Beaten by the Touareg

(10-04-2012 10:53am)J77 Wrote:  I am sorry but I disagree with the above post, you can't mark a car down for being smaller inside if you are testing it with something that is bigger, of course it will have more room. On the flip side the Evoque scored better on the off road ability.

Of course you can...as long as the review is rounded and covers all aspects, why would size not be an important consideration and one upon which to base marks? I don't understand why people try to put cars into classes...it doesn't really make any sense to me.

I admit that comparing the Touareg and the Evoque is not exactly comparing Apples with Apples...but then why do I want to compare Apples with Apples??? When I go to the shop, I don't limit myself to Apples, if a banana better suits my needs then I will buy the banana! It doesn't make the Apple a bad Apple, it just means the banana is better for me at that moment in time!

Putting cars into 'classes' suggests that cars only need to compete with other cars in their class...well let's assume I am a typical buyer (albeit a bigger budget than average, but probably a smaller budget than many on this forum)...my last 9 cars (over a period of 6 years) in order are as follows:

BMW 3 Series Touring, Merc C Saloon, Merc C Coupe, Aston DB9, Merc CLK, Porsche 911, Range Rover Vogue, Audi A5, Range Rover Evoque...

Up until about 2 months ago (arrival of big dog and country lifestyle), my needs and my budget had stayed consistent throughout...looking at the cars involved, it would suggest that I was never constrained by what class a car sat in...and as such, it was important for each car to compete against all cars, not just similar cars.

Classes only exist to serve magazine reviews...but in reality are rarely useful. If classes must exist, then how should they be defined? Capability? In which case the Evoque and the Touareg can be compared. Price? In which case the Evoque and Touareg can be compared. Quality? In which case the Evoque and the Touareg can be compared.

For what it is worth I believe that that the Evoque is a much better car than a Touareg and agree with anyone that says it would be wrong the say that the Touareg should come out on top because it has more interior space...but...if you are a typical family then arguably the Touareg will meet your needs better than the Evoque, because many of the areas that the Evoque wins on (i.e. handling and off-road capability) are wasted on most people, whereas interior space will be appreciated by most.

It's all about context...which the classes are supposed to define, but in reality it falls down.

If you are a typical family that needs space then the evoque shouldn't come in to it, it should be a RRS, Disco 4 or Touareg as they are large SUVs the Evoque is a premium compact crossover and only falls into the high price bracket because of the Range Rover name.

(10-04-2012 03:16pm)J77 Wrote:  If you are a typical family that needs space then the evoque shouldn't come in to it, it should be a RRS, Disco 4 or Touareg as they are large SUVs the Evoque is a premium compact crossover and only falls into the high price bracket because of the Range Rover name.

Not entirely sure what a Premium Compact Crossover is, other than a marketing (wo)man's dream! The fact that the majority of people on this forum have switched to the Evoque from either a 2 door sporty hatch or Range Rover Sports / Vogues suggests that the Evoque is taking people from all types of car...in which case it is perfectly valid to compare against all other types of car in my view.

I don't disagree with what you say, it's just not what you would expect the evoque to be compared to.