As promised my initial thoughts and a few more pics

Picked up last wednesday (1 month delay) and drove 300 miles on thursday. I've been out of the country since so unfortunatly not had much time to drive or investigate the features / functions.

Prestige SD4, manual, LUX, Orkney, Vibe, Ivory, Style 7s, Privacy

Firstly on the personal choices which are of course subjective....

1. Colour - It is a very nice colour but IMO does not have the wow factor to it. Too much of a blue tint to the grey for my own personal taste. I would have preferred Stornoway. Although I do agree Orkney may suit the car lines better than Stornoway
2. Interior colour - Very Very happy. It was my biggest dilemma and I am pleased I got this spot on. I really wanted a light colour but couldn't get the options with the 'brown' dash and the grey to work together in my own mind.
3. Headlining - Got this one so so wrong. In the showroom and test drives I was worried about the lack of light even though it has a pano roof. I so wish I had gone for the dark headlining to keep the flow of the colours in the car. It's not dark at all. It looks so odd with this combination.
4. Style 7's - looks wise...work awesome with the Orkney in both clean and dirty phases. Comfort - might live to regret it but need some more time to really give an opinion.
5. Privacy - Dark and does what it says on the tin. Works well with the Orkney.

and secondly the most important aspects

1. Drive - lost for words really... It does drive like a car even though I never actually really believed the marketing hype on that front... The driving position is perfect.. handling is superb.
2. Engine - Very smooth..surprisingly so...coming from V6 or straight 6 cars/4x4's then this really is excellent
3. Gearbox - A real drivers gearbox - short sharp shifting.
4. Comfort - Great seats... not yet suffered the issue on the right side I keep reading about.
5. Luxury - Cabin is very well designed. Everything in reach.. great steering controls. The finishing touch's are fantastic.

And for the downside...

1. MPG - Average 31 on a 150 mile motorway journey -WTF !!!! - here's hoping it will improve vastly.
2. Footrest - bearing in mind it is a manual, it is very difficult to find a comfortable position to rest the left foot. My solution to date has been on long motorway journeys move the seat further back and that gives a more comfortable rest. When 'town' driving the seat needs to come forward in order to fully depress clutch. So my solution so far is men seat position 1 for motorway. Memory seat position 2 for 'town' driving adjusted accordingly...Not ideal but it is what it is.

I do need some more time to play with all the cameras, parking, Meridian etc.... before I comment on that side of things. So finally a quick message for those still waiting from someone who was rather sceptical.... it is worth the wait.
           

(23-01-2012 08:53pm)blacktrees1 Wrote:  Picked up last wednesday (1 month delay) and drove 300 miles on thursday. I've been out of the country since so unfortunatly not had much time to drive or investigate the features / functions.

Prestige SD4, manual, LUX, Orkney, Vibe, Ivory, Style 7s, Privacy

Firstly on the personal choices which are of course subjective....

1. Colour - It is a very nice colour but IMO does not have the wow factor to it. Too much of a blue tint to the grey for my own personal taste. I would have preferred Stornoway. Although I do agree Orkney may suit the car lines better than Stornoway
2. Interior colour - Very Very happy. It was my biggest dilemma and I am pleased I got this spot on. I really wanted a light colour but couldn't get the options with the 'brown' dash and the grey to work together in my own mind.
3. Headlining - Got this one so so wrong. In the showroom and test drives I was worried about the lack of light even though it has a pano roof. I so wish I had gone for the dark headlining to keep the flow of the colours in the car. It's not dark at all. It looks so odd with this combination.
4. Style 7's - looks wise...work awesome with the Orkney in both clean and dirty phases. Comfort - might live to regret it but need some more time to really give an opinion.
5. Privacy - Dark and does what it says on the tin. Works well with the Orkney.

and secondly the most important aspects

1. Drive - lost for words really... It does drive like a car even though I never actually really believed the marketing hype on that front... The driving position is perfect.. handling is superb.
2. Engine - Very smooth..surprisingly so...coming from V6 or straight 6 cars/4x4's then this really is excellent
3. Gearbox - A real drivers gearbox - short sharp shifting.
4. Comfort - Great seats... not yet suffered the issue on the right side I keep reading about.
5. Luxury - Cabin is very well designed. Everything in reach.. great steering controls. The finishing touch's are fantastic.

And for the downside...

1. MPG - Average 31 on a 150 mile motorway journey -WTF !!!! - here's hoping it will improve vastly.
2. Footrest - bearing in mind it is a manual, it is very difficult to find a comfortable position to rest the left foot. My solution to date has been on long motorway journeys move the seat further back and that gives a more comfortable rest. When 'town' driving the seat needs to come forward in order to fully depress clutch. So my solution so far is men seat position 1 for motorway. Memory seat position 2 for 'town' driving adjusted accordingly...Not ideal but it is what it is.

I do need some more time to play with all the cameras, parking, Meridian etc.... before I comment on that side of things. So finally a quick message for those still waiting from someone who was rather sceptical.... it is worth the wait.

Ver Nice car, glad you like it.

Very similar spec to ours apart from the Lux and choice of wheels. Surprised what you said about the colour, I personally prefer the Blueish Tinge and would not have gone for the 'Brown' Stornaway, don't think it would suit the 'Modern Looking' Evoque, plus who wants White!!

I had the same dilemma over the headlining, finally left Ivory as yours and am still wondering if we did the right thing I test drove an OG With Vibe and pano with Ivory headliner and to my eyes being in it, I thought it looked good, I even remember commenting on how I liked it, suits the stitching of the seats I have a Black Headlining in the BMW Coupe and it is great in that, but thats a Sporty Car, when I have looked at all the pics of Evoques with Black Interior and Black Headlining they just don't look right, its not a Sports Car and made it look dark and smaller not what you want in an Evoque, I thought the black headlining looked good with the Element, liked the contrast.

Anyway, am looking forward to ours coming, soon I hope.

Hope you enjoy more of the car

What a great analysis.

I think the economy will improve, I got only 30 mpg in mine on the first drive down the A3. I now see 33 to 34 mpg on my commute into work on back roads and hope for more in future as it beds in, bearing in mind it is an Auto SD4.

I picked Orkney because it was a conservative, low key colour. It does not have the same presence as say Firenze red, but then I don't want it to stand it to out as the bolder colours do ( I was sorely tempted with the red though).

The toys only make it better!

Nice car, ebony headlining is something you will regret as its is awesome from the inside. Fuel consumption is down to your driving as I achieved 40mpg on motorway and am achieving 33mpg driving locally A&B roads. Something you should be achieving, just make sure you reset the trip.

yep mine is a manual to, and i have only been getting about 32mpg on average. mind you not many super long drives where i live, and its not exactly flat also.

Congrats !

(23-01-2012 09:58pm)THEMACS Wrote:  I have a Black Headlining in the BMW Coupe and it is great in that, but thats a Sporty Car, when I have looked at all the pics of Evoques with Black Interior and Black Headlining they just don't look right, its not a Sports Car and made it look dark and smaller not what you want in an Evoque, I thought the black headlining looked good with the Element, liked the contrast.

Anyway, am looking forward to ours coming, soon I hope.

Hope you enjoy more of the car

+1 I also prefer the lighter headliner, my current A5 S-Line Cabrio has a black headliner, again a sporty motor and it's right in that - but very dark. The pictures I've seen this far of a Prestige with Vibe suggest that the A pillars are Cirrus, and the B pillar has its lower half in black and the upper half is Cirrus to match the headliner and it looks right.

For the Dynamic and it's sportier interior colour themes then maybe the black headliner would be more appropriate - according to personal taste of course.

(24-01-2012 11:58am)Straydox Wrote:  +1 I also prefer the lighter headliner, my current A5 S-Line Cabrio has a black headliner, again a sporty motor and it's right in that - but very dark. The pictures I've seen this far of a Prestige with Vibe suggest that the A pillars are Cirrus, and the B pillar has its lower half in black and the upper half is Cirrus to match the headliner and it looks right.

For the Dynamic and it's sportier interior colour themes then maybe the black headliner would be more appropriate - according to personal taste of course.

Agreed Out of interest I searched the LR Approved Used Website to look at FFRR, RRS and Discos that have Black Leather, All had Light Headliner. Seems to be that is the choice in an SUV!

So a few weeks and a thousand miles in.....

I know a lot has been said about the economy not being as expected and I must agree that this is rather disappointing. I know that most people don't achieve the manufacturers quoted MPG figures as they are not that reflective of real life driving. However the delta between the guidelines from LR and the actual is far more than I expected. Typically i've seen between 5-15% variance on previous cars from the manufacturers stated, but my Evoque is currently at 38% variance which is taking the gloss off what is otherwise an almost perfect car.

SD4 Manual 5 Door, 1000 miles, avg speed 43mph, avg 30.8 mpg, mixture of motorway and town/village driving

Other than that the car is bringing back the enjoyment of driving

Here's to hoping it improves over time

I really don't know where LR went wrong with the Evoque's fuel consumption calculation. I have now owned 9 previous Land Rover products and have easily achieved the Govt calculated fuel figures in all of them, even the petrol engined cars, but not the Evoque................ beginning to make me wonder if there was something underhand in the way the Govt figures were achieved to make the car look better than it is. I for one will now be warning anybody who asks me what I think about the car and it will be "great................ but it's real life fuel economy is dire compared to the claims of LR, but don't let that put you off buying one" LR has to stop hyping it as the most fuel efficient Land Rover yet, because it most certainly is not, I could get way better MPG figures out of my old Freelander 1TD4 auto which consistently achieved better than 35mpg from its 2.0ltr engine in everyday driving and more than 40mpg on a long motorway cruise.