The maiden voyage!

YT, OH YES, in SD form it has bags of power, absolutely no need for chips and remaps, the engine is almost too enthusiastic! It cruises at 70 almost silently, the auto gearbox shifts down almost too eagerly when you press the loud pedal. Like all LR's other autos it is an adaptive gearbox so it learns your driving style. The car cruises at 1800 rpm at 70, I tried not to extend it above 2500 but on a couple of occasions when I was not using cruise control (I drive on it a huge amount on long trips) I was up to 85mph very very quickly without a gear change. Like most LR/RR's the engine produces bags and bags of torque way down low in the rev band and it really helps Evoque bowl along. The only small dampener on the performance of the automatic is that when you do kick down or down shift with the paddles it becomes a screamer - very vocal. At least the 'box is well behaved and doesn't hunt through the gears.

(10-09-2011 08:36pm)XFullFatTim Wrote:  YT, OH YES, in SD form it has bags of power, absolutely no need for chips and remaps, the engine is almost too enthusiastic! It cruises at 70 almost silently, the auto gearbox shifts down almost too eagerly when you press the loud pedal. Like all LR's other autos it is an adaptive gearbox so it learns your driving style. The car cruises at 1800 rpm at 70, I tried not to extend it above 2500 but on a couple of occasions when I was not using cruise control (I drive on it a huge amount on long trips) I was up to 85mph very very quickly without a gear change. Like most LR/RR's the engine produces bags and bags of torque way down low in the rev band and it really helps Evoque bowl along. The only small dampener on the performance of the automatic is that when you do kick down or down shift with the paddles it becomes a screamer - very vocal. At least the 'box is well behaved and doesn't hunt through the gears.

You're a good egg!

The only thing I would consider necessary for a rethink is the lack of folding arm rests on the front chairs. It would be difficult on the Dynamic Plus seats but not impossible. Armrests are a trade mark of Range Rovers, Disco3-4, freelanders and RRS's, they just make the journey even more comfortable, even though some folks curse their existence!

Anything I have missed off the spec and think I should have added? Well seeing as I don't smoke, the smokers pack would be a waste of time, if/when the sunshines in the UK I don't believe the UV is such a problem that I need solar attenuating glass, I'm not so decrepit or frail that I cannot flick the dip switch for full beam so HBA I don't require, I also don't have the contrast roof or metallic paint - i don't think either would change the driving experience. Otherwise I have all the options on the lists!

Edit............ have just thought of something I might find useful as an extra - a nice Warn winch on the front so it can pull itself out of difficult places off road!

Despite what some have said about the satnav I found it very intuitive, same with the set-up menus and now we even have a voice control that I can make understand me!

This will upset any RRS owners who read, but I think that at launch Evoque is much more of a Range Rover than the launch RRS was, the quality and finish are not really comparable - and in some areas Evoque can show FFRR a thing or two for quality and finish - this is the first Range Rover in the 3 (2 x RRS and 1 x TD6 FFRR) that I have owned from new and one ex demo FFRR (the last one) that
has not a single squeak,annoying rattle or groans straight out of the factory - the QC guys at Halewood deserve a medal because the fit and finish of this car is as good as anything from Audi, BMW, VW or Mercedes, possibly better.

Very interesting thanks Tim (from another Tim!). Was particularly interested in the refinement at m-way speeds - that was one of the things I liked about my D3. I didn't like the reliability though and have been encouraged to see the FL2 reliability figures in the what car survey and see that attributed to the build factory, which is the same for the RRE.

It's easy to fill the boot, this lot would have looked lost in the FFRR's boot, but in the RRE I had to put the small red wheel along case behind the front passenger seat to get the electric tailgate to close!! To give you an idea of the sizes of the cases the larger red suitcase is the maximum size that is permitted in the overhead locker on an airplane....................

Hi Tim
Cheers for that great reviews and info over the past couple of days have ordered the petrol Si4 dynamic in White with dynamic plus in red with the 2 seats, privacy, pan roof, awesome reviews and thanks for taking time out to give feedback!
Cheers Kev

(10-09-2011 09:13pm)kevoque Wrote:  Hi Tim
Cheers for that great reviews and info over the past couple of days have ordered the petrol Si4 dynamic in White with dynamic plus in red with the 2 seats, privacy, pan roof, awesome reviews and thanks for taking time out to give feedback!
Cheers Kev

you will love it.. awesome car! i have driven the Si4,and that exhaust sound when the car is floored is wooow.

(10-09-2011 02:18pm)boxersergio Wrote:  Hi Tim
Thanks , great comments! How do you find the seats, are they velocity?
Sergio

Sergio the drivers chair in the Dynamic Plus is very very comfortable, just needs an arm rest on each side though.

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(10-09-2011 05:03pm)Gorjan Wrote:  XFFT, can you please comment on the interior lighing? I mean is the general ligh an old style yellowish or a cool LED? Also, how good is the configurable ambient lighting?

I think, at night, the interior lighting contributes a lot for the ambience and feel good factor.

It's old style, traditional Range Rover! My last FFRR had LEDs fitted in the door pulls that were illuminated at night so you could find the arm rests. In the 21st century I'm a little surprised that LR didn't fit LEDs for energy saving, battery preservation reasons.

I haven't driven it in the dark yet so cannot really comment on the ambient lighting. One thing that is a step ahead though is the auto on headlights. I wouldn't use the system in the art two cars because I felt that they waited until the light level had dropped dangerously low before switching on the headlights. I set the switch to auto this morning and was
delighted to see the headlights on icon on the dash illuminated without my intervention in rain and it extinguished by itself when the rain stopped!

One thing i can see being a battery flattener though is the courtesy lights in the front - the touch surface for turning them on is very sensitive and I found I had turned them on several times accidentally without even realising that I had touched the touch sensitive surface! Any Jaguar XF or XJ owners here care to comment on that?

Something else that other recently ex FFRR owners will appreciate is that after the 2010MY TDv8's lack of brakes the Evoque has stoppers right up there with the Brembos of the RRS Tdv8 and the S/C and pre 2010MY TDv8 FFRR's. It's good to be back in a car that can stop without the brakes feeling soggy

Thank you Tim,
You are the Evoque Daddy. There's me thinking you where in London to enter the Big Brother house.

After a rest. could you try a DVD in the CD slot please, I'm guessing that it won't play when moving?

Tim, can you take a picture of the puddle lighting when you get a spare minute.