Baby’s back on the catwalk
The new Range Rover Evoque looks so much like the old one, it’s easy to overlook the fact that this isn’t a facelift, but actually an all-new model. You might skip past the fact it’s on JLR’s new Premium Transverse Architecture, that it introduces new mild hybrid drivetrains, has much improved infotainment and shares only door hinges with the outgoing car. But why rock the boat with an entirely different look when the last Evoque stands as the fastest-selling Land Rover in history, with around 800,000 sales since 2011? You wouldn’t.
So Evoque Mk2 sits within an almost identical footprint, and carefully evolves the design of its successful predecessor while borrowing tricks from the one-size-up Velar, with its smooth, pared-back lines. There are
coppery accents on this Nolita Grey First Edition (and on R-Dynamic models) to strengthen the link, but it’s the addition of Velar-style flush door handles that most obviously indicates this is actually an all-new Evoque. They slide out when you plip the car unlocked, but it’s not the most convincing handshake – while you can grip the robust Velar’s with confidence, the Evoque’s are a little wobbly, a little looser to that initial touch. Not a great start for this £50k machine.
When you actually open that door, things take a turn for the better. There’s much more of a sense of occasion as you enter here than our Giant Test rivals, the Porsche Macan and Audi Q3. The light dashboard material of our test car certainly helps, as does the central touchscreen’s rise to attention upon start-up, and the muscular contours of seats that provide back support you never even realised you needed, particularly at shoulder height. As with the Velar, the Evoque can also be upholstered in animal-free materials, with the Kvadrat wool-blend textile giving a smooth alcantara-like feel.
The closer you look the more you see about the interior of the second-generation Evoque that has been refined, modernised and streamlined, with the Velar influence evident almost everywhere. It’s a mostly successful update. The centre console, for example, is now button-less, courtesy of the lower of two touchscreens managing climate control, seat heating and off-road functions, plus a shortcut menu for media interfaces. At first, haphazard prods at the screen don’t always result in the desired response, but soon it becomes second nature to use the twin click-wheels. Want to swap drive modes? That needs just a
simple twist. Want your seat warmed? That’s a push away.
Bum toasty, we get moving. You’re struck first by excellent refinement. This is a baby SUV that glides down the road almost as silently as a fullsize Range Rover. Leave it in Comfort and the P250 petrol engine quickly settles into ninth gear, but sounds more like it’s fallen down a well. It’s eerily quiet in here at a cruise, far more so than the Q3 and Macan on test, the refinement complemented by well-tuned adaptive dampers (spring and damping rates are generally softer than before) offsetting large 20-inch wheels. You can’t get an Evoque with air springs, but so supple is the ride that you never covet them.
The Evoque is more laid-back cruiser than B-road hero, even if it does a passable impression of the latter. Land Rover says increased refinement was the primary objective – but, as our test miles soon reveal, the downside of that shift of focus is that a little of the previous car’s highrise-hot-hatch vim has gone. That said, the Ingenium turbo petrol has a more tuneful bark than either Porsche or Audi when you wake it up, feels equally punchy, and JLR’s juicy steering heft is reassuring. Setting the transmission to S also does a solid job of shifting gears snappily.
But with nine ratios to play with, keeping the engine on the boil between fourth and fifth gear is like juggling a hot potato. And there’s no disguising the Evoque’s height nor its 1818kg bulk – around 30kg more than before – when it comes to dynamics. In the wide-open spaces of North Wales the Evoque wants to play, but it’s a little like the tubby kid on the football team, its enthusiasm hamstrung by physics. There’s noticeable bodyroll through sharper turns, even in Dynamic mode, and ⊲
In the wide-open spaces
of North Wales the Evoque wants to play
the brakes lack strength, particularly against the Q3’s. Oddly, the steering rack gives the impression the tension comes from a series of rubber bands that relax when you add more lock. It’s still enjoyable to drive, though: you’ll have far more laughs at the wheel of Halewood’s finest than you will in the aloof tax-accountant from Ingolstadt.
Shame the P250 is so thirsty; Land Rover only claims 28.5mpg to 30.4mpg under new WLTP rules, despite a 48-volt mild-hybrid system (and therefore more ecient start/stop technology). Today we’ll see an mpg figure in the high teens…
Elsewhere in the Evoque, 21st century technology’s been implemented more successfully. You can also spec a wealth of clever new toys, including our car’s optional ClearSight rear-view mirror. It can function like a normal mirror, but with a prod of a button beneath it will switch to a screen that’s linked to a HD camera housed in the roof antenna. Useful given the Evoque’s porthole-like rear visibility, and particularly so if you’re transporting a new wardrobe home or helping your university student sprog move into new halls – you can completely block the rear window and still see perfectly.
Clever cameras mounted up front (again, optional) project a ‘seethrough’ image of the front of the car onto the upper infotainment screen – it allows you to see exactly where the front wheels are, helping navigate tricky terrain, urban or rural. That’s on top of a standard allwheel-drive system, plus multiple off-road technologies.
This isn’t a perfect interior, though. Niggles and rough edges bring to mind those glossy, ultra-modern kitchens at DIY stores: all of the glitz you crave but with appliances and finish from the lowest bidder. The cupholders now have a plastic cover but it’s hollow, dicult to slot back in place and there’s nowhere to put it if you actually want to use the cupholders. And the clean, admittedly very pretty steering wheel buttons at thumb height require a fierce prod, the touch-sensitive screens can be temperamental, and there’s an intermittent cabin rattle.
It’s not perfect, then, but in terms of design, technology, refinement and driver appeal, the Range Rover Evoque certainly satisfies when driven in isolation. More grown-up than the car it replaces, it’s also lost some of its predecessor’s cheeky dynamic charm. Risky when there are Macans around… ⊲
You can’t get an Evoque with air springs, but so supple is the ride that you never covet them