Evoque: A Land Rover worth waiting for! (From Craven Herald)

Evoque: A Land Rover worth waiting for!

8:50am Thursday 13th October 2011 in Road Tests By Steve Teale

Land Rover have never been ones to rush things. They created the original model, now called the Defender, in the 1940s and then it took until 1970 for the Range Rover to appear.

Goodness, it was worth waiting for. Then in the 1980s they quickened the pace with Discovery and then Freelander.

Now the latest Land Rover is here: the Range Rover Evoque from £27,995. Is it the coolest car on the road, pound for pound? I think so. MINI might have been but it’s just a little too common, now.

I can’t name another car in the £30,000 range which is quite as gorgeous. Audi Q3 is close. So is Ford Kuga. But Evoque is a winner. It looks like a concept car but it’s a proper production model.

Having said that, it’s smaller than I imagined. At 4.3 metres it’s just shorter than Freelander (4.5 metres) and well short of a normal Range Rover (5.0 metres) and even shorter than the Range Rover Sport (4.7 metres).

Having said that, it is succeeding in its aim to bring younger drivers to Land Rover and it is selling very well indeed. Farnell Land Rover dealership in Bradford said recently it had sold 89 Evoques since its launch, making it the fastest-selling new arrival. It’s also succeeding because it is smaller and greener, and the fact that Zara Phillips, Victoria Beckham and others have endorsed it won’t have done it any harm, either.

The Evoque is crucial because it is the most accessible Range Rover ever. It’s cheaper than the Discovery, but that wears the Land Rover tag with aplomb.

It all begins with the exterior appearance of course, which by eye-catching.

It has clear brand identifiers like the clamshell bonnet and grille, but the shape is more radical. Whatever your opinion, the Evoque has captured the attention of the car-buying public, and that is half the battle.

Land Rover has also gone down the route of massive personalisation, to tempt potential buyers even more. There are 12 exterior colours, three roof colours and eight alloy wheels just on the outside, but inside there are 16 ‘tailored’ interiors available. Choosing your own will be a dilemma. There are lots of geometric shapes within the cabin that tie it with the exterior looks, while the quality of the trim and the coolness of the displays scream luxury.

Of course, this is a significantly cheaper car than a Range Rover, but the Evoque sits comfortably in the same ball park as its illustrious big brother.

Go for the five-door and you have a clearer view out and much easier access to the rear seats, whereas the three-door is arguably better looking but with the inevitable penalty of a tricky journey to the second row.

Boot space is good regardless however, but families who want one will be better served with five doors. Under the skin, the Evoque has more options than any Range Rover before it.

As well as the obvious four-wheel drive layout there is a low-emission front-wheel drive model pared to the cleanest 148bhp 2.2-litre diesel, which achieves an impressive 133g/km of CO2.

There is a higher-output 187bhp version of the diesel too, as well as a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol that is comfortably the quickest of the range.

However, if you want the full experience then the more powerful diesel with four-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox is the way to go.

Land Rover helpfully laid on some off-roading, and it took only a few hundred metres to realise that any fears about this being a showy on-road poser were quickly dispelled.

The Land Rover off-road genes are clearly there, and the car is capable of more than 99 per cent of its land-dwelling owners would ever go near.

Despite all that, it is on road that the Evoque is most impressive.

The first thing that screams out is the directness of the steering, which is well-weighted and with decent feel but with a surprising sharpness which highlights how agile and planted the car is.

Even in town, it makes you forget you are driving something which could be called an SUV.

The ride quality, certainly with the standard suspension, is impressive too, although there are alloy wheel options and the impressive MagneRide damping system to give you more comfort or sportiness as you desire.

Once you’ve finished cruising sedately and glancing at yourself in shop windows, the temptation to explore its abilities on a quiet road will be too hard to resist. The promise shown at low speeds is fully realised here too.

The Evoque corners with real zeal, shrugs off its kerbweight and attacks the road like some sort of overgrown hot hatch. That it can do this without feeling out of its depth in mud or too harsh on broken streets is testament to its ability.

Some won’t like the looks and others will dismiss it as a soft-roader for those who don’t need it. But viewed as a car in its own right the Evoque is an impressive piece of engineering. It is highly desirable, very capable and even decent value.

That’s right. Range Rovers have been a lot of things over the years, but good value? This car tears up the rule book. Sensible? Yes. Outrageous? Of course.