Land Rover Range Rover Evoque

Land Rover Range Rover Evoque

Highly Recommended. This is the most important Range Rover since the 1970 original, and it really is as good as it looks.

The Evoque is the car intended to take Land Rover into the big league. The original Range Rover is firmly established as one of the most successful luxury cars in the world (which just happens to go off-road), and now the Evoque is meant to become the most desirable car in the £30 - £40K segment. Like its parent, it can also go off-road, but that is not its key attribute.

We have been looking at static Evoques for over a year now, and it is just as stunning as the first day we saw it. The three-door looks like a pure motorshow concept car, and the five-door is remarkably close to achieving the same standard. The big news though, is that its dynamics live up to its looks.

The first impression around town is that it feels like a Range Rover: smooth, quiet and with a very rigid bodyshell when it hits a big bump. So far that is what you would hope for: a Range Rover that has been shrunk in the wash. However, the revelation comes when you take it on a fast A-road, where it doesn't feel like a Range Rover at all.

It is agile and light on its feet: the chassis feels much more Jaguar than Land Rover. It is probable that, for example, an Audi A5 would cover the ground very slightly faster with its lower centre of gravity. The important thing, though, is that the Evoque driver would be having more fun behind the wheel: the Range Rover is more responsive in its handling and its damping is better.

It is arguable, of course, that the Evoque is no more practical than something like an A5. Interior accommodation is good enough: tall adults can fit in the back comfortably enough in a car that is, after all, no longer than a Ford Focus, and the boot is adequate. Getting into the rear of the three-door version is a struggle, though.

However, that would be to miss the point. No-one is going to decide to buy an Evoque by looking at a table of interior dimensions. They are going to enter the showroom because they think it looks cooler than anything else with four seats at the same price. At that point they will be delighted to discover it drives every bit as well as they would have hoped for, and the four-wheel-drive version actually has all the off-road ability that Land Rover has always stood for. The off-road prowess might be only of academic interest, but it does mean the Evoque is no fraud. Having tested the Evoque on steep gravel tracks, ruts, and water deep enough to cover the headlights, we can confirm its off-road ability is superior to any direct rival.