Don’t be put off buying Evoque!

A family member and a family friend have decided not to buy a JLR product after my bad experience with them. Both were going for a RRS, but have now decided to go German. I didn't try to persuade them, they made their own mind's up. That's over 100 grand in lost sales. Won't put a hole in profit's, just a very small dent.

This has been caused by the bloody minded attitude of the JLR staff towards their customer's, the people that indirectly pay their wages. That also includes Speth and his JLR cronies.

Hi,

Interesting to read the experiences people are having. I own an approved used Evoque Pure, which is now almost 3 years old with about 55,000 miles on the clock. Having owned it almost a year, I've had various minor things, but the main problems have been:-
- ESP failure as soon as I drove it off the forecourt.
- Electronic Parking brake failure a month ago, fixed and then happened again (right motor last time, left this time or so they think)

With the ESP, dealer was embarrassed (dubious 140 point check - or warning lights were not on the checklist!). Our new (to us) car was then immediately swapped for a brand new Dynamic Lux hire car for 2 weeks at no cost to us. Took the shine off our new car a bit though when we got back in it since this was far more highly specced!
With the EPB failure, phoned LR assist and they came round found the fault, and then booked me a taxi to the airport (nearest hire car place) and I picked up a Volvo XC60. And they recovered the car to the dealers. I had the hire car for 3 days before they asked me to swap for one of their own cars (and Evoque Dynamic), which I did to help them out - the hire car cost was very high so they were keen to get me out of it. I hated the Volvo so was happy enough to do so!
With EPB failure second time, they said it's ok to drive, and I have the car booked it with a courtesy car (another Evoque).

I've had a fair few cars in my time from Ford, Vauxhall, Rover, VW, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Hyundai, Seat, and LR.
The Evoque is definitely not the most reliable car I've had, but not the most unreliable. (The Hyundai was that - failed to start on many occasions and despite numerous dealer visits, never got resolved).

What I did find though, is that LR have provided pretty much the best customer service I've had out of all the brands. (Porsche are probably on par).
Maybe it could be down to specific dealerships (mine's in SE UK), and I've been lucky with them, or perhaps the dealerships are just used to having lots of problems to deal with!

Would I buy another one?
With a LR warranty - maybe.
Without a LR warranty - no way!

But regarding German Brands and reliability..
- E46 BMW 320ci convertible, engine warning light and limp mode within 5000 miles from new.
- E90 BMW 325i convertible, roof got stuck once trying to close, various engine warning lights requiring dealer visits, fuel pump failure (thankfully under warranty)
- E90 BMW 330i where the iDrive kept rebooting so couldn't use radio or anything, needed a dealer visit
- VW Golf, car was reliable, but dealership experience for servicing was bad
- Audi S5 sportback, great car in general, but after only 4000 miles from new, the dash developed an intermittent rattle which was louder than the radio at motorway speeds. Dealers were nice but didn't solve the problem
- VW Scirocco, various dash rattles within a year of ownership, rear parking sensors intermittently failed - dealership experiences not great

I'd say probably more reliable than JLR, but still not without their problems.

Other cars:-
- Freelander 2, engine warning light an limp mode twice within 1st year/8000 miles fixed by dealers. Drivers window would intermittently open by itself if you tried to close the window. Dealer tried but never completely fixed this.
- Hyundai Santa Fe, randomly wouldn't start up within 2 years 20k miles of new, and then would if you left if for 5 minutes. In dealers about 4 times, never resolved. Had diesel fuel filter and warning light (and limp mode) twice. Dealer tried to blame it on dodgy diesel.

However I had/have a E87 BMW 118d, E90 BMW 320i, Seat Ibiza mk5, Porsche Boxster 987, Audi TTS mk2, Porsche 997 without any issues, I'm not entirely unlucky!

Oh and I did test drive a Jaguar F-Type recently at a JLR dealership, and during the test drive, the roof wouldn't close (was stuck), air vents got stuck and wouldn't come out of the dash, and the salesman got stuck in the car since the passenger door wouldn't unlock from inside or outside. Needless to say I decide not to buy that car!

(12-03-2016 08:42am)AndyFrance Wrote:  A family member and a family friend have decided not to buy a JLR product after my bad experience with them. Both were going for a RRS, but have now decided to go German. I didn't try to persuade them, they made their own mind's up. That's over 100 grand in lost sales. Won't put a hole in profit's, just a very small dent.

This has been caused by the bloody minded attitude of the JLR staff towards their customer's, the people that indirectly pay their wages. That also includes Speth and his JLR cronies.

Andy,

See you have joined our 'Evoque Free' group, hope you did not lose too much on the deal, ours cost us £1k per month on depreciation.

We moved to the RRS and its everything the Evoque is not, quiet, smooth, powerful (just enough) and very well put together. It has however suffered one electronic glitch which left us stranded - traced to a Bosch component in the security system. All fixed, good response from LR HQ and the dealer and we were well compensated for our trouble, I guess it was down to good luck and being in the UK.

Enjoy the Macan and hope you have better luck with it, our next car, still have this mad urge to own an F Type - before I am too old to get it insured.

Tony

For what its worth, as I want some real performance back, and while I've had no issues at all with the Evoque and great dealer service, I think my next car will be either the FPace or a GLA45. I just can't go the Mecan as much as I do want to. It will probably be the Mercedes though as it's a better size for me and with uprated engine specs (375hp~280kw and a whopping 475Nm) coming out this year, will be a giant slayer in a very practical compact body. Now if they put that sort of engine in the Evoque, hmmmm, an interesting thought!

Thanks Tony, I hope the Macan helps to heal the Evoque wounds, but the huge loss will always be in mind. It cost be 12,425€ for just under 15 weeks of ownership + waiting 8 months for it. A massive blow. I'm pleased you got yours sorted.

I'm in the UK as I write. My Father is not well, which puts things in perspective for me, so I suggest you go for that F-type mate.......and grow old disgracefully.

Same for you Clip...........go order that car mate!

Cheers

Yep Andy, I couldn't agree with you more mate! We only get one go at this, and life's just too short to skimp and compromise on the things that we have a passion for.