Evoque launch and road test.
Discussion
So the family Manks headed off last night to Trent Vineyard in Nottingham, to drive the long-awaited Range Rover Evoque.
Just to reinforce the point that this was a Land Rover event, no one had remembered to send us the pre-event instructions, so we went equipped with children. Who were not invited it transpired. However, after a bit of negotiation it was decided that it would be better to let us in, rather than annoy customers at a Marketing event – it could cause a demarcation dispute; at Land Rover annoying customers is the job of After-Sales.
The waiting around was mercifully brief, but we were subjected to the marketing video and a hyperbolic speech by a senior LR man who left us in no doubt that the Evoque is as significant to the world as a cure for cancer and as eagerly awaited as the return of Jesus. Fortunately I had my shades with me, in case the unearthly glow from the vehicle damaged my eyes.
The event basically involved twenty Evoques all following the same sat nav-guided course around Nottingham, before having the opportunity to negotiate a makeshift off-road course. We were last off because we had to fit child seats, but it gave me the opportunity to watch the others set off in convoy, which was quite impressive. They are a good looking car in just about any colour.
The children liked the car immediately because we were driving the “Dynamique” and it was sporty, with square exhausts and it also had a full-length glass roof, though disappointingly it didn’t appear to open. I also suspect it will look a lot less impressive when the car is not sparkling clean.
Something I noticed immediately was that the passenger seat cannot be adjusted for elevation in the Dynamique. This isn’t being picky, for the driver to see out it’s necessary to raise the driver's seat up, leaving the passenger apparently sitting on the floor. This is probably because the car is quite high sided and the windows are a long way from the floor pan.
As the passenger I had a good opportunity to mess about with the sat nav and audio. It was all easy to use, but the voice prompts were by a deep-voiced and slightly gravelly female who sounded like she’d swear at you if you didn’t follow her directions. There seemed to be no way of changing it to something more encouraging.
The quality of the dash, I felt, was not as good as it could have been and there was something of the Dixons midi system about it. The trim was also a bit masculine, like the foil of an electric razor, but I suspect there is a more feminine option available for girls and hairdressers.
When it was my turn to drive I was immediately struck by how un-smooth the steering column adjustment was. It was like using a multi-gym trying to get the position right and once going the steering struck me as fidgety (but then I’d just climbed out of a full fat Range Rover). The other things that were immediately noticeable were the huge side mirrors, which made the car look a bit like Zoe Ball.
Actually driving the Evoque (ours was a diesel) was, frankly, unexciting and it didn’t live up to the sharp looking exterior. It was for all the world like driving a diesel Freelander.
By the time we’d reached the far waypoint, there was a stream of Evoques coming back the other way and again they looked quite impressive. It was noticeable that our car was drawing a lot of attention, mainly from men in Transit vans who probably expected to see a yummy mummy behind the wheel, and I suspect that in the future they probably won’t be wrong.
We are looking for a car to replace one of our current “fleet” and the Evoque is unlikely to be it. It struck me as a small family car, not a posh Mum’s taxi. No doubt the car will sell hugely well, probably to people who couldn’t afford a Range Rover Sport or who buy into Victoria Beckham, but my gut feeling about the car is that apart from its snazzy high-sided styling it is nothing exceptional. It left me feeling that I’d been driving a Freelander that was wearing a mini skirt, high heels and possibly a little too much fake tan.
Just to reinforce the point that this was a Land Rover event, no one had remembered to send us the pre-event instructions, so we went equipped with children. Who were not invited it transpired. However, after a bit of negotiation it was decided that it would be better to let us in, rather than annoy customers at a Marketing event – it could cause a demarcation dispute; at Land Rover annoying customers is the job of After-Sales.
The waiting around was mercifully brief, but we were subjected to the marketing video and a hyperbolic speech by a senior LR man who left us in no doubt that the Evoque is as significant to the world as a cure for cancer and as eagerly awaited as the return of Jesus. Fortunately I had my shades with me, in case the unearthly glow from the vehicle damaged my eyes.
The event basically involved twenty Evoques all following the same sat nav-guided course around Nottingham, before having the opportunity to negotiate a makeshift off-road course. We were last off because we had to fit child seats, but it gave me the opportunity to watch the others set off in convoy, which was quite impressive. They are a good looking car in just about any colour.
The children liked the car immediately because we were driving the “Dynamique” and it was sporty, with square exhausts and it also had a full-length glass roof, though disappointingly it didn’t appear to open. I also suspect it will look a lot less impressive when the car is not sparkling clean.
Something I noticed immediately was that the passenger seat cannot be adjusted for elevation in the Dynamique. This isn’t being picky, for the driver to see out it’s necessary to raise the driver's seat up, leaving the passenger apparently sitting on the floor. This is probably because the car is quite high sided and the windows are a long way from the floor pan.
As the passenger I had a good opportunity to mess about with the sat nav and audio. It was all easy to use, but the voice prompts were by a deep-voiced and slightly gravelly female who sounded like she’d swear at you if you didn’t follow her directions. There seemed to be no way of changing it to something more encouraging.
The quality of the dash, I felt, was not as good as it could have been and there was something of the Dixons midi system about it. The trim was also a bit masculine, like the foil of an electric razor, but I suspect there is a more feminine option available for girls and hairdressers.
When it was my turn to drive I was immediately struck by how un-smooth the steering column adjustment was. It was like using a multi-gym trying to get the position right and once going the steering struck me as fidgety (but then I’d just climbed out of a full fat Range Rover). The other things that were immediately noticeable were the huge side mirrors, which made the car look a bit like Zoe Ball.
Actually driving the Evoque (ours was a diesel) was, frankly, unexciting and it didn’t live up to the sharp looking exterior. It was for all the world like driving a diesel Freelander.
By the time we’d reached the far waypoint, there was a stream of Evoques coming back the other way and again they looked quite impressive. It was noticeable that our car was drawing a lot of attention, mainly from men in Transit vans who probably expected to see a yummy mummy behind the wheel, and I suspect that in the future they probably won’t be wrong.
We are looking for a car to replace one of our current “fleet” and the Evoque is unlikely to be it. It struck me as a small family car, not a posh Mum’s taxi. No doubt the car will sell hugely well, probably to people who couldn’t afford a Range Rover Sport or who buy into Victoria Beckham, but my gut feeling about the car is that apart from its snazzy high-sided styling it is nothing exceptional. It left me feeling that I’d been driving a Freelander that was wearing a mini skirt, high heels and possibly a little too much fake tan.
Interesting to see your review and the one on page 8 on this thread: http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...
It's all about perceptions and expectations and whether or not they have been met.
I'm on Manks side at the mo, going to go to the S'oton event in Sept, but i've had a good poke around one.
It is a tarted up Freelander with a Range Rover badge so LR can charge more money for it.
It does look fabulous. Good luck to all who own her (it is definitely a gurl!)
I'm on Manks side at the mo, going to go to the S'oton event in Sept, but i've had a good poke around one.
It is a tarted up Freelander with a Range Rover badge so LR can charge more money for it.
It does look fabulous. Good luck to all who own her (it is definitely a gurl!)
Triple7 said:
It's all about perceptions and expectations and whether or not they have been met.
I'm on Manks side at the mo, going to go to the S'oton event in Sept, but i've had a good poke around one.
It is a tarted up Freelander with a Range Rover badge so LR can charge more money for it.
It does look fabulous. Good luck to all who own her (it is definitely a gurl!)
I think the "Prestige" version with a petrol engine might be a different proposition. But the diesel Dynamique was all boob job, no blowjob.I'm on Manks side at the mo, going to go to the S'oton event in Sept, but i've had a good poke around one.
It is a tarted up Freelander with a Range Rover badge so LR can charge more money for it.
It does look fabulous. Good luck to all who own her (it is definitely a gurl!)
Triple7 said:
But that's £50k, which will get you a very nice 2 yr old face lifted FFRR or a new RRS which are much better cars....
Agreed. It is expensive.We will be having another look at the Mini Countryman next week. I think it will fit our requirement better, in terms of size and value.
I also wonder whether Mini will start to run some sort of promotion on them, because there must be some overlap with the Evoque.
Ranger 6 said:
What's the criteria? Evoque to Countryman suggests premium small/mid 4x4
Originally is was going to be a Mini - will do the job fine. Then the Evoque came out and we thought the additional comfort and size would be handy. However, there is too much overlap with the FFRR. If the cost were that of the Mini we might still consider it, but the additional utility we'd derive would not warrant the price.
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