About to pull the trigger on an Evoque, need some advice on accessories

Hi all,

I'm about to buy an Evoque 4dr but kind of torn between few options. I see that most people in this forum are in UK and I'm in USA so there are some differences in the trim levels, but anyway.

I'm trying to decide between getting a Pure Premium immediately with most of the options I want, or ordering a Prestige with everything to my liking, but waiting for a good three months. Here are the things that are missing from the Pure Premium my dealer has:
-Advanced parking assist
-Cooled seats (only available in Prestige as far as I know)
-Adaptive cruise control

I'm a self professed nerd so I like gadgets but in reality, how important are these? I can live without the cooled seats since I'll drive my Miata in the summer anyway, but what do you guys think about Advanced park assist and adaptive cruise control? Are they a must so I should wait three months, losing the winter to drive my Evoque, or mostly a gimmick and I should just get the available one on the lot? What would you do?

As an added note, for some reason, it is almost impossible to find a Prestige anywhere in the US.

The Pure Premium available on the dealer is:
Orkney Gray with black top (this is the color combo I want by the way)
Navigation with the 800 something watt stereo (couldn't care less about the satnav but well, it comes with it)
Heated seats, mirrors, windshield
HID (xenon) adaptive headlights
Black leather seats and interior trims
9 Automatic (no manual gearbox in the US specs)
standard cruise control (e.g. non-adaptive)
360 degree cameras

And to whatever I buy, I'll add the roof rails to carry my skis and a tow hitch receiver to mount my bike rack


Thanks in advance!

IMHO Park Assist is a waste of time/ money - I had it on my last Evoque as it was part of a package of options, same on my current Evoque. I used it once to see how it worked on the last car, I have never used it since on either car. It is far quicker to park the car yourself and you get less tyre wear when you do it! My new car has a more advanced self park than the last one too as it can handle perpendicular parking as well as parallel parking. It does have one useful function though - combined with the blind spot monitoring it has an approaching vehicle alarm function for when you want to reverse out of a perpendicular parking slot.

Adaptive Cruise - isn't yet available in the UK so am surprised that you can now order it in the USA. I had it on my last Range Rover Sport and loved it, but I know it has moved on a generation since then. I had one major issue with it on my last RRS and that was in the winter when we had snow, the system would go into alarm that the sensor was blocked and then I had no cruise control at all - even in sleating conditions or heavy rain the transducer would throw up "Sensor Blocked" and that was it, the rest of a 500 mile trip would be without a cruise control. Hopefully now that the sensor is behind the grille that will not happen so easily. My life was saved by the Forward Alert system in it when driving in dense fog when it picked up something in front of the car that I couldn't see - I had enough time to reduce what small amount of speed I had on to a snail's pace and then I came on an unlighted tractor and trailer driving at less than walking pace in the fog!
Cooled seats - I believe they are very good, but where I am we don't get enough hot days a year to justify them, heated seats and a heated steering wheel are more useful!

I am surprised that you can still order an Orkney Grey car in the USA as it is discontinued in the UK and replaced by a darker shade called Corris Grey. Maybe the car you are looking for is "old stock" in the dealership's compound.

I suppose it is up to you whether you are happy to take a car that is already built and in the dealer's compound even if it has not got some of the options you would like, or whether you are happy to wait to get exactly the car you want with the right options. Production of export models must have increased if you can get one in 3 months, if I went into a dealership and ordered one today I would more than likely be told that I won't see it until April or May 2015, which would then take us into the new model year of 2015.5!

Hi finc, Tim's given a much more comprehensive answer...

So I'll just say..

Advanced Park Assist.. I thought spaces in the USA were so large this would be a waste...

Cooled Seats... You're talking about going Skiing...

Adaptive Cruise... this I can imagine would be useful in the USA!

Do you want it this side of the Winter...? if so then Buy it now

Phil

None of the things you're missing on that Pure Premium would cause me to pass on a car I liked. I have the same options on my Pure Premium as you list. I would have liked cooled seats, but it wasn't a deal breaker. Never had a car with them but have friends who have and they like it during the summer.

Adaptive cruise- Only experience is in our Sienna. Hate it. Nothing like having a car change lanes in front of you which causes the vehicle to slam on the brakes. Maybe the tech has improved.

Park Assist- No interest. It's a cool gadget (and I like gadgets) but not worth the expense/ wait time.

Satellite radio- I thought I'd like it (and bought a year ahead of time). After using it, I don't see the appeal. I suppose if you want to listen to Howard Stern or are a sports fan, it's worth it. Otherwise, I can never seem to find a station I consistently like and there doesn't seem to be a very large selection of stations. Sort of like having 200 cable TV channels. You end up watching 3, but pay for 200.

Roof rails are a nice addition. I like mine.

Thanks a lot guys, your answers did really help. So now I understand that parking assist is a gimmick and slower than me parking, so that goes out. Cooled seats are nice to have but as I said I won't use it too much as I don't plan on driving the Evoque in the summer too frequently. All it comes down to is the adaptive cruise that I'd really like, so I'll ask the dealer the search for one at other dealers, and if he cannot find one, will grab the pure premium. I though about ordering the perfect one that I choose everything in, but it'll pretty much mean I won't be driving it this winter, which means I must as well get it next fall/winter, which fells like, well, an eternity

XFullFatTim, in US you can still build on the website and order one with Orkney Grey, actually that's the only dark grey available, maybe they are still built for US market?
Same thing with the adaptive cruise, it is available on the website, however I've never seen one on the lot so maybe it's for the upcoming batch of shipment to this side of the pond.

FINC, I can also build a Zanzibar Evoque on the configurator, but as it is discontinued in January the dealers cannot order a car that will be be built after then in Zanzibar or Orkney. Orkney was a very popular colour (as was the predecessor Stornaway Grey that was discontinued as a result of the Japanese Tsunami and there are no production cars painted in the colour, only car that were on the pre-launch press fleet) so there may still be a lot in the Gaydon Holding Centre where cars are stored prior to sale/ shipping or there are OG cars in the system in the USA, but none will be available for builds after Jan 2015 even if you order now, I think you would be too late for a factory build. The LR Configurator isn't very reliable. After January the only grey available will be Corris Grey, which suits the Evoque well.

So, the dealer searched for available upcoming cars and told me that the only Adaptive Cruise car is going to land on US next month to another dealer, a white prestige with ivory leather seats. Eh, really don't like ivory or anything too light in leather seats so I passed and after some haggling bought the orkney grey premium.
Car is at the dealer since they are going to clean it up and install the accessories (black roof bars, tow bracket, front/rear mud flaps) so I'll pick it up tomorrow.
Thanks again for everyone's input. Now that I signed all the credit documents etc., I'll have a drink. I'm planning to call it Henry, for no reason whatsoever.

Enjoy finc, it a great car for the winter! And Welcome Henry...