Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Range Rover Evoque

SWMBO is away right now picking up an Evoque from the dealer 'for the weekend' obviously with a view to purchase. I've not been keen so far but looking forward to driving it, any experience out there?

My wife has one. It's a good car overall. The 9 speed auto takes a bit of getting used to - the throttle is rather sensitive and a small prob means it drops several gears gives you lots of rpm. This doesnt always make for smooth progress.

The high trims have excellent cabin materials and a great stereo. The infotainment can be buggy however.

On the road the car is quite wide - tricky to park sometimes too. The short length is good though.

Hope you have fun with it this weekend.

Make sure you get the rear camera and parking sensors.
I think the same about the gearbox. When approaching a junction slowly, it changes down to presumably bottom gear, so that you're right on the cam when you touch the throttle, and it's away like a scalded rabbit. Quite uncomfortable.also the brakes are very sharp until you get used to them. On a short journey my foot is tired from trying to press ever so gently on the pedal. I get used to it on longer journeys. In a 40-50 mph traffic queue there is no engine braking, and I don't like having to keep going to the brake, meaning a jolt, and then reverting to the throttle, another jolt. Much better to avoid tailgating, or stay on motorways where it'll shoot up to 95 before you know it.
The auto-stop is very good, not like the Tiguan. Instead of just changing down when approaching a junction, the Tiguan would assume you were stopping and switch the engine off when halfway out of a turning. I had a few dodgy moments. The Tiguan is much better on load carrying.
I really appreciate the lack of wind noise and good sound system. I like the satnav but it has a slow response to the touch screen which makes it clumsy.
The back seat doesn't fold flat, meaning that long loads have to 'bridge' the angle. However, I can get two trolleys and two sets of clubs in with a bit of planning.
Generally speaking, we both love the car.

I owned one for 18 months when they first came out.
Possibly the worst buying decision I made.

As has been said, the interplay between engine and transmission was not good and the "infotainment" system was a generation behind the curve.
The cabin ergonomics were, shall we say "Characterful" and I hated the silly rise and fall transmission selection dial.

But all that faded into insignificance because it was chronically unreliable: I cam close to having to leave it at the JLR Workshop in Dublin when it descended into limp mode. They took it in, returned it "cured" but were honest enough to say they had absolutely no idea what the problem was. I discovered later, much later, it was moisture in the engine electronics.

Perhaps I was unfortunate, but I concluded that I'd never have another JLR product.

You do Peter, Tarka's door locks are from a landy

My mate Andrew recently bought an Evoque because he was getting fed up of his mates taking the Mickey out of his Datsun (Nissan Qashqai).

They now all call him Andrea, because he drives a girl's car.

I have a supercharged V8 Range Rover - but drove an Evoque for a day recently. I really didn't like it, it felt very underpowered and not very connected to the road. What engine are you going for?

Only messing with you, but this really made me

Ha! Yes, re-reading that my comment does look rather silly!

I was obviously not expecting the Evoque to drive like my RR, I also have a Skoda Yeti, and it felt gutless in comparison to the Skoda.