Range Rover Evoque 2012 Reviews

Range Rover Evoque

Why it matters: The Land Rover LR2 has wistfully watched the growth of the small-crossover market from the sidelines. Platform: The Evoque shares some of its foundations with the Land Rover LR2. Shorter equals lighter—the three-door should sneak in under 4000 pounds, the five-door just above.

The Range Rover Evoque will be offered in both front- and four-wheel-drive versions.

At 171.9 inches long, 83.7 inches wide and 64.4 inches high, the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque is the most diminutive Range Rover ever. Cradling a four-cylinder engine with 240 horsepower between its front fenders, it is also the least powerful Range Rover. The question is not, is the Evoque a good vehicle? The question is, is it, actually, a Range Rover?

Remember that the Range Rover Evoque began life as the Land Rover LRX Concept at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show, and has now been turned into the remarkably true-to-concept Range Rover for 2012. That couldn't have been terribly difficult to do because the concept already wore the essential picnic basket of Range Rover design cues – clamshell bonnet, floating roof, wheels at the corners – and was either going to become the hottest Land Rover anyone had ever seen, or the really sporty little Range Rover it already looked like. Although it's among the nicest interiors of anything in the $44,000 segment, the Evoque naturally resets the latitude for Range Rover plush ness. The $16K separating this from a Range Rover Sport had to come from somewhere. It just took some getting used to in a vehicle labeled "Range Rover." Underneath is really where the Evoque takes its stand as a brand-new kind of Range Rover, even as the Evoque sports stalwart Range Rover features like a surround camera system; adaptive and auto-dipping headlights; a heated windshield, steering wheel and seats; and the aforementioned 825-watt Meridian stereo system and rear seat entertainment package.

The off-road capability you would expect from a Range Rover, however – even if you'll never use it – is tough to marry to the best on-road manners you'd ever get from a Range Rover. The Evoque trim range is broken into three main design themes: Pure with a black badge, Dynamic with a red badge, and Premium with a silver badge. The larger Range Rover models, even with their titanic windows, are darker, somber places. In terms of comfort, we think it might be the best back seat of any Range in the range.

That depends on what those two words, "Range Rover," mean to you. The Range Rover Evoque, by necessity, cannot be many things one might associate with a brand built on royal backs of King Range Rover and Prince Range Rover Sport. For buyers who want those particular Range Rover values that can be applied to a package that is smaller, friendlier, easier to handle and more frugal than anything Range Rover has ever done, this is where you need to look.

We'd just deplaned and couldn't pile into the awaiting Land Rovers quickly enough. Officially dubbed a 'Range Rover,' alongside the brand's top-shelf, signature model, and this 2012 Evoque is the vehicle that will carry Land Rover into a new era.

To be sold as a $46,995 five-door, or an achingly sex $52,595 three-door 'coupe,' Evoque, "isn't supposed to be an entry-level vehicle," said an obviously hopeful Gerry McGovern, Land Rover's design director and chief creative officer. "This is for somebody who wants a Range Rover, wants the qualities that are intrinsic for Range Rover, but that want it on a small scale. Performance

To give you a sense of scale, Range Rover Evoque measures two-feet shorter than a top-drawer Range Rover and weighs an astounding 2,000 lbs. less. Sound familiar? Naught to 100 takes 7.6 seconds and mid-range power's plump. Well, that's the idea behind Evoque.

Ergonomics/Comfort/Quality

Evoque's cabin is leather-lined, high-quality and refreshingly straightforward in its design (bordering on Scandinavian?). Note that unlike zee Germans, Land Rover ought not to bury simple functions way down in its computer system. Standard comfort kit includes a heated, acoustic windscreen, heated power seats, a heated steering wheel, automatic dual zone climate control, push button start and ambient lighting. The reason's simple: Says McGovern, "the customer that buys Evoque may never have been in a Range Rover, never in a Land Rover dealer or never in an SUV."

Land Rover’s engineers have done a bang-up job maximizing rear seat room despite the Evoque's svelte lines (the five-door has slightly more aft headroom than even the Range Rover Sport).

To illustrate how high Land Rover's hope is for its new Evoque, look no further than its Halewood, England factory. "We expect the Evoque to be the biggest selling Jaguar Land Rover product," said Richard Else, operations director at the plant.