Tuesday 18th February 2014

Evoque chases GLA45 and Macan

Smallest Range Rover cops heat from Porsche and Mercedes, answers back with ... oh

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No surprise that the flurry of new tarmac-shredding smaller SUVs such as the new Porsche Macan and Mercedes' GLA45 AMG has prompted Land Rover to soup up its big-selling Evoque. From autumn this year, the three- and five-door models of the Liverpool-built, Cheshire-driven baby Range Rover will be available with a new 285hp version of the current top-spec model's 240hp 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine.

Looks hot, sadly 75hp down on GLA45 though

The new car, expected to cost around £50,000, takes a name long associated with its bigger brethren and will be called the Autobiography Dynamic. Autocar reckons that Land Rover had planned to do an even hotter RS version, but canned it in favour of this luxo-sports cross-breed.

If you follow this rarefied market at all, you'll know that the new Macan blazes all before it with its Turbo making 400hp from a 3.6 V6 twin-turbo, while the lower-powered S still makes 340hp from a 3.0 V6 turbo. That's a problem for the Evoque in that the Macan S will cost much less at £43,400.

Meanwhile the Mercedes AMG GLA45 (which Matt is out driving right now) has a 2.0-litre turbo like the Evoque but makes 360hp for an expected price of around £40,000.

Fastest Evoque yet but is it fast enough?

That might not matter if you look at the rest of this Autobiography package. It'll still hit 60mph in less than seven seconds, plenty for a car this size, and comes with leather seats with the usual Land Rover eye for quality in this area. We're promised that ride comfort isn't diminished despite the firmer spring rates and tweaks to the suspension geometry and active dampers. There's the brake-pinching version of torque vectoring to help it round bends, the new nine-speed auto gearbox for shifting smoothness and a standard fitment of the trick active driveline that stops the driveshaft to the rears from spinning when not needed but engages "seamlessly" in the muck, according to Land Rover.

At the same time the whole Evoque range will come equipped with a dash-screen technology that's becoming increasing common on new cars to 'mirror' certain car-specific apps from your smartphone onto the touchscreen in front of you.

Spot the new Autobiography from its 20-inch wheels, 'ingot' badging, and subtle tweaks to the grille design (advanced Evoque knowledge needed here).

[Sources: Autocar]

[Amirhussain]

Thats one ugly looking car .

[epom]

That is one handsome looking car !! Colour aside.

[tyrrell]

Looks fantastic will go like the clappers to

[Alfa159Ti]

Best looking SUV bar none.

[David87]

Awesome. Prefer the 5-door, though.

[EDLT]

If they are going for luxury instead of performance what is the point of the stiff springs? Might as well save money and buy the porsche.

[tr7v8]

Amirhussain said:

Thats one ugly looking car .

Agreed & it hasn't grown on me at all!

[edo]

6 Cyl, more powerful Macan cheaper than 4 cyl Evoke? No brainer to me.

[hornetrider]

edo said:

6 Cyl, more powerful Macan cheaper than 4 cyl Evoke? No brainer to me.

And me. Surely the Macan will decimate the Evoque to all but die hard JLR fans?

[LuS1fer]

I think this has better styling and more punch outside the school. While the Macan has a Porsche badge, mummies won't spot that and will see it as another SUV.

I'd buy the Macan, doubtless, but I'm not "the market" and most buyers won't care that the Porsche is better, they'll want the RR.

Edited by LuS1fer on Tuesday 18th February 12:06

[peter450]

Yes was thinking the above myself, this is a very nice looking car, but if the Porsche is going to cost 43k with a 340hp V6, then really this should be at most 40k with a 280hp inline 4

[Baryonyx]

What a foul turd of a creation.

[Henry Fiddleton]

"But its not a real Porsche"

Yup, spend more and get something worse.

Followed by

"Buy a Q5"

Which will no doubt be dynamically worse.

Anyway..

[JuanGandini]

£50k?!! What's the appeal in spending that much money on a car that can go off road a bit (but never will), is not particularly quick compared to many much cheaper hot hatches and is much smaller inside than your average saloon or estate?

They'll all pootle around affluent areas of town which seems pointless for that level of asking price. I get that they are aiming to appear like a premium product to appeal to the Chinese, Russian and Brazilian markets but why do people want these types of car in the UK where our roads are more suited to hatchback/saloon/estate formats which are also much better value?!

[tyrrell]

I like the Porsche as well, go spec one and see if its still £43k more like £52k ish with some spec.

[Quickmoose]

An absolute aesthetic triumph.
From concept to reality it concentrates the RR look adds some attitude and captures the zeitgeist perfectly.

It might well be imnpossible to see out of...I'm not even sure it's practical, comfy or any good (I haven't driven one) but to look at..
Nail
Head.

[chrisw666]

article said:

If you follow this rarefied market at all, you'll know that the new Macan blazes all before it with its Turbo making 400hp from a 3.6 V6 twin-turbo, while the lower-powered S still makes 340hp from the same engine. That's a problem for the Evoque in that the Macan S will cost much less at £43,400.

Where if you actually followed the news on new cars you're writing about you'd know that the S has a 3.0 engine.

[Passeyfier]

I can understand why LR/RR are keen to release a rival to the offerings from MB and Porsche, but at that price it's going to struggle unless it has a LOT of equipment standard. We all know what the Germans are like with their options.

[cathalm]

I have the current SI4 240bhp Evoque in 5 door as our "normal" car. It really is an excellent car and does everything I need it to do. It's no surprise to me that there is a faster version at this point but this is clearly a stop gap car. Considering that the new engine plant in Wolverhampton is now open and will soon be producing the new "hotfire" engines and all Freelanders and Evoques will get these, it seems obvious to me.

If I was buying now I suppose I would get this one and be happy with the extra poke but I wouldn't be considering it as an equivalent to the Macan (and the GLA 45 is not exactly in the ball park). I wouldn't be looking for a big thirsty 6 cyclinder in a car of this type or pretending its a sports car. Nice to have a reasonable amount of oomph though. In all likelihood there will be the aforementioned RS version with the new engines later on but I wouldn't look at that either.

The Macan does seems competitively priced but then so is a Cayenne versus a Range Rover, different qualities and different customer priorities. I suppose the Macan with 400bhp would suit the buyer who has one car, needs something practical and SUV like but wants a sports car too, it will sell a lot I'm sure. For me, I have a Lotus for that, the Rangey moves me, Mrs and dog around squishy luxury and quality, handles well for e tall lump and goes entirely well enough for something like this.

[margerison]

Another over-priced Land Rover? What a surprise!