More of a fashion statement than a workhorse, the Evoque ticks the right boxes in terms of image and eco credentials, writes PADDY COMYN
THERE ARE times when, as you sit down to write a car review, you know you are wasting your time. No one is ever going to buy it – even if they could afford it, and no matter how much you might love it.
As soon as Land Rover revealed it was going to produce a “baby” Range Rover, which would not only look good, but would have low-emissions and the promise of hot-hatch dynamics, the phones started ringing in Land Rover dealerships the length and breadth of the country. The calls must have startled the poor Land Rover sales staff, because the phone hasn’t rang on these desks for a while. After a brief period of making hay while the sun shone pre-2008, there has been a dark cloud over Land Rover sales here since then. Sales of new Land Rovers effectively stopped as the recession hit.
The thing is that there are very few people out there who don’t like Range Rovers. Their iconic SUV is a default feature in many lottery dream garages. There would be one in mine. You start by buying the Range Rover and then start choosing your other vehicles after that.
Now we have a Range Rover – albeit diminutive – starting at just over €40,000 (even less when the two-wheel-drive version arrives) and it will eventually have motor tax low enough to put it in band B. If you listen carefully you can probably hear the middle-class suburban stampede to dealerships.
Evoque is a relevant Range Rover in that case. Given that €45,000 is about the limit these days of what people can be seen to spend or access in finance, and with relatively green credentials, it should go the way of the BMW 520d and become something of a hit. So the thing is, it really doesn’t matter what critics think of it. It will probably sell regardless.
Yet it’s our duty to ask: is the Evoque a bit of a cynical marketing exercise? It is it all style and no substance? The decision – true or otherwise – to enlist the help of Victoria Beckham as some sort of “design consultant” did little to dispel suspicion that this might be a bit of a hollow vehicle. But, my word, it looks good. And in production form, it appears that the designers (the real ones) have remained faithful to the original LRX concept. It makes the Freelander 2, which is still a reasonably new vehicle, suddenly look like it’s from the era of the Model T. It really is strikingly beautiful.
You have a choice of a three-door coupé or a five-door for the Evoque, and this is where it gets tricky. You might remember that the Freelander started life with a three-door option that was eventually dropped. It is hard to know whether the same fate awaits the lesser-doored Evoque. It looks great and amazingly there is proper space in the back for two or three passengers. In design terms it’s more shapely and edgy than the more sedate five-door, which has the vague silhouette of what a new Freelander might look like. Despite this, senior management at the Irish distributor of Land Rover believe that most people will choose the five-door format. They are probably right: very few models of any format with just three-doors sell well here.
Inside, the Evoque is incredibly well put together. The cabin is modern and the materials used vary according to your taste, but you feel they are very much geared towards the younger market. Land Rover expects most Evoque buyers to be coming from other brands. BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 customers will, it seems, bypass the X1/X3 and Q3/Q5 and choose one of these instead. But we feel Range Rover Sport customers, of which there were many, could keep an eye on this because they will get better leg and headroom in the rear and much kinder fuel and tax bills each year.
Land Rover is very good at launching cars and showing you what it could do if you didn’t mind snapping bits off your new car. In terms of off-road ability, the Evoque in four-wheel-drive guise would laugh in the face of the last couple of poor winters we have had. But it can also make mince meat of mud, grass, sand, and wade through water.
On the road it is hugely competent. It can be pushed very hard and shows utmost composure. It is wide – or at least feels so on narrow country roads. Under the bonnet there will be a choice of petrol or diesel. Let’s disregard the 2.0-litre petrol engine, which we did try for a quick spin. It won’t make any impact here.
Instead the focus – and ours during the launch – is on the 190bhp 2.2-litre diesel SD4, which is the most powerful of the diesels for now. In Ireland it will be joined by a 150bhp TD4 and, later, a 150bhp eD4, which will have front-wheel drive and slightly less torque. The eD4 will probably make up the majority of sales. It isn’t on any price lists yet. “Pricing has yet to be confirmed,” is the line, which usually means, “we will try and sell a few of the expensive ones first”.
That means the starting point of the range right now is the 150bhp four-wheel-drive five-door “Pure” at €40,975, which is about the same price as the BMW 520d SE. For this you get climate control, Bluetooth, cruise control, 17-inch alloys and half leather upholstery. But you’ll need more than €9,000 to jump to Dynamic specification, with leather upholstery, 19-inch wheels, the Meridian audio system, Xenon lights, steering wheel-mounted audio controls, and the 8-inch high resolution screen. It is quite a considerable price walk, but it really wouldn’t make sense not to.
Failing this, you should wait for the eD4 two-wheel-drive version, due in December, which we expect to start at €36,000. That would suggest you might get the better equipped Dynamic variant of this version for €45,000 or so.
You can have the Evoque with manual or automatic transmission. The manual is very good but makes it feel more of a Freelander than a Range Rover, so we’d opt for the auto. If you do want the three-door coupé, you’ll pay about €2,000 more across the range. All this means is that, in our view, the best Evoque for now is the 190bhp diesel five-door Dynamic four-wheel-drive automatic, which will cost you just short of €60,000. And well beyond that when you start adding options. Despite this, we’d still expect a big appetite for this new model.
Factfile
Engine2,179cc four-cylinder diesel putting out 150bhp at 4,000rpm and 400Nm of torque at 1,750rpm
Max speed185km/h
0-100km/h10.8 seconds
Emissions (motor tax)149g/km (€302)
Starting price€40,975
Model price range€40,975 – €66,920