Vehicle: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Coupe Dynamic with 20″ wheels, Black Panoramic roof, Ebony headliner,Adaptive Dynamic, Blind Spot Monitoring, rear seat entertainment, satelite radio and 4-seater Pkg
Price as tested: CDN$70075
Performance: Beneath Evoque’s sleek hood lies Land Rover’s 2.0 liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder turbocharged engine; which comes along with direct fuel injection, variable valve timing and electronic throttle as hosts. With 240 ponies and, more importantly, 340 lb/ft of torque. Its able to move Evoque quite efficiently if not remarkably quick off-the-line with its 3680 lb of British gentleman like of luxury. Along comes with a refined 4-cylinder turbocharged engine, which doesn’t have any of those annoying turbo lag. Its quite free-revving in both middle and upper rev ranges for Land Rover standard. By LR standard means its mostly for low-end torque for off-road capability. You won’t be mistaken an Evoque is from the same automotive giant called Tata, as it shares the same annoying pop-up shifter as in Jaguar. While it looks like a neat idea, it will be a P.I.T.A when there are any electronic problems occurred in the Evoque. Given LR’s gluesome quality history, its bound the happen pretty soon. However, the 6-speed gearbox has worked decently well with this powertrain.
Handling: Unlike any LR or RR came back, Evoque is purely an on-roader rather than a true off-roader. Put the Evoque into “Dynamic” mode, its quite a capable crossover to begin with. The MagneRide adaptive damping is able to adjust the suspension by controlling both body rolls and pitch. Which, in turn, is able to dial out 99% of body rolls when pushed the Evoque through twisties. For a crossover, Evoque’s corners are as sharp and flat as anyone can imagine. Along with the sophiscated AWD system, which works exceptionally well with its dynamic stability control, its also provide exceptional active safety to both driver and its occupants. The steering is sharp and precise, without any of those annoying traits one used to be with off-road oriented LR. This on-road oriented Evoque provides nice steering feel and feedback, which is a rarity in LR products. The result is a crossover which is pretty much fun around a twisties as on the open road. However, its ride quality isn’t exactly class-leading. As it rides firmly without absorbing all the bumps and roughness with ease. You pretty much feel all the expansion joints given the harshness through suspension damping.
Brakes: With 4-wheel discs and standard ABS, Evoque’s braking performance is as good as it can get. The stopping distance is short, while pedal feels solid and easily modulated. It doesn’t have the numbness and spongeness of LR’s usual pedal travel. ABS has acted more on par with anything on-road oriented instead of off-road oriented, which is what Evoque is all about.
Interior: If you are expecting Range Rover kind of space inside an Evoque, you are pretty much done. Evoque is all about form-over-function. The lack of proper headroom on all positions. If you thought the backseat is cramped in 4-door Evoque, our Coupe is even worse. The luggage space is at a premium, even if it claims to have 550 liters. When both of the seats fold down, there aren’t going completely flat. Instead, it left as a bit of a slope for a box to floating around in an unsafe manner.
However, the use of quality plastic and leather materials in the cabin in world-class. We haven’t found any panel misfitting or dash rattles as in most LR we have tested before. The leather seats are formed with top-notch materials, which provide wonderful back, side and thigh supports. There are plenty of ergonomic quirks right from the annoying shifter to auto climate control, which needs time to get used to.
So let all those ergonomic quirks continue with both of the starks. There are way too many functions going on both of the starks, which control everything from turn signals, headlight operation to right side’s washer/wiper with busy graphics.
Conclusion: Land Rover claims Evoque is all about emotions. Judging by the loaded price and its compromises, you pretty much have lots of emotions for shelling out 70 large grand for a cramped 2-door crossover with 240hp “only”. All those emotions, however, have generated from the sleek styling to the cachet of owing the smallest of the Range Rover portfolio. If you have such emotions with lots of disposable income, while appreciate the best on-road driving LR ever. The Evoque is a car for you.
4-door competitions
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Acura RDX
BMW X1
Lexus RX350
Infiniti EX35
Mini Countryman Cooper S
Coupe competition: None
OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Coupe
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Performance: 4/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 4.5/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 4/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 4.5/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 3/5
Value-for-money: 2/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5