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BMW uses a manual gearbox to bring greater enthusiast appeal to its Z4 roadster It is well known in the industry that car names sound better in Italian. If Maserati’s GT saloon had been called ‘Four-door’, would it have seemed so exotic? If Ferrari’s manettino had instead been called the ‘little switch’, would you have been so keen to twiddle it? And what about the Fiat Type?Someone at BMW must have thought the same could apply to German, because the subject of this week’s road test is the BMW Z4 with Handschalter Pack. Handschalter means manual gearbox (literally ‘hand-shifter’). And so, six years into the third-generation Z4’s life cycle, BMW has given the six-cylinder version of its long-running roadster a six-speed manual transmission for the first time. That makes it one of just three BMWs you can buy so equipped in the UK, alongside the BMW M2 and the 218i Gran Coupé (not for long, in the case of the 218i).Given the plummeting popularity of new cars with a clutch pedal, it’s a rather odd decision, and the odd decisions don’t stop there. In the UK, the only way to get the manual is to option the Handschalter Pack, which locks you into the spec you see here. You better like Frozen (ie matt) Deep Green with Cognac brown leather interior and gloss black trim, because that’s the only spec available for now.The car industry in 2024 is quite a risk-averse one, so we have to applaud a manufacturer for doing something a bit out there. Then again, that alone doesn’t cut it in an Autocar road test. Let’s find out if an enthusiast-focused going-over can revitalise this six-year-old model.

The saloon that saved Jaguar gets one last round of updates – but does it go out with a bang or a whimper? The Jaguar XF was introduced as the car that promised to right the wrongs its company had been suffering from for many years.Soon after, this four-door saloon became one of its core models and went on to save Jaguar from declining sales and financial ruin. Many years and two generations on, it's a car we still like, not least because of its class-leading handling, handsome styling and competitive pricing.This latest version promises to be no different, with subtly rejigged styling over the car it replaces, improved interior quality, a new infotainment system and a simplified range of engines.It was back in 2021 that Jaguar first cut XE and XF prices in rather eye-catching fashion. Since then, it has only slightly increased the price, but a top-of-the-line XF still comes in at nearly £10,000 less than a like-for-like BMW 3 Series, and it's the same story with a full-house Mercedes C-Class (and, don’t forget, this was a car designed to compete with rivals from the class above). Suffice to say, the outlay for this car is about the same as you would pay for a middling electric car.If you're looking for some extra practicality to match the cost savings available, you can also have the Jaguar XF Sportbrake, which we've reviewed separately.Has Jaguar finally got this car’s specification and value positioning right then, just as so many company car buyers have become wedded to the low-emissions electrified powertrains, tech-laden interiors and low benefit-in-kind rates with which it can’t compete? Let's find out.The Jaguar XF saloon line-up at a glanceThere’s no plug-in hybrid model here, but the range has been simplified compared with the pre-facelift line-up, with the option of three engines and four trim levels. There is a 200bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder Ingenium diesel, which is the most economical and the cheapest engine and the only unit available on the entry-level R-Dynamic S trim.Step up to mid-rung R-Dynamic SE Black and R-Dynamic HSE Black and you can either have the 2.0-litre diesel or a 248bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol in P250 guise. Top-specification P300, meanwhile, comes with a 296bhp version of this 2.0-litre petrol. Neither petrol engine has the mild-hybrid assistance of the D200, though, nor the WLTP combined fuel economy of up to 56.9mpg - and only the P300 adds four-wheel drive. Every engine is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission.