RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th)
Got back from the Cardiff event last night and thoroughly enjoyed it - impressed with the overall effort LR has placed in their pre-launch marketing/events, I do not know if any other car manufacturer has placed this much creative and diverse marketing in a pre-launch.
We drove the SD4 Dynamic Coupe, even though we have ordered a 5-door, we thought might as well take it for a spin. We arrived early so we had a pick of any vehicle and I was in two minds about choosing the petrol (SI4) – despite my order for the SD4 I’m toying with the idea if I should change it to petrol. As mentioned in the previous threads/posts the route was pre-planned in the Sat Nav, so once the briefing was finished we took off around Cardiff for our 55 minute drive.
My wife drove first and I sat and messed around with the features, and swapped over at the designated driver swap over point.
Sat Nav - I was impressed with the features and the voice assisted directions was clear and precise. I liked the fact how the voice assistance warned you of your upcoming turning, then a summary of where you were heading after the turning, the voice assistance was softer and less mechanical in its overall sentence construction/directions than other sat nav systems.
On the screen you could split the views with a choice of three options. So for instance you could split the screen into two views, showing a zoomed in map view, and the other view zoomed out. You could also customise the view to include a text map directions running alongside the map view, which included a sand timer as you approached the various upcoming junctions. There was also 2D/3D options as well, and overall I thought it was very intuitive.
Audio System – We had the 825w Meridian Sound System (I’m sure all the cars had it) and it sounded great! I’m familiar with sound environments and acoustics etc (worked as an engineer in the audio industry). For some reason the default EQ settings including Sub were maxed and needed tweaking, so at first the bass was completely out (there could have been some compression settings as well, but didn’t delve in deep enough to explore). However once adjusted I plugged in my iPhone and played various genres to test out the overall quality. I thought the system sounded good and have no regrets with my upgrade decision.
It’s funny but when a LR assistant was walking around with a CD to demo the sound systems we sat in one car and he gave me a test, but occasionally it would break out with a wobbling bass sound causing some vibrations in the car. At that point I’m guessing out of the box it needs some calibration. But he also showed me how you could play tunes via your iPhone using the Bluetooth streaming, that was good, but the streaming comprised some of the bit data so you didn’t track information, also there is probably comprise on sound performance. But I guess it depends how fussy you are.
Again I think the Meridian upgrade is worth it/advisable, but I didn’t hear the standard audio system to do a full benchmark.
Comfort – I first sat in the passenger seat as my wife drove. She was nervous at first mainly due to the small view in the rear, and felt worried about the big mirrors. I admit when sitting in the car they look or appear too big for its size. When driving for the first time you do feel slightly unaware of your space/size on the road when driving next to other vehicles as the mirrors perhaps make you feel slightly wider than you actually are. We were told by a LR assistant that they were that big to composite for the reduced/narrow view in your rear. Either way it just takes some getting used to, only main complaint from me is it appears to create a new blind spot that I didn’t know previously could exist due to mirror size, again could be something that one has to get used too.
Our Dynamic didn’t have the Dynamic Plus seats, but the standard Dynamic seats. The seats were comfortable; and we had the cirrus/lunar interior (however I was not overly impressed by the colour scheme, and ironically this was out initial choice of Dynamic interior). My wife didn’t like the dashboard and thought it looked cheap, but funny enough at the Evoque Live shows when I saw the vehicles in the interior lighted space I didn’t think they fake leather looked that bad. However in daylight the fake leather dashboard material was more noticeable, I think it would have been fine if they didn’t try to make it look like a leather dash with the stitching, do not understand why they couldn’t have comprised on a different dash layout – i.e. something that was not trying to be something else, but something in its own right. I’m glad I choose the Dynamic Plus, and if not choosing the Plus then perhaps having seeing the interiors in daylight I would have gone for the Prestige.
We played around with the various suspension settings or adaptive dynamics, and as a passenger I didn’t really notice that much difference (when driving you did feel the difference). In adaptive mode or not, the 20” wheels we had felt a lot more comfortable than the 19” in our current SUV. I have no regrets in not downsizing to the 19” wheels.
When I drove I tried out the sports mode, and paddle shifting – which was fun. On one instance when pulling out from a busy roundabout I had to wait some time to find a gap in the traffic. At this point I had the car in normal drive mode, and when pulling out I have to admit I was thinking come on faster, faster!! After that first instance or shall I say lack of confidence I decided to place it in sports mode and used the paddle shifts to speed away quicker when needed. However at faster speeds when on the dual carriage way you could feel the cars performance a lot more than in the 0-30 driving environment, and I easily climbed to 70 from 50 a lot faster than in my Kuga.
Looking back I wished I tried the petrol version to have answered that question running in the back of my head if I have made the wrong choice as most of our driving is in town at lower speeds. But then again this is a SUV hybrid and not a sports car so I guess if I want something faster I should buy something else.
When driving on the dual carriage way we turned the off the stereo to hear the interior sound quality. And it was fairly quiet. I read some previous mentions of people hearing some vibrational noises but we didn’t hear a thing. The diesel engine sounded fairly quiet and at lights we put our windows down to see what if there was any noticeable noise and to be honest it’s a lot quieter than our current diesel.
I didn’t have any complaints about the gear changing as mentioned above. Apart from that one instant at that roundabout which I compensated by the paddle shifting, I think the auto gear box was fine. But I guess like my interest in the audio it can be subjective and depends on your style and what you want.
The only problem I had when driving was moving my foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal. I noticed the tip of my foot was catching on I assume some of the steering wheel column plastic housing. I do not have big feet (5’10 with size 10 shoes). My wife didn’t have the problem, and I forgot to mention this to the LR people when we got back. But what was happening was when pivoting/angling my heal to brake, the tip of my shoe (toe end) was hitting/rubbing something and preventing my foot from applying the brake comfortably.
To compensate for this I had to consciously think how I applied my foot on the brake. I have been driving for 20 years (auto and manual) and I never had a problem like this before so would be interested to know if anyone else noticed that.
Other interior features – air con was air con, but it felt more zoned around you than in our current car, also the temperature control felt more sensitive and not to hot or too cold. I have to admit this could just be me and my lack of experience in more expensive vehicles, but I have always had a pet hate about various climate control features in the previous cars we have owned. The Evoque appeared to have resolved that issue for me. There was not that much room for small items, and I guess shades, maybe nibbles, or other small paraphernalia you may include on your driving journeys would more than likely have to go in the glove compartment. The centre arm rest area I guess would have enough room to leave your sun glass case, wallet, phone etc, but the interior was not screaming out with storage space. But it’s a small car and to be expected I guess.
The seat memory was a nice feature and I didn’t realise the passenger side had 3 memory functions as well, were in the Coupe so I’m not sure if that’s the same in 5-door – i.e. perhaps one of the memory functions on the passenger side is to slide the seat forward. As I said I’m 5’10 and for me the driving and sitting as a passenger was comfortable, I did not in any way feel cramped, and have no reservations about ride comfort. When looking over our shoulder at the rear the seat area did look smaller than say the 5-door, but this could be more of an allusion a bit like the car width when driving due to the mirror size. If I had a choice and we were not expecting a child, or maybe rear passengers I would have definitely chosen the Coupe, but either way the 5-doors looked just as nice.
Overall impressions – the event was great, and I’m so pleased we had that opportunity to drive the vehicle (the terrapod course was an experience in itself, all I can say is wow, definitely booking a driving experience day with Land Rover!!). I’m still in two minds about the petrol version and despite being given my order date for November I do not know if I could change anyway.
Arrived 22nd December - SD4 Dynamic Auto, Fuji White, Panoramic/Contrast Roof, Dynamic Plus & Lux Pack
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Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th)
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