Despite its ubiquity on UK roads, it’s easy to forget that Land Rover has been selling the Evoque for well over a decade now. Perhaps that’s because it looked strikingly good and innovative when it first appeared, and, despite only fairly minimal changes, has somehow moved with the times ever since. Or perhaps the times have simply moved with it, as the wider industry initially scrabbled to replicate the concept of a sharp-suited, cleverly packaged compact SUV. Either way, in Britain, they’re as numerous as seagulls on a landfill.
Recognising a winning hand when it sees one, Land Rover has been inclined to update the Evoque thoughtfully rather than wholeheartedly. This trend continues with the MY24 car, which looks rather like the Evoque that emerged from the last refresh in 2019, but has in fact been tweaked very slightly (again) to make it seem appropriately chiselled in 2023. Specifically, that means Pixel LED headlights and a new grille. And an even wider choice of accents and colours. Small beer. Yet somehow the Evoque still looks cohesive in a way that often escapes its imitators.
Inside, the alterations become more significant. Not proportionally, of course - this is the same four-adults-at-a-squeeze prospect that it’s always been - but certainly technologically. You now get a larger 11.4-inch curved glass display where previously there were two touchscreens, the lower one dealing with climate controls exclusively. Somewhat inevitably, the modification is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, the new screen (powered by the latest Pivo Pro system) is streets ahead of its predecessor; on the other, we rather liked dedicated HVAC display, and the brace of proper temperature dials that came with it.
So while we can all be thankful that the Evoque finally has the rapier-fast infotainment interface it deserves, there’s no denying you’re forced to interface with it more than you’d ideally like. It’s hard to imagine any repeat customer applauding Land Rover for taking a physical volume knob away. Granted, the removal of the lower touchscreen has liberated an additional cubby hole in the dash - always welcome in a family wagon, especially if there’s a wireless charger there - yet it’s possible the manufacturer has let a preference for ‘reductive’ design run away with some of the previous model’s functionality.
Perhaps fewer owners will mourn the old joystick-style gear lever, but as a paid-up member of the manual shift fan club, its departure is also a low-level gripe. The replacement is a clone of the chunkier selector found in proper Range Rovers, and is no fun at all. Moreover, Land Rover’s frantic tidying has left it looking rather lonely on the centre console; in the Evoque’s full-sized siblings, it is flanked by other physical switchgear, like a push-to-use Terrain Response mode chooser. And, oh yes - a volume control.
Still, you get used to it. And once you do, you’ll find the Evoque a comparatively nice place to be. The fundamental architecture has hardly changed, and away from the transmission tunnel, its preoccupation with clean surfaces and horizontal lines continues to serve it well. As does the care and attention Land Rover puts into (most) of its trim material choices. The introduction of something called Kvadrat, a wool blend fabric offered as an alternative to leather, is a reminder that buyers take such things seriously. The Evoque, as ever, is meant to feel like a cut above the crossover hoi polloi - and does.
For the most part, it manages to transfer that sense of superiority to the way it drives. The choice of engines is carried over, which means it goes from a lowly front-drive 163hp four-cylinder diesel (that can still be had with a manual, incredibly) all the way to the spangly 309hp P300e that we drove. The plug-in hybrid conforms to type: when its 14.9kWh battery has some charge in it, the flagship Evoque whisks you around in a way that makes its claimed 6.4-second-to-62mph time seem halfway believable. When it’s drained, the 1.5-litre three-pot is inevitably a bit more stressed. And sounds it.
Nevertheless, the adaptive chassis continues to straddle the line between SUV assuredness and hatchback-like positivity in a manner that belies both its age and your modest expectations of it. The secret to its success is still the shrewd way its control surfaces hang together, and Land Rover’s knack for judging what the roll rate should feel like. The effect is as subtle as a Freemason’s handshake, in that it presents most of the time as benign ease of use, but push a bit harder on a fast B road and there’s just enough dynamic willingness plumbed in to push tidily back.
It’s a finite amount of handling savvy, to be sure (easily exhaustible if you start really going at it) but it isn’t hard to see why people like it - or how it convinces them that the Evoque lives up to the Range Rover bit of its name. And while the MY24 car isn’t necessarily a home run in the way the last major update was, there’s little reason to think that it won’t continue as the nation’s go-to upmarket compact SUV. Not least because while its rivals have proliferated, none has persuasively recreated the myriad threads that make Land Rover’s smallest model genuinely appealing. Which, upon reflection, might be the most enduringly Range Rover thing about it.
SPECIFICATION | 2024 RANGE ROVER EVOQUE P300e
Engine: 1,498cc, three-cyl turbo plus electric motor and integrated belt driven starter
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 309@5,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 398@2,000-2,500rpm
0-62mph: 6.4 seconds
Top speed: 132mph
Weight: 2,082kg (DIN)
MPG: 203.2 (WLTP, with 39 miles electric range)
CO2: 34g/km (WLTP)
Price: from £49,000
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