Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th)

Can't make it to Wales unfortunatly I'll have to look forward to pics on this thread. Have fun guys!!

Could we be about to get our first pictures of the Evoque in the rain? The forecast isn't great for Wales today

It's 2:30pm and Ant hasn't posted about his 9:30am drive....................... hope he hasn't driven the car away

I'm excited to hear what Ant thought of the event, and the Evoque's of course!

Nick

Hi Nick
Do you have any photo's of a Prestige Coupe in Ipanema sand per chance?
Lots of CGI around but a real one would be nice.
See my signature and you will know why!
Cheers

Hi all,
Just got back ('cos we went visiting relatives too!).
First off - I wasn't dissapointed.
A great presentation by LR. Lots of organising went into these events so hats off to all involved. Enjoyed the venue and the food. Had lots of cars to look at outside and inside. Played about with all the buttons and toys inside the venue. (Chris, my partner, managed to find QVC on the TV so was happy. she was also impressed with the car and thought she would be able to sleep soundly on a long journey)!

Driving:
First impressions: the car is quieter than I was expecting. There is some engine noise, but I didn't find it too intrusive. The driving position was comfortable, but maybe not as commanding as a FFRR or a RRS. I miss the internal arm rest of the FFRR and RRS. Sat Nav worked well and was clear and concise. The dash panel between the gauges, in front of the driver mimicked part of the Sat Nav panel when approaching a junction or roundabout - neat.
Lots of information and messaging available on the centre and front panels.
We drove a Prestige 5 door with Ambience - (which is what I've ordered). It didn't have AD unfortunatley, so I didn't get the chance to compare. The standard supsension set up was adequate. However, when I took a sharp bend a little faster than normal, I felt a little body roll, which I'm sure AD would eliminate. Wish I could have driven around the same bend in two cars to compare.
Pan roof is great, with the closeable blind really useful if the sun is too bright (not a problem today).
Dual screen is very clear and gives an excellent picture.
Meridian sound system is excellent (although I'm no expert audiophile). The surround sound allows you to "move" the source of the music around the car. Clever.
We had about 55 mins driving on road route before returning to the hotel. Then we did the Terrapod, axle twister and Park Assist.
Sorry but there were no Ipanema Sand cars there to photograph. I did take a picture of the Ipanema Sand model, which I'll post on here as soon as I download the camera.
The 190 HP diesel engine has twin exhaust pipes, both of which are functional. The 150 HP diesel engine has only one exhaust pipe.
All the cars at the event were fitted with either Michelin or Goodyear tyres - no Continental tyres in sight, - so I'm hoping mine will be the same.
The rear screen really is narrow. I didn't find the visibilty too bad. I wanted to operate rear wipe all the time, but of course there's no rear wipe. Wing/side mirrors are HUGE.
Camera system is good, but will take a bit of getting used to.
Park assist feels weird, but again if I use it, I'll get used to it.
The Prestige inside the venue had Ambience interior. It was immaculate at the start of the morning, but by 12 o'clock there were blue stains from denim jeans on the side bolster, where people had been sliding in and out. There were a team of guys cleaning all the cars after each drive, so I asked them how they cleaned the seat bolster. The reply was just a tub of wet wipes gets it as good as new. One of them said that if he could afford one, he'd only drive it in his underwear!! Chris has told me NO JEANS!
The electric movement of the front seats in the 3 door to gain access to the rear seats was painfully slow. Glad I've gone for the 5 door, but I do love the styling and lines of the 3 door.

So a good day. Please that I've been able to drive it at last. Happy with all my choices, but I still hanker after the Dynamic exterior trimmings. Prestige interior is the best. Prestige seats offer better support than Dynamic Plus...... but I'm biased.

Oh, one of the dynamics there had 20" black alloys. They told me this choice has just become available. It was a silver car with black roof and looked stunning.

Hope this wets people's appetite. Personally, I can't wait to get mine now.

ANT
PS will post pics when I can.

Ant - all the cars I've seen have a rear wipe - it is just very well tucked away up under the spoiler. In fact, if u search back through the Evoque London Live threads, I posted a photo of it as, at that time, no-one had yet spotted it existed.

Nick@LR - please can u confirm presence of rear wipe and have LR taken onboard all the comments, that have been made for some months now, and that customer coupés will have front seats that move forward at a sensible speed.

Hey cjfp, that's good news indeed. Of course it must have rear wipe, but I just did not see it on any of the cars there. It must be well tucked away. I like a clear front and rear screen so it bothered me that I had rain drops on the rear.
I should have looked more carefully at the wiper stalk too.
ANT

Thanks for the report Ant

Did the Prestige have 19 or 20 inch wheels? If it had 20's what was the ride quality like without AD's?

I've also gone for ambience...a little bit concerned re the denim issue!!

cheers

here it is - very very well tucked away.