Range Rover Evoque review
The Range Rover Evoque is a posh, small SUV with an upmarket interior and more off-road ability than you’ll probably ever need. Many of its desirable high-tech features cost extra, though.
- Cash
- £31,660
- Monthly
- £361*
- Used
- £30,700
What's good
What's not so good
Find out more about the Range Rover Evoque
Is the Range Rover Evoque a good car?
The Range Rover Evoque is a small, premium SUV that you should consider if you want stylish looks, a high-tech interior and the ability to traipse further off-road than the likes of the Audi Q3, BMW X2 and Volvo XC40.
In fact, this all-new model features some of the fanciest 4×4 tech of any small SUV, which is a bit like wearing all the latest gear for a Himalayas expedition for a stroll to the shops.
It doesn’t look particularly futuristic from the outside. In fact, from the side, this new model looks almost identical to the old Range Rover Evoque – even though they only share their door hinges.
From the front, it looks much more fresh-faced thanks to some hand-me-down headlights borrowed from its bigger brother – the Velar – as well as some tasty copper-coloured details in high-spec R-Dynamic guise.
Things feel very different inside, however, where you’ll find a feast of high-tech features – like those modern digital cameras that have been made to look like a retro 35mm item. All models come with at least a 10-inch screen, but higher trims come with two screens stacked on the centre console.
Go for a top-spec model and you get three infotainment displays including a digital driver’s display. You can also spec a special rear view mirror that flips from classic mirror to a screen with a rear camera feed – it works quite well once you’re used to it.
The whole system’s pretty easy to use and it can even learn where you want your seat positioned, how warm you want the cabin and whether you prefer a gentle or heavy-handed seat massage. Very impressive. Even so, alternative infotainment systems from BMW, Audi and Mercedes are a bit easier to use.
You do have to pay extra for leather seats, but you can choose to trim your Evoque’s cabin with upholstery made with a Eucalyptus-based fabric instead. It’s kinder to the environment and will doubtless score you plenty of (dairy-free) brownie points from any vegan passengers.
Even in the company of many swanky small SUVs, the Range Rover Evoque is one of the most stylish. And, it comes with some seriously impressive in-car tech, too.
Vegan or not, even your fussiest friends won’t have much to complain about in the Evoque. There’s enough space in the back for six-foot-tall adults to get comfortable and the seats themselves are nice and supportive. Things are even better in the front, where you get loads of adjustment to help you find your ideal driving position.
Unlike the old Evoque, this new car comes with five doors (instead of three) as standard so it’s dead easy to fit a child seat in the back. Loading the boot won’t present any problems either – the new Evoque’s boot is around 10% bigger than the old car’s and much larger than the BMW X2’s so there’s plenty of space for a few suitcases or a few generously proportioned dogs.
If you fancy taking your four-legged friends for a countryside excursion, the Range Rover Evoque is more than up to the job – providing you avoid the entry-level diesel and petrol models with front-wheel drive.
The rest of the range comes with a smooth automatic gearbox, grippy four-wheel drive and your choice of petrol mild-hybrid, diesel mild-hybrid or petrol plug-in hybrid power, producing as much as 309hp. Despite all this hybrid-ness, generally speaking, you’ll find the Evoque’s alternatives use less fuel.
You get a host of off-road driving aids to help make sure you don’t get stuck too, including Land Rover’s Terrain Response 2 system. This makes setting the car up for a variety of off-road conditions easy and you can even wade through water up to 60cm deep – just the thing when you’re faced with a flash flood on the school run. It’s just a shame that some of these headline new systems aren’t included, and aren’t cheap to add.
If pottering around town sounds more like your thing, you can get the Range Rover Evoque with a clever camera system which helps you avoid scraping its lovely alloy wheels on tall kerbs or narrow width restrictors.
All this means the Range Rover Evoque is just as happy nipping to the shops as it is clawing its way up rocky farm tracks. So, if it’s a small SUV with a posh cabin, plenty of off-road ability and an impressive amount of tech you’re after, this could be the car for you.
Common Range Rover Evoque questions
Who makes the Range Rover Evoque?
The Range Rover Evoque is built by Land Rover at the firm’s Halewood factory in Liverpool. This facility also produces the Land Rover Discovery Sport SUV.
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How practical is it?
The new Range Rover Evoque is much more spacious than the rather cramped model it replaces, but alternatives still have bigger, more practical boots
The Range Rover Evoque’s raised suspension means it’s easy to climb into and its relatively tall roof means there’s absolutely loads of headroom in the front. You get eight-way adjustable front seats as standard too, and the steering wheel comes with reach and height adjustment to help you find a comfortable seating position. Pay extra for an S model and you get 10-way electrically adjustable seats, too.
The old Range Rover Evoque felt pretty cramped in the back, but this new model has enough knee and headroom for six-foot-tall passengers to stretch out. There isn’t a great deal of room for them to put their feet under the front seats, though, and you can’t adjust the angle of the back seats like you can in the BMW X1 and Audi Q3.
The seats themselves don’t have a great deal of upper-leg support either, which will prove slightly uncomfortable for tall passengers on long journeys. At least the optional panoramic glass roof doesn’t eat into their headroom.
There’s just about enough shoulder room to carry three adult passengers in the back at once, but those in the outer seats will find the shape of the seat backs forces them to sit at a slightly odd angle. The central seat is raised above the outer two, but not to the extent that your middle passenger will have much to complain about.
There’s more than enough space to carry three kids comfortably, though. And, the standard Isofix anchor points for fitting a child seat are easy to access behind removable plastic covers. The back doors don’t open particularly wide but there’s still just enough room to lift in a bulky rear-facing child seat.
The Range Rover Evoque has 475 litres of boot space which is more than you get in a Volvo XC40 but less than you’ll find in the Audi Q3 and BMW X1. There’s still enough room to carry a few suitcases and a baby buggy and the boot itself is wide and square so it’s easy to pack with bulky items.
There’s no annoying boot lip to lift heavy luggage over and you get just enough space under the boot floor to hide a soft bag or two hidden out of sight. Unlike in the Audi Q3, there’s nowhere to store the parcel shelf if you need to remove it.
You can’t slide the back seats forward like in the Audi, either, but you can fold the back seats down in a three-way (40:20:40) split as standard in every Evoque. You’ll need to raise the headrests slightly to fold them all the way down, but even then they don’t sit completely flat. As a result, it’s a little tricky to push heavy items right up behind the front seats.
With all the Evoque’s back seats folded, its boot grows to 1,156 litres – that’s significantly less than you get in the Volvo XC40 and miles behind the roomier load bays in the Audi Q3 and BMW X1.
Having said that, there’s still space to carry a bike with its wheels attached and you get plenty of tether points and shopping hooks to stop your luggage rolling around on the move. There’s also a 12V socket in the boot – perfect if you need to plug in a portable vacuum cleaner and give it a bit of a spring clean.
Many hybrid SUVs see the boot size shrink as batteries get crammed under the floor. But Land Rover has cleverly engineered the Evoque so the boot of the P300e plug-in is exactly the same size. Top marks.
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What's it like to drive?
The Range Rover Evoque is as fun to drive on the road as it is capable when you head towards the rough stuff.
What's it like inside?
The Range Rover Evoque’s interior looks super smart, but it doesn’t feel quite as well built as alternatives and its fancy infotainment isn’t particularly user-friendly
Land Rover Range Rover Evoque colours
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Solid - Fuji white
- Free
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Metallic - Eiger grey
- From £705
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Metallic - Firenze red
- From £705
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Metallic - Lantau bronze
- From £705
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Metallic - Nolita grey
- From £705
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Metallic - Ostuni pearl white
- From £705
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Metallic - Portofino blue
- From £705
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Metallic - Santorini black
- From £705
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Metallic - Seoul pearl silver
- From £705
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Premium metallic - Carpathian grey
- From £970
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Premium metallic - Silicon silver
- From £970
- Cash
- £31,660
- Monthly
- £361*
- Used
- £30,700
Build your own Range Rover Evoque on carwow
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*Please contact the dealer for a personalised quote, including terms and conditions. Quote is subject to dealer requirements, including status and availability. Illustrations are based on personal contract hire, 9 month upfront fee, 48 month term and 8000 miles annually, VAT included.