Evoque Replacement

I have decide to part company with my Zanzibar Evoque in March/April and look forward to having something very different on my drive and similar to this. The intentionis this will be my only car as I will also sell on my 1996 Defender 90 300TDi once the 110 is well run in, I'm on the slide into retirement now so reducing overheads matters and my current Evoque is not proving to be the best Land Rover I have ever owned, despite being the most expensive and luxurious new car I have ever owned bar an ex Dealer demo 2010 RR Vogue which was fantastic and worth every penny of it's £72000 - this £53000 Evoque certainly has not been worth the money even compared to the previous Evoque. Fit and finish have been below expectations for such an expensive "premium" small car.



I'm not sure about the alloys or the red callipers on this one (I like the red callipers but the style of the alloys I think would make them a little vulnerable offroad so I will be taking delivery of it on "alloy" coloured Dual Finish 16" Defender wheels and will then change them then to either black Defender deep dished or Freestyle or even the black version of the 5 spoke Zu's that I have on my 90.
The spec of the 110 I have gone for is
Stationwagon 110 XS
Warn Winch with Plasma winch rope
Aluminium Undershield
Tow kit
Privacy Glass (the factory doesn't do Privacy on the rear door glass for some reason so that is being done aftermarket)
Mobile Centre Cruise Control (again non factory option)
Upgraded Premium Ebony leather interior
Black side steps
Upgraded Audio - standard is an Alpine singe slot CD/Radio with hands free and streaming MP3
Black chequer plate to sills and rear corners
LED headlights to replace the single candle LR installs in the factory headlights
Black carpeting inside with HD rubber foot well and load space area mats
Dual Finish Alloys shod with BFG AT tyres (to change for Black Zu's with MT tyres for offroad)
A few other non factory/ dealer fit offroad bits bought from various Defender fettlers.
What I have to find are: dash mounted Satnav with guidance and TMC (not on the accessory list from LR)
Jate rings for decently strong recovery points

Provisional build date is 1st week of March with delivery 3rd week of March.

Got to admit, I've always fancied a 110, ( the 90 just don't do it for me ), but the lack of any sort of luxury always put me off, plus the cost of them for what is, a bit of a bone shaker, you might be able to tell I'm a Londoner and bit of a softie if I was in the market for one, I think what you have spec'ed would also be my ideal one, love just the thought of having to use a winch and not to just pull someone out of a parking spot , I hope you will have many years of fun off roading with no problems and if I ever find myself in your neck of the woods I hope I could call on your services if I ever get in trouble and need a winch

In your RRS2, if you have specced the onroad/ offroad pack and Dynamic pack you will probably end up pulling Defenders out of sticky situations! The locking rear e-diff on the RRS and FFRR make them awesome offroad.
Regarding luxury.............. well yes it's not what you buy a Defender for but my 90's standard front seats are very comfortable and practical tweed covered, in 18 years / 85000 miles of use they still look like new. The issue with defenders on long runs is the door caps - nowhere to rest your right arm as the door casing is so narrow. I could have also taken the option of the same seats as the Evqoue has in the Plus pack but was advised that the Defender version most buyers find to be less comfortable than the Premium Pack seats, they are also the small matter of £2000 a piece extra which is an awful lot to pay for a heated leather car seat! The seat cushion is also removable in the Defender version unlike the Evoque's as they have to give access to the battery box under the front passenger seat!

I have been wanting to get more in to 4x4 driving and have been tossing up similar questions as you Tim. However I am drawn to the capacities of the Defender and the luxury of the Evoque, which has also been the most expensive car I have ever owned. However I will be keeping my Evoque for another few years, which will give time for LR to release the new replacement Defender and other new models, so there will be more to choose from.

Either that or when my warranty runs out I will explore lifting options like air suspension plus a long range fuel tank. These being the two main issues with the Evoque offroad.

That looks like a great car to be motoring offing in to the employment sunset.

Mark I bought my present 90 in 2002 as a "sumpguard" for a Freelander1 - I set a budget of £1000 and ended up spending £10000. I think it was money well spent as the 90 has given me countless hours of fun ofroad and it has been cheap to run. OK so I have done some desirable upgrades - £700 for the conversion from hard top to station-wagon, £1100 for a replacement galvanised chassis to replace the OE one that corroded into dust at 11 years old (at the same time I replaced all the suspension and braking components so the spend went up to £4000 once parts and labour were included), then I had to have a winch.............. £1100 fitted. It gets lots of servicing and oil changes and runs superbly well - it only covers 1500 a year so annual servicing is done rather than 6monthly as is more usual. If you want to get into offroading an older Defender is a great way to start and there is so much you can do cheaply to them to upgrade them too. I think that airsuspension on an Evqoue would probably cost more than buying an older Defender!

Sounds good

At least going from an Evoque to a Defender won't be a culture shock for you.

It's surprising how comfy (but unsupportive) the standard 90 seats are having spent several years driving them, and FFR 1/2 ton Lightweights, in the military. I'd love a 90 but prefer my luxuries when its minus 20

Good luck with the new 110 and where it takes you.

How will you be able to cope with that long waiting lead time, after owning 2 Evoque's? Lol

Total production of Defender last year, in all it's forms was something like 19000 vehicles that were sold worldwide, pales into insignificance compared to the 180,000 Evoques!

Love the 110 and have to agree on your thoughts on the Evoque.
I have just parted company with mine after two and a half years.
While I loved the look of it I always felt underwhelmed by it.
Hope the replacement goes well for you.