Keeping a new Evoque abroad

Having finally sorted out my order for my new Dynamic, I've realised that within a couple of weeks of its delivery I'll be driving it to Geneva for the ski season.

I'll be flying out at weekends from london, joining my wife who works there, then driving into France to a chalet in a place called Morzine, around 90 mins drive from the airport. I shouldn't be driving off road out there so shouldn't need snow tires, though I know its a requirement for swiss cars. The car will be garaged during week.

So questions:

1. Should I be concerned about running an almost brand new car to Geneva.
2. Should I think of anything in particular in relation to warranties. I'm assuming the LR warranty is world wide and there's probably more Evoques in Geneva than there are in London
3. Might need to thing about Insurances and Breakdown cover. I'm not sure the LR breakdown server extends outside of the UK.
4. I guess i'd need to brush up on car requirements for France & Switzerland ( triangles and the like)
5. Anything else

many thanks

Whilst modern cars dont need running in like they used to, I would be inclined to vary the revs regularly to prevent glazing of the bores which may cause high oil consumption.

As for driving abroad (France):
1) You must have HiViz jackets accessible from the cabin for every passenger in the car (in the boot is not acceptable)
2) You must carry breathalizers in the car
3) You must carry a warning triangle

Insurance - you should be covered for a period however check with your insurer.

Remember in Switzerland they are very hot on speeding. If caught you might have to complete a questionnaire on your income and your fine will be proportionate to your income. You may also be banned from driving in the country with immediate effect (as a group of friends - 4 out of 5 cars - found out when caught by a hidden camera in a 50kmph limit doing 80kmph and they were all escort to the police station questioned then fined on the spot €1000 each with immediate ban for 6 months)

In Switzerland it is compulsory to have headlights on in tunnels.

In France you may be timed between the toll booths and if you are too quick may have your fine added to the toll.

Having said that I have driven many miles on the continent (France, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Austria Luxembourg and Germany) without any problems.

Your car is new, don't worry about breaking down etc the LR warranty is worldwide and very good.

We had a tyre blow out on a Sunday, LR did all they could to get a replacement but to no avail, LR paid for all overnight costs plus food. Got a new tyre fitted on the Monday and all was well.

Many thanks.

Wow a breathalizer. That's a new one. I think I knew about the hi viz jacket and triangle.

Speeding or drinking won't be an issue. The journey doesn't invovle any toll roads or really anywhere where you can speed. I've driven the route in hire cars for the last two seasons without incident, though I always think the French police love catching us Brits. Then again with the brits Morzine would be empty.

What about snow tires then?

IWF, one thing to watch is the oil consumption of your new car. Evoque doesn't have an electronic dipstick so you'll have to lift the bonnet and pull the dipstick out of the tube and get you hands dirty in the process! When you collect the car get the dealer to chuck in a Castrol Service pack from the service dept. It contains a top up 250ml bottle of oil, paper towels, rubber gloves etc. The car will "consume" oil in the first few weeks (it doesn't burn it, it gets absorbed into the high carbon content engine block so expect a drop in the dipstick level). Also the oil is not that easy to find so you may want to take a 5 litre canister from Halfords with you.

The first 500 miles the last 4 new cars I have bought have been done on the London to Stirling run home, a good long run at steady RPM's won't do it any harm so long as you don't let the engine labour in a high gear at low speed - with an auto of course that is quite difficult but do becareful if you use S or the paddles to shift that you don't use too many revs in the first 1000 miles, just for kindness to a new engine and gearbox.

You can forget about the breathalyser. There are no penalties now for not carrying one.
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/ove...-2012.html

Good advice regarding top up oil. If your car is an SD4 I don't think it's available from Halfords. C1 oil is needed and the last time I tried to find any on a shelf it was impossible. I managed to get some Shell from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007G...UTF8&psc=1

When I was in the Annecy area last November some of the roads near Morzine were quite snow covered and I was pleased to have winter tyres on. It might depend on what tyres your car comes supplied with. If you are lucky and have Pirelli Scorpion Verdes you might be OK, but if Michelin or Continental don't hesitate, get a set of winter tyres on.

Have you got the factory supplied spare wheel?

You don't need to worry about headlight deflectors. The handbook says that they are not necessary.

HTH

I drove 3000km the day after I picked up my Evoque (with a stop for sleep), it's nothing to worry about if you're used to driving those sort of distances.

The car is actually like any other Range Rover for long hauls - a bit of a four wheeled favourite armchair! Ok so I do miss the left arm arm rest and even the sliding cubby box lid of the 2014MY cars isn't as nice as the padded left arm rest fitted to all other Land Rovers and Range Rovers except the Defender. The 2014 onwards Diesel engined cars are also notably quieter than the earlier ones now that they have the different wing mirrors, also I have Michelin summer and Pirelli winter tyres on mine and both makes are much quieter than the Continentals that my last Evqoue was shod with.

Thanks all for the advice.

I love the fact that french introduce laws then repeal the, a year later.

Thanks v much for the link to the AA site. I'm told the car will arrive with Pirelli tires. We'll see. I found this season the roads were easy around Morzine, reflecting the poor snow on the hills. The previous year, was another matter, with one memorable journey with snow all the way from Thoron. That was a slow journey. I found generaly the French Keats the road clear though. Couldn't afford to lose the money on the slopes with road closures

Ps what's an electronic dip stick? Never had one of those. It's 12 years since I've owned a car. Clearly things have changed

Some cars have a dip stick that will indicate oil content on the dash board, the two that I have had were very unreliable so I still dipped the oil the old fashioned way!