I've been driving my manual transmission 2017 F-Type S for a little over a month now. It's easily the most fun car that I've ever owned and it drives better than any car that I've ever owned (or driven for that matter). However, like any car it's not perfect. The space to the left of the clutch is not wide enough. Depending on the shoes that I'm wearing, I often don't even have enough space to put my foot between the clutch and cover that's to the left. I have to pull my left foot off the clutch and then slide it under the clutch as opposed to just sliding my foot to the left off the clutch like I have with every other manual car I've owned. I got to looking around at the cover and found that it actually sticks out about an inch over part of the area where your foot is supposed to rest. So, I decided to remove the cover to see what's under it in order to find out if I could make some more room. Here it is before:



Removal of the cover was easy. First I had to remove the lever that pops the hood. The cover was only attached in three places and just took some minor pulling to remove.



Here's what I found underneath:



Based on what I'm seeing, it appears that the cover has a good deal of excess space that could instead be used for more area for my left foot. I'm going to drive my car for a couple of days without it to see if there's a significant difference in the amount of space available for my left foot. If so, I'll have to see what I can do for a more permanent solution. One concern that I have is that perhaps the design allows for more air space under the cover in order to dissipate heat. I'll feel down there a few times to see if I notice any.

 

What is your shoe size? I've not had a problem with my MT car.... I do have some driving shoes with a smaller profile which makes maneuvering down there easier.

 

+1. 4.5" clearance for shoes just over 4" wide. Bret, you need to quit wearing those crocs.

 

My shoe size is US 10.5. Some shoes have enough clearance and others don't.

 

I Wonder if the Right hand drive owners have this issue as the bonnet release is on the vehicle left regardless. Not that this helps you at all.

 

My shoe size is 11.5 (EU 46) and I don't have room unless I am wearing driving shoes.

 

I'm thinking that and the fact that the car was originally designed as an automatic. It's possible when it came to making the left hand drive manual transmission version, they determined that making more room to the left of the left foot wasn't justifiable from a financial standpoint. Also, professional test drivers might have been wearing smaller driving shoes.

Now I know that I'm not crazy.


I drove my F-Type to work today. The additional space made a big difference. It's still less space than I think there should be, but pivoting my foot is much easier. Now I just have to figure up a permanent solution.

 

Well, that's unfortunate. I suppose it's a small price to pay for such a fabulous car but, really...that one has to drive with driving shoes strikes me as a bit of a design flaw. Then again, what do I know...I have an auto.

 

It is a design flaw, but one I learned to live with.

On long highway rides, I put my foot under the pedal then slide it sideways until it hits the wall.

 

Life is full of compromise and adaptation...glad you found a way.

 

In my head I have the idea to help fix a portion of this design flaw. I just have to find an upholstery shop that can match the carpet.

 

Just buy a used F-Type floor mat and cut it up as needed.

 

Update:
Forget needing an upholstery shop. I figured out a better way. My idea was to fasten the cover to the carpet. As it comes, it uses the shown tab that goes in a slot in the carpet that's right in the middle of the dead pedal. I trimmed the edge of the cover that's towards the front of the car. In the process, about an inch of curvature was removed. It was then flat on the edge that's towards the front of the car. I then found some fasteners hold the cover and the carpet together.


I next figured out where the part of the cover towards the front of the car (below the cover's access door) would overlap the carpet. I then drilled two holes through the cover in that area. Next I put the cover back in place and used a silver sharpie to mark the holes in the carpet.

Next I removed the cover and drilled holes in it. Obviously it's critical here to put something behind the carpet to prevent damage to the wiring nearby.

I then attached the carpet to the cover and put the cover back in place. You have to attach the carpet to the cover first. If you put the cover back in place and then try to get the holes to line up it will be near impossible.


Here's the finished product (please excuse the debris and dog hairs).

I don't think anyone would notice unless they were looking right at it. The result is about an inch more of space to the left of the clutch.