THERE are many reasons why I dislike a lot of the cars I come across on the road.
I’m a bit of a pain in truth. I always place key details such as steering feel, a well-sorted chassis and handling over aspects ‘normal’ people would insist on: comfort, practicality and prestige.
The latter is a particular part of why Range Rover Evoques are so popular - there’s rarely a journey that goes by without seeing someone driving theirs - because it’s seen as something that’s universally popular to anyone who just wants to be seen in something nice.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m a little different - I don’t mind what badge is on its bonnet. I’m not bothered if a car has bone-shaking ride quality or a shoddy interior, as long as it’s good to drive and reveals a fun-loving personality it’s a winner in my book.
Cutting my teeth by owning cars like the Peugeot 106 Rallye and Renaultsport Clio 182 Trophy in my youth - all nonsense-free, simplistic driving machines - has left me very much set in my traditional ways.
So the Evoque, which costs a smidge over £40,000 without options, is something I shouldn’t really get along with. It’s a clash, because its whole purpose is to be comfortable, easy to drive and a thing to be seen in.
It may sound terribly ungrateful of me, but I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when it was dropped off a week ago, although I put my opinions to one side in order to view the car in a different, non-car enthusiast way.
I’m glad I did because against all odds, I actually got on with it. It may appear to have sporty styling cues - such as its bonnet vents and aggressive bumpers - but don’t let them fool you as it’s about as sporty as my arthritic nan, and she needs a knee replacement.
In Land Rover’s lovely Moraine Blue paint, its metallic fleck sparkles in the sun and is a great partner for the 19-inch split-spoke anthracite alloy wheels. Evoques tend to appear as wide as a ‘proper’ Range Rover when you’re following them, albeit with a much reduced height, but I reckon its more squat dimensions look great.
Inside, it’s as you’d expect - light, airy, spacious and opulent. There’s Jaguar-sourced switchgear, which is no bad thing, and an easy-to-use eight-inch touchscreen which controls the satellite navigation and media. Strangely there’s also a throwback to the past - a lesser-spotted CD player - something I thought had been culled by every manufacturer.
It feels lofty when you’re in its driver’s seat, but the electronic seats can be altered what seems like a hundred different ways so you can get into a good position behind the wheel.
However, the thing that stands out is its space. The panoramic roof helps create a more airy feeling, but even when the sun protector is in position along the roof’s length you can help but be impressed by how much room there is. Rear legroom is more than anyone could need and the 420-litre boot swallows a baby’s pushchair and the masses of gubbins a small person somehow needs.
So far, so good - but what’s it like to drive? I’ve been putting it off for too long, haven’t I?
Manual gearboxes are something I’d generally always opt for and, although one is available on the Evoque, you’d be barmy to not go for the nine-speed automatic. That’s not a typo, by the way, it really does have nine forward gears. A tad excessive perhaps, but it’s something that works extremely well and suits the Evoque’s laid-back character.
Our car has a 2.0-litre diesel engine which produces 190bhp - more than enough, given it has a chunk of accessible torque extremely low down in the rev range. It’s a big car, the Evoque, but this version has a good mix of performance and fuel economy, averaging around 40mpg on a motorway run.
I wasn’t expecting bags of feedback from its steering and I was right - it’s not a communicative rack but it has a decent weight and is probably as good as it can be for a car of the Evoque’s type.
One surprising aspect is its handling. For such a tall vehicle, there’s little in the way of roll when you’re driving round a corner and, because it has four-wheel-drive, it has bags of grip.
But country lanes and B-road blasts aren’t what the Evoque is about. Get it on the motorway and it’s hard not to be impressed by how it goes about its job. It’s comfortable, the damping is just right and the impressive gearbox always seems to shift up and down when you want it to.
You can take control away from it by selecting to use its steering wheel-mounted paddleshifts, but there’s little point in doing so as it’s great when left to its own devices in automatic mode.
Spending a week with an Evoque changed my perceptions on what they’re all about. Sure, it doesn’t set the world alight, but there’s more to it than style.
There’s substance to it and it’s a fantastic daily driver with space, comfort and luxury for the family.
