line sums things up quite succinctly, “…every well-executed shift with a manual transmission brings a sense of accomplishment and reward,” something no automatic could ever replicate. Hit the link below to download the PDF of Jaguar’s “Manual Manual” to check it out for yourself; you’ll be glad you did.

Download: Jaguar Manual Manual