Tested: 2019 Range Rover Evoque
The 2019 Range Rover Evoque might look like the old one but after a thorough work-out we can confirm it’s much, much better
It might look like the old one but it’s so much better
ACCORDING TO the experts at JLR the 2019 Range Rover Evoque is 99.9 per cent all-new when it comes to the body structure. The only part it shares with its elder no-longer-produced sibling are the door hinges. It’s built on a new platform that they call Premium Transverse Architecture or PTA for short. The reason for this is to have a frame that is electric-ready and all the models we will be driving have the ‘always-on’ 48 volt integrated starter/generator system. So at under 11 mph the combustion engine can cut out completely. Then, by the end of the year, there will hybrid options available.
As I walk around one at the UK launch event held at Peckforton Castle, which is also home to Land Rover Experience Cheshire, I cannot help but think that it does not look a lot different from its predecessor. Gerry Mcgovern, Land Rover’s Chief Design Officer, would no doubt throttle me for thinking so. He will point out the
cleaner surfaces, tighter panel gaps, flush door handles and narrower headlamps. While the new Discovery and Velar were revolutionary by JLR design standards this I feel is more evolutionary. There is good reason for this. To date they have sold 770,000 Evoques in 116 countries. That is nearly 100,000 per year of production. Those are big and rather impressive numbers. And I have just heard that they sold 2158 new Evoques in the UK alone in March 2019. So, as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it – just improve it.
It’s only once you jump into the driver’s seat that the dramatic changes start to hit home. This compact SUV is now more luxurious than ever before. I was in the D240 SE R-dynamic and while the new Evoque starts from £31,000 for the 2WD 150 bhp diesel, this version is £46,300 on the road. Add into the mix the 20” five-spoke black wheels, Adaptive Dynamics, seat massaging system, fixed panoramic roof and Kvadrat seats (wool and recycled plastic bottles blend) then the price as tested rises to £54,700.
To understand the trim levels and equipment options is way more challenging than trying to get the Brexit deal through the House of
Commons. Let’s start with engines though. You can choose between the diesel and petrol four-cylinder Ingenium engines. The diesel options are the already-mentioned D150, D180 and the D240 that I was in, while the petrol options are P200, P250 and P300. Once you have picked your engine, decide whether you want the base trim level or the R-dymamic. Then decide on equipment: base, S, SE or HSE. How fat is your wallet? Make sense?
My SE had the interactive driver display and also the Touch Pro Duo, that is the two centrally-located screens on top of each other. It was first introduced on the Velar and it’s like having two giant ipads stuck to your centre console. Is that not what the owners of older Land Rovers do when greenlaning? Floating info at your fingertips. Just like in Matrix the movie.
Technological offerings are fast becoming deal breakers for potential buyers. The Evoque more than delivers on this front and before we leave the castle grounds we get to experience its Clearsight Ground View. Imagine you have a see-through bonnet and invisible engine. So the driver can literally see their front wheels and any potential obstacles thanks to the various forward facing cameras and projected image onto the main touchscreen. Most city dwellers will use this to prevent smashing their big, shiny wheels into kerbs. As a Land Rover fan I am excited; imagine having a 180 degree view of what is happening underneath the front of the new Defender? JLR has a history of ground-breaking technology and off-road aids being passed on to the new launches. As a result the new Evoque gets Terrain Response 2, of course. More about that on the off-road course.
I remember two things that I wrote from my the firstgeneration Evoque review back in 2011 after driving it for about 1000 miles from Cape Town to the Kalahari Desert and back again. I told my wife Ali (she was my girlfriend back then) that there was not enough legroom in the second row and that it was difficult to see out of the postbox slit back window. Both these issues have been addressed.
The wheelbase has been lengthened by 21 mm and they have created ever-so-slightly more legroom for those sitting in the second row of seats. The £1100 fixed panoramic roof also contributes to the roomier feel of the cabin.
The second problem has been resolved with the addition of a Clearsight Rear View Mirror. So when you look into your 9.5 inch display rear view mirror expect to see double of what you can out of a traditional mirror! This is thanks to a rear-facing camera providing HD coverage onto the rearview mirror. The wide-angle nature of the camera means it also covers the blind spots.
It was great to be behind the wheel of one of the better performing diesel offerings. The 240 bhp turbocharged diesel was more than up to the challenges posed by the Welsh valleys. Even on some of the steeper climbs it never once felt like it was going to run out of steam. It definitely felt a lot more comfortable throwing this around on windy Welsh roads than its bigger-bodied brothers and sisters.
At long last it was time to put its through its paces off-road, although I did have concerns about the 20” wheels which replaced the standard 17” ones. Fortunately I had the very experienced LRE instructor Wayne Mitchelson with me. A standard new Evoque has an approach angle of 25 degrees while my R-dynamic only had 20.8 degrees. Ground clearance is 212 mm and the other impressive figure is the 600 mm wading depth. As it does not have low range I use the All Terrain Progress Control to rein in the speed of the Evoque when I need to go as slowly as possible.
As we are in a quarry I chose the Mud and Ruts option via the Terrain Response 2 knob. At times I do manage to lift a wheel or two into the air and a long 500 mm deep water crossing poses no challenge. Despite its limitations I’m blown away by the off-road capabilities of the new Evoque thanks to the advanced off-road systems, good instruction and, to a lesser degree, my driving skills. Sadly, about 99 per cent of the nearly-800,000 Evoque owners have probably never been off-road in theirs. I would bet my Defender on it.
Obviously it can’t go where a Defender can, but if you took one of the keyboard warriors who are always so keen to slate all new Land Rover products on social media and put them in the new Evoque, they’d swallow their keyboards.
You can’t live in the past. And if new Evoque represents the future of Land Rover, that future looks pretty rosy.
“I’M BLOWN AWAY BY THE OFF-ROAD CAPABILITIES”