Disappointed with test drive

Hi Evoquers,
Yesterday I excitedly took out a Evoque for a 40 minute test drive. I really wanted to like this car but I must confess I left with real disappointment.

Now that I am in my 40's, I have started looking at cars from a different angle. My priorities have changed from small, fast and nibble to commanding, comfort and quality. Therefore, for some time now I have been looking at the Evoque because of its high position, good looks and "quality" price point. I am not the kind of person who takes many test drives... in fact I very rarely ask for a test drive unless I am already quite smitten with a car. I should also say, if I had a Evoque the 4 wheel drive / off road capability would be wasted on me.

Before I start, I want to make clear that there are MANY things that I really like about the Evoque. However, below I am going to talk about the issues I really didn't like, which may sound like I am having a go. However, I just wanted to make these points to see what the Evoque feel, to see if they are genuine points or am I just being overly picky?

Dashboard

My first reaction when sat in the driving seat was one of a disappointment looking at the dials. Yes the LCD section looked good, but the speedo and the rev counter not only looked cheap but I found hard to clearly read. In fact the speedo looks a bit "bling" for my liking. It seemed a million miles away form a simple, quality , easy to read speedo you get in a German car. At this price point the dials should ooze BMW not Renault?

Moving onto the center console (which was generally much better) again I was disappointed with the Sat Nav system. I have a 6 year old Honda civic and the built in Satnav in that is very similar (white background with just road lines on it). The only real difference is the Honda is 2D, where as the Evoque is the most unimpressive 3D system I have ever seen! Again, compare it to a BMW satnav, the graphics just blow the Evoque away!
BTW, I should also mention that I was impressed with the reverse camera system.

Then you get the Automatic gear knob (that pops up and down as you turn the car on and off)... and the multi-colour mood lighting. I have no Idea how much these unnecessary things cost.... but why add them at all? Surely spend the money instead on the fixing items I mentioned above????

Driving

I had only moved 50 feet in the car before I knew that I had issues. As I drove out of the showroom and gave it some revs, the noise from the revving diesel engine was near identical to Nissan Juke I had used recently (hire car). This is a car that is half the price point of the Evoque. Yes, I understand diesels are noisy but again at this price point I was expecting more isolation.

Then we get onto the Auto gearbox (which I know is hopefully addressed in the new 9 speed, so i won't go on too much). Yeah it has failings (which I found quite quickly). However, I found most failings can be easily overridden once you get into the habit of using the gear paddles to override the gears in certain circumstances (which you shouldn't have to do, but there you go). However, again I was pretty shocked at the quality of gear paddles. Maybe I was a bit heavy handed but I could feel the paddles bending and flexing as I used them. I have seen better quality paddles on a game console steering wheel. Again, not the quality I expect of the price point.

Finally I wasn't overall impressed with road noise and the quality of ride. Yes, it was by no means bad but I was able to compare immediately on the same roads with my 07 Honda Civic. Yes, the Evoque was better in both... but only slightly. Remember the civic was only a £17k car new (and is now 6 years old!) Again, I was expecting more at the price point. Maybe it was a little unfair to compare a road car with a car with full off road capability, so I also tried the "Range Rover waft" over a speed bump (one of those little rubber bastards)... again as the Evoque bounced quite harshly over the bump the Evoque left me disappointed. So disappointed that I had a look around to see if there was a "soft" suspension setting? I didn't find one if there is?
BTW, the one item I was impressed with was the handling. I expected to handle like a boat. It didn't, it took corners sharper than I thought possible!

In the end I came away really disappointed. I really, really wanted to like this car. However I just didn't think it was up to the standard I expect for a £35k + car (maybe £25k). I do intend to go back to try the 9 speed (when available) in the hope that some of the fixes will out weigh the failings... but for now I am really gutted that these issues are currently too much of an issue for me.

I really look forward to owners opinions on the matters I raised and hope no-one takes offense at my (perhaps over) critical issues. Am I expecting too much for this price point?

I think if you want it to feel like a BMW then you should buy a BMW. Sorry

Land Rover have been heavily criticised for there apparent lack of quality when compared to the Germans, the Evoque was never intended to be bland, boring and German.

There are some downfalls the TD4/SD4 engine are becoming dated which should be addressed when the new hot fire engines become available around 2015. I think you have to compare the Evoque to the Fl2 to notice the finer qualities rather than a Range Rover and notice its inadequacies.

The rising 'handshake' gear selector is standard as with the mood lighting, doesn't really add much in terms of driver enjoyment but nice features none the less.

I sold my Evoque as I needed a bit more space and it wasn't until I went back to the Fl2 that I appreciated the qualities of the Evoque and realised perhaps I could have worked around its shortcomings.

There maybe a J77 Evoque Mk2 on the horizon.

I agree with J77

What bmw are you comparing the evoque with? I presume it is the X3. Without a doubt the evoques touchscreen has a lot to learn from the Germans however I disagree with your other comments as I also drive a current model bmw 7 series. At half the price of my 7, I also cut half of my expectations with the evoque.

Thanks for the responses. I think in part, you miss understood what I was saying.

I wasn't trying to compare the Evoque to a BMW (as a whole). In fact I have never done anything other than sat in a stationary BWM. I agree BMW's are bland and boring. I was only comparing the Evoque to the BMW with respect to the speedo and the Sat Nav system (which as they are day to day use items, I deem far more important than mood lighting and popup dials?).

To address the Satnav first, here is the Evoque directly compared to something I have seen recently on a BMW (however, I have no idea which BMW's have this SatNav). I also have included my 07 Honda Satnav (now 6+ years old)


Honda 07



Evoque



BMW




Now as far as the speedo goes, I may have to recant a little. Perhaps someone could explain what is happening? Has the dials changed on newer Evoques? Picture one below shows the speedo I was using (with speed marks close to the center that don't seem to marry with the light marks around the edge, a real dogs dinner. However, while searching for this picture I found the different dials which looks a zillion times better.... what gives?





Finally, I would like to add in my original post I compared the engine noise to a Juke and the road noise, comfort to my current 07 Honda Civic. Perhaps I am expecting to much, but for £35-£40k I am expecting way more than that?

I am also confused after seeing posts from other Evoque owners who say they love the luxury and comfort, Coming from a back ground of driving sub £20k hatchbacks, I am just not feeling it myself ???

I agree with you over the dials, I think they are an awful 1990's design more akin to something from a Honda Hybrid than a Range Rover - for the life of me I cannot understand (well I can, it was basically cost cutting) why Evoque didn't get the same hi-tech TFT instruments the rest of the Range Rover range now has. One of the biggest criticisms of the Mk1 Sport was it wasn't Range Rover enough and to me LR didn't make the Evoque Range Rover enough - I know what I mean as before my current Evoque I owned a 2010MY Range Rover L322, 2 Range Rover Sports and before them another 2003MY L322 FFRR and Evoque is better than the 2 RRS's from an interior design but not a patch on either L322 or either RRS for quality of build. Not one of my Evoque's predecessors had to go back to the dealer after delivery to have rattles cured or software updates carried out on an engine that is quite old tech. Yes for your £30-50k it should have way way better quality materials and technology and should be better screwed together, but I still like the rest of it enough to have just ordered another. Harsh words I know, but the truth can hurt sometimes - Evoque was meant to be a design tour de force - it is on the outside but has been built down to the bean counters budget - just like every BMW, Audi and Mercedes on the road.

I for one am glad it's not like a BMW as I wouldn't have bought it. I like the mood lighting etc (that you also find in German things) just needs to be brighter.

I had a BMW X3 before my Evoque and was a dye in the wool BMW owner. It took a fair bit of 'pulling' to move me away from buying another X3, but after taking the test in the Evoque and then sitting in the newer X3 almost immediately after, I decided that the Evoque was a much nicer place to be on my way to and from client sites.

I find the sat nav nice and uncluttered, but it is 'different' to the BMW one - works differently and is not always the easiest to use. But unlike the BMW systems, at least you can add speed cameras without any fuss at all, and it now means I can ditch my Pogo+ stick-on-the-windscreen camera detector. It also seems to route more reliably than the DVD based system in my X3.

As for the dials, the speedo is the same across the range, but the outer 'tick' markers have to be designed so that when a car fitted with Adaptive Dynamics goes into AD mode, these change to a red colour; but as Tim has commented, I'd have preferred the whole dash to be TFT.

The standard flappy paddles are a disgrace, and the 'accessory' cast Alu ones should have been fitted as standard. I agree that they feel like they will snap off.

Disagree about the gear knob and mood lighting. I like the fact that the knob gives a nice uncluttered console when stowed, and is quite intuitive to use when driving. And I like the lighting that changes to red (along with the dials) when you engage AD.

As for engine and road noise - well, it IS a diesel and I find it can be a bit growly when pooling, but it's much quieter than my 3L petrol X3 was, and has much more torques ... and road noise you heard could be a function of the tyres on the demo car. I noticed much more road noise on the demo car I had which was on Continentals than on mine which has Pirelli's - especially at motorway speeds. Unfortunately tyres cannot be specified as part of the order, but when I ordered mine, if you spec'd TPMS, then you'd get Pirelli's.

I have discovered that despite assurances to the contrary, the Range Rover build quality isn't a patch on BMW - but given a choice again, I'd still go for the Evoque over the X3

Thanks Trapdoor... that was a great reply.

Can anyone clarify the two pictures I posted above of the two different speedo's for the Evoque? As stated previously, I am sure I had the speedo in the 1st picture.... so whats the slightly different (and better) speedo in the second picture?

You won't get the Range Rover feeling from the Evoque, because it isn't one. Don't mean that in a bad way.

Until LR start to put the interior fit and finishes and interior options that come with the larger cars, different woods, grand lacquer options etc, it will always feel a bit of an outsider.

The RRS has only just become part of the Range Rover family, It walks the walk and talks the talk, which is where LR need to head with the Evoque.

It's maybe a bit rough around the edges for its price range but I would still have it over any German rival.

I would suggest that the difference between the speedos above is one is from an Si4 Dynamic and the other (top one) is from a diesel without AD - the diesel doesn't rev to 8000 rpm. My Sept 2011 Dynamic has the lower speedo with a 6000RPM rev counter and the lighting bars align exactly with speed numerals.