The latest Range Rover Evoque has taken a big leap forward over the old model, adding fresh styling, up-to-date technology, a range of more efficient mild-hybrid engines and extra touches of luxury and refinement inside.
With two diesels and three petrols – plus a slightly dizzying trim level range – there’s plenty for buyers to choose from. The standard equipment list is generous, while higher-spec models bring full-fat Range Rover appointments like Touch Pro Duo infotainment, sophisticated LED headlights and quilted leather upholstery.
While rivals including sister firm Jaguar’s E-Pace and the BMW X2 offer a more engaging driving experience, the Evoque provides a focus on luxury and comfort that most buyers will prefer. And while it’s likely that Evoques will be sold on looks alone, it’s encouraging that the car once again represents a viable alternative to favourites like the Audi Q3, Volvo XC40 and even JLR’s own Jaguar E-Pace.
The latest Range Rover Evoque has received an evolutionary styling update – Land Rover has chosen not to break what worked so well for the original car. The Evoque takes inspiration from the larger Range Rover Velar, with similar headlights, taillights and smoothed-off flanks with smart recessed door handles. R-Dynamic models bring a sportier look, adding black and burnished copper detailing plus a body-coloured front bumper.
There are plenty of alloy wheel designs to pick from, ranging from 17 to 20 inches as standard depending on spec, or 21 inches as an option. On the standard car, an optional black exterior pack replaces some chrome and body-coloured trim parts with glossy black items for £640.
A palette of silvers, greys and blacks makes up most of the Evoque’s paint choices, with Firenze Red a notable exception. Metallic paint costs £640, premium metallic paint £950 and a contrasting silver or black painted roof costs £535.
• Driver Power 2018 – the best cars for interior and comfort
Inside there’s more inspiration from elsewhere in the Range Rover line-up, with a focus on quality materials, clean design and modern infotainment. Overall interior quality has taken a welcome step forward and is now on a par with rivals like the Audi Q3 and BMW X2; it feels slightly ahead of the Volvo XC40 in this regard, with a greater focus on outright luxury.
There’s plenty of scope for personalisation inside. ‘Kvadrat’ textile upholstery is standard, available in two shades and complemented by faux-suede Dinamica elements; quilted leather upholstery is a £1,650 upgrade available in four colours.
There are numerous headlining options, along with decorative dashboard and centre console trim in wood or aluminium; an optional steering wheel with a decorative bezel or suedecloth trim can also be specified. Configurable ambient lighting and illuminated tread plates add an extra element of personalisation.
Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment
In-car technology is one major area where the new Evoque blows its predecessor into the weeds. Entry-level cars get a standard 10-inch infotainment system as found across the JLR portfolio, with standard front and rear parking assistance and a rear view camera.
The step up to S trim adds sat nav and – for the first time on a Land Rover – Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. SE and HSE models benefit from Touch Pro Duo, Land Rover’s dual-screen infotainment system; a set of digital dials behind the steering wheel is also added.
Touch Pro Duo splits the car’s infotainment functions across two screens on the centre console, with most car settings (including ventilation) moved to the lower touchscreen with its three rotary dials. The upper screen is used for sat-nav, music and parking assistance, among other features. The system works well and is a good match for similarly sophisticated systems from Audi, Mercedes and Volvo.
Music lovers will enjoy the two optional sound systems developed by British hi-fi manufacturer Meridian – a 10-speaker system for £600 or a 14-speaker surround sound option for £1,200. The former is standard with HSE trim, with the latter priced at £600 for this model.
Unlike its sportier JLR stablemate the Jaguar E-Pace, the Range Rover Evoque hasn’t been designed to offer outright thrills to its driver. On a twisty country road there’s a bit of body roll, some slack in the steering at the straight-ahead position and a less tenacious front end than that of the Jaguar.
However, the Evoque is perfectly pleasant to drive with a bit less gusto – as most of us do most of the time – and it particularly comes into its own on the motorway. Here, the refinement and comfort levels on offer have taken a big step on from those of the old car; Land Rover’s engineers have made sure that the Evoque is a cosseting cruiser rather than a sports car in an SUV body. In this respect, the Evoque compares favourably with the Volvo XC40, a small SUV with a similar outlook on life. Even on our test car’s optional 21-inch wheels, ride quality was excellent – though we are yet to test the Evoque on the rutted roads of the UK.
It’s not terribly likely that any Evoque will venture off-road, but being a Land Rover product, the car does boast impressive skills when the going gets rough. Wading depth has increased from 500mm on the old car to 600mm, while Land Rover’s Terrain Response 2 system can automatically adjust the Evoque’s behaviour to suit the conditions at hand. The supplied Comfort, Sand, Grass-Gravel-Snow and Mud and Ruts settings can each be selected manually too.
Engines, 0-60 acceleration and top speed
We’ve tested the most powerful 237bhp twin-turbocharged diesel model, which manages 0-62mph in 7.7 seconds and a 140mph top speed. Performance is punchy and it barely ticks over at a motorway cruise, but we can’t help but be disappointed by the automatic gearbox, which although generally fit for purpose, can get confused when pressing on through twistier sections.
The engine’s hybrid technology (found across most of the range) cuts in as the Evoque slows to a stop, operating in place of the internal combustion engine at speeds below 11mph. It also stops any unwelcome harshness when restarting the engine.
Land Rover expects that most customers will choose a diesel engine despite the current trend towards petrol units. The entry level manual, two-wheel drive D150 Ingenium 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel gets 147bhp and a 0-62mph time of 10.5 seconds; the same engine with four-wheel drive and an automatic manages the same sprint in 11.2 seconds.
Next is a 178bhp D180 version of that engine that cuts the 0-62mph time to 9.3 seconds, while our test car’s 237bhp D240 diesel engine gains an extra turbocharger to provide additional punch.
The entry point into petrol Evoque ownership is the P200, which brings a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with 197bhp and a 0-62mph time of 8.5 seconds. The P250 ups power to 246bhp, dropping the 0-62mph sprint to 7.5 seconds, while the top-spec P300 gets hot-hatch levels of performance thanks to its 299bhp, 6.6-second 0-62mph time and 150mph top speed. All petrol models come with four-wheel drive and a nine-speed auto.
The latest Evoque is yet to be tested by Euro NCAP, but the outgoing model was awarded a maximum five-star overall rating, with 86% adult occupant and 75% child occupant scores.
All models come as standard with a rear camera, front and rear parking assistance, lane-keep assist, automatic emergency braking (AEB), a driver condition monitor and cruise control with a speed limiter.
Safety kit includes an intrusion sensor, child locks, six airbags and a deployable bonnet with pedestrian airbag. S models add traffic sign recognition with an adaptive speed limiter, SE models get a standard ‘Park Pack’ (park assist, 360-degree camera, rear traffic monitor, clear exit monitor), while HSE models add Land Rover’s Drive Pack (blind spot assist, adaptive cruise control, high-speed emergency braking).
The latest Evoque is too new to have been included in our 2018 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, but the previous model finished 42nd out of 75 cars surveyed. Land Rover itself did well, however, thanks to the rest of its more modern range, finishing 7th overall.
Warranty
The Evoque is subject to the same competitive warranty as other Land Rover products: three years with unlimited mileage. This is the same as you get with the Jaguar E-Pace or BMW X2, but beats the standard three-year/60,000-mile warranties from Audi and Lexus.
Servicing
There aren’t any firm figures for servicing costs as yet, but the outgoing Evoque was quite expensive in this regard, requiring £330 for an interim service or £440 for a full service. It’s likely that the current car should come in at around the same mark.
The Range Rover Evoque may look much like the old car to the untrained eye, but with just a few Velar-inspired tweaks a near decade-old design has been brought right up-to-date. The car has a longer wheelbase than before to try to free up some more rear passenger space, but that sloping roofline still poses an issue for taller occupants.
In the front, a good driving position is easily found – eight-way manually adjustable seats are standard on entry-level models, with S, SE and HSE cars getting 10-, 14- and 16-way electric adjustability respectively. S models get heated seats, while the SE and HSE add a memory function for multiple drivers.
Rearward visibility isn’t fantastic thanks to that narrow rear window and slim glasshouse, but the optional ClearSight rear-view mirror (£450, standard on HSE) helps solve this issue. It uses a roof-mounted camera to display an uninterrupted, widescreen view of the road behind or – at the push of a button – can be returned to a conventional mirror.
There are four generously sized storage bins, a large cubby under the centre front armrest and a useful rubberised tray on the centre console that’ll happily store a phone or wallet – cupholders are located beneath this.
Size
The Range Rover Evoque measures in at just under 1.65m tall, 4.37m long and a few milimetres over 1.9m wide - or 2.1m including mirrors. For comparison, the Volvo XC40 is a few millimetres taller and longer, but a shade narrower at 2.03m including mirrors.
The BMW X2 is lower, measuring just over 1.52m tall, but almost the exact length and width of the Evoque - 4.36m and just under 2.1m including mirrors, respectively.
Leg room, head room & passenger space
There’s enough space in the Evoque to sit one six-footer behind another, but despite a small increase in leg room over the original car, the rear-seat occupant will still feel a little hemmed-in.
Longer journeys may become uncomfortable for adults in the rear as a result; sitting three-abreast will also prove pretty cosy as the car tapers towards its rear. The sloping roofline will annoy anyone much over six feet tall. Rivals like the Volvo XC40 and Audi Q3 make a much better job of rear-seat packaging.
Boot
The Evoque’s boot is up 10 per cent in size versus the outgoing car. There’s 591 litres on offer with the seats up, but this is probably measured floor-to-ceiling; rival’s figures seem small on paper by comparison, but the difference is not as drastic in actual use. For example, BMW quotes 470 litres for the X2 and Lexus 475 litres for its NX.
Fold the seats down and there’s 1,383 litres of space to play with. The rear seats folds on a 40:20:40 split - this can be done via a handle in the boot. In true Land Rover tradition, there’s a huge selection of practicality-boosting accessories to add – seat-back stowage (£88), a rubber mat for the boot (£136), a rear bumper protection cover for loading (£179 and a modular ‘Click and Go’ system for the rear of the front seats, which costs £32 plus extra for hook, hanger, iPad/Samsung tablet mount or tray-table attachments. The usual array of luggage retention solutions are also offered.
Towing
The Evoque lives up to its badge when it comes to towing. There’s a choice of an electrically deployable tow bar for £985 or a detachable item for £700; Land Rover’s Advanced Tow Assist (which can only be had in combination with certain options) costs £360, which helps demystify the dark art of reversing a trailer using the rear view camera.
All Evoque models can tow an unbraked trailer of up to 750kg; choose an automatic gearbox and diesel engine combination and there’s up to 2000kg of braked trailer towing ability. The entry level diesel with two-wheel drive and a manual gearbox is limited to 1,600kg braked trailers. Maximum towball weight across the range is 100kg.
Regardless of which engine you go for, the Range Rover Evoque boasts good economy and emissions, which should help keep a cap on long-term running costs and company car tax contributions.
Starting with the diesels, the lowest-powered D150 has a quoted NEDC-correlated emissions figure of 143g/km, with average WLTP fuel economy of 42.1 to 44.9mpg; these figures rise to 169g/km and drop to 39.9-41.9mpg respectively if you opt for the automatic, four-wheel drive version.
The D180 sits somewhere in between, with 150g/km of CO2 and 38.4 to 41.3mpg. Opt for the D240 and you’ll still emit less CO2 than the equivalent lowest-powered automatic diesel Evoque, with 163g/km quoted. Fuel economy sits at 37.9 to 40.4mpg, however. The most powerful diesel, the D240, emits 163g/km of CO2 and returns 37.9 to 40.4mpg on average.
The petrol models emit more CO2 and return slightly worse fuel economy figures than their diesel counterparts. The lowest-powered P200 emits 176g/km of CO2, with 28.6 to 30.7mpg on average; step to the P250 and you’ll get 180g/km of CO2 with average economy figures of 28.5 to 30.4mpg.
The hot-hatch-baiting P300 is the biggest polluter of the range with 186g/km of CO2, although fuel economy remains much the same as the other petrols: 28.7 to 30.3mpg on average.
We’d plump for the D180 diesel, which seems to offer the best trade off between performance, economy and emissions. Opt for the Evoque or Evoque S with this engine and go easy on the options and you should avoid the government’s £320 annual VED surcharge in years two to six of ownership for cars over £40,000; the CO2-weighted first-year road tax payment will be £205 (usually rolled into the on-the-road price), followed by the standard £135 per year (after April 2019) for hybrid
And while Benefit in Kind percentage charge ranges from 34 to 37% in the 2018/19 tax year depending on engine, all Evoque models will be in the maximum 37% band for 2019/20.
Insurance groups
The Range Rover Evoque starts in insurance group 26 for the lowest-powered petrol and diesel models, climbing through groups 29 to 39 for the R-Dynamic D180 and HSE P300 models respectively.
By contrast, the BMW X2 starts in group 19 in basic sDrive18i SE form; the sportier sDrive20i M Sport X tops out at group 32 and the performance-orientated X2 M35i’s group 40 rating is just one spot above the sportiest Evoque. The Audi Q3 ranges from group 24 to 36 depending on spec, while the Volvo XC40 sits in groups 22 to 33.
It’s likely that the cachet of that Range Rover badge might have something to do with the Evoque’s higher rating versus its rivals.
Depreciation
Our experts predict that the latest Range Rover Evoque should hold on to around 46 to 54 per cent of its value come trade-in time after three years and 36,000 miles.
By contrast, the Audi Q3 is predicted to retain around 41 to 48 per cent of its value over the same period, with the smaller Q2 expected to hold on to as much as 53%. The Volvo XC40 is expected to retain a decent 47 to 51 per cent over the same period
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