The Good the Bad and the Ugly.....

Well today saw the end to my 13 month ownership of a Range Rover Evoque, and whilist I have mixed emotions I thought I would share my last thoughts. Please remember these are my own personal thoughts and experiences and I appreciate some will have not, nor will have the same issues.

I will start with the Good

- What a great look car, the design is fresh and is a real eye catcher, I will miss the weekly hand wash and polish i gave her, because the design and shape is something special.

-Off-road capability - whilst I never used my own car off-road, i was amazed at the capability when I took a day in at one of the Landrover off-road centres in Yorkshire. The ability of this car is quite unique.

-Depreciation - I am still shocked at the price i managed to sell my car for. I hope the values remain good for another couple of years for anybody else looking to sell. I suspect I might have caught the market at the right time, and the right buyer.

The Bad

- Quality of some of the interior plastics and not what I expect on a £30k+ car. I have seen better on less none prestige manufactures.

- Large wing mirrors - I recent weeks I have started to notice more the "blind spot" these create especially at junctions and roundabouts, whilst I think the design needs a large mirror the embrace the cars overall design they are certainly an issue and hope they get addressed in future models.

- MPG - I know this is well documented on here and various other forums, and manufactures figure are always very high, but I really struggled to get even close to the published figures. In my opinion a real let down given some of the competition like BMW and Audi with better fuel efficient engines.

- Technology - A major let down. The sat nav is poor compared to my BMW, the screen reaction times are slow, bluetooth connection was eh well somewhat erratic and generally I feel it is some way behind BMW, Audi systems.

- Lack of passenger heigh adjustable seat on a £30k car, come on JLR please get your act together.

- Servicing costs - I little higher than I would have expected, put not a major issue to complain about.

- Rattles - There are a number and thats all I will say!!

- Exclusivity - I know the car is popular but it seems to have lost some of the special exclusivity. I can see 4 within 0.5miles of my house and the other day i drove to Hull and back and counted 46! and that wasn't including the one on the two car transporters that I passed.

and finally the Ugly...

- Dealers (and one of the main reasons why I sold now). Hunters Preston should be ashamed to be a Landrover / Range Rover dealer. There service from the day I placed the order to the final customer engagement with a warranty issue is nothing more than appalling. I will never and deal with them again. For me they have played a major part in the decision to sell the car. They just don't understand customer service, from rude and incompetent staff to the way they general organise themselves. I would love to be the dealer principle for 3 months as I would certainly change the way they deal and more importantly retain customers. A real let down. I didn't feel privileged to be a customer compared to that way I have been treated in the past at BMW.


and finally............

I must say a big thank you to all the forum members on Baby RR, I joined early in 2011 when i placed my order and must say I read the forum everyday, and it is the best car forum i have ever used. This is down to the members and the admin team. It is full of knowledge people, who are polite and respect others tastes, choices and decisions. I am glad I met some of you at the factory visit in March 2012. A great day out and a pleasure to meet and discuss all things RR.

I will pop in and keep checking on you all and wish you all the very best in your baby RR's....

Good luck xxxx5, enjoy whatever you get next.

Sorry that you will be leaving us xxxx5. Let us know how you get on with your next drive.

Some great points above xxxx5!

Sad to see the Evoque go but I am sure you will remain a non-Evoque owning member of the forum, much like myself!

Servicing Costs.

There are a couple of forum members on here who have recently got a 5yr service package for £199!

Good read XXXX5. I agree with a lot of what you say but am hanging on to mine whilst it still keeps a smile on my face and hope prices don't fall too far by the time I come to change. Also I don't see that many around where I am.

What have you bought and I presume you sold privately?

All the best

Dai

XXX5
Sorry to hear you're leaving us as I enjoyed reading your posts. I can relate to many of your comments but for the moment my Evoque still puts a smile on my face and around these parts it's still a rarity

Thanks everyone for the comments, I will miss the smile it did put on my face, unfortunately there was too many "others things" that didn't make me smile. Hopefully the replacement will make the wife smile again as she drives this car most.

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(09-04-2013 09:12pm)Daigriff Wrote:  Good read XXXX5. I agree with a lot of what you say but am hanging on to mine whilst it still keeps a smile on my face and hope prices don't fall too far by the time I come to change. Also I don't see that many around where I am.

What have you bought and I presume you sold privately?

All the best

Dai

A am awaiting delivery of a JCW kitted Mini Countryman SD, which my wife will drive. I am due to change my company car later this year, so will get another BMW.
I did sell privately hence the good price achieved.

Sorry your leaving
reliability of mine has been good, no other car i have owned has given me as much pleasure as the evoque the only downside for me is the stratstone dealership.
Hope you enjoy your next car.

Good luck with your next purchase.

I really cannot find the words to use in public how I feel about my dealer.

They were beyond apalling .....................

I changed from BMW and I do not feel I have the confidence to buy another JLR product again, I think I will return to BMW.