2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque
Coupe
“A four-cylinder? It's
fuel-efficient? How much power? Nice!”
That's the sort of reaction we found
from several middle-age suburbanites who momentarily interrupted their
community-center fitness group to ask us some questions about the new 2012
Range Rover Evoque—all the while, gushing about the design. And it's a scenario
that repeated at least another couple of times on our way from Vancouver
earlier this week to take some rugged trails up near Whistler, British
Columbia.
And it underscores a key point
regarding the stylish new Land Rover Evoque: Increasingly, shoppers liked what
they saw in Range Rover models, but they wanted a more manageable vehicle with
better gas mileage.
While at first the idea of a
better-handling, more smartly sized model for the city might seem like a
stretch for Land Rover, it all makes perfect sense as soon as you see it up
close and sit inside. The Range Rover Evoque is poised to broaden Land Rover’s
appeal more than any other product in the brand’s history.
Warm, colorful, engaging
The coupe -like styling of the
Evoque is right on the mark in every respect; and inside, it's sporty, warm,
and inviting, with interior materials that manage to feel anything but cold and
Teutonic. The soft padded dash, earthy (Prestige models) or colorful (Dynamic
models), and contrasting trims—plus the laid-back, cockpit-style layout, set
low, all add up to a look and feel that's more luxury coupe than off-roader. In
all, Land Rover boasts a total of 12 Designer interiors, 12 colors, three
contrasting roof colors, and five alloy wheel designs.
On the
road, we were able to confirm many of the observations made by our editorial
director Marty Padgett in his First drive of the Evoque this past summer: The
240-horsepower, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine has impressive
torque down low, but there can sometimes be a slight delay for power to be
delivered (turbo lag) when you ask for some serious oomph. The vast majority of
the time, the excellent six-speed automatic transmission deals with that well,
with nice, prompt downshifts (and even a throttle blip in Sport mode), plus
steering-wheel paddle-shifters. Likewise, body control is superb for a vehicle
that does claim some level of off-road ability, with a nice, level cornering
attitude and a more carlike feel in general—plus precise, quick-ratio electric
power steering that loads and unloads nicely.
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