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+--- Thread: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) (/Thread-Cardiff-tomorrow-Tues-16th)
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - whizzer - 17-08-2011 12:44pm
Informative review . Sounds nice
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - Blackseries - 17-08-2011 12:52pm
(17-08-2011 12:30pm)gmaker Wrote: What did you think about the autobox? I've read some reviews that don't rate it very high, saying its sluggish and hunts up and down the box? Lot's of people are expecting LR to introduce the 8-speed from the Jag to solve this.
I suppose it depends what you want this car for. I don't see the Evoque as a sports car (not with the SD4 engine anyway) I drove it in a way that I felt appropriate for a car like this ..... ie swift but not gung ho and I found the gearbox absolutely fine. The gearbox didn't once make me think there was a problem. In Sports mode it was a bit frenetic (with Dynamic mode) and to my mind it didn't really suit the diesel engine – IMO a Range Rover should be about relaxed competence rather than scratching thrills. Prior to the Unleashed day I was a bit concerned about the mpg - but a car with 1500 miles on the clock being driven on motorways and 30 -50 mph B roads coming in at 30 -35 wasn't too bad.
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - Pricy147 - 17-08-2011 03:53pm
Also at the Cardiff show yesterday. Turned up in my TTRS, so performance wise the RR was never going to live up - but tried to keep that in mind (its a Yaris its replacing after all !!!)
My biggest surprise was how high up you are. Ok, I came in a sports car, but the TTRS isnt all that low (not like a Lotus), but in the RR, I felt like I was in a small van! You could see over the hedges, and I was just amazed!
I was dissapointed they only had automatics to test drive as we have the manual on order - and I have never really been a fan of auto's anyway. I did find the changes a bit sluggish, and it took a while to kick in when you floored it. Hopefully much better in the manuel where you have more control.
Definately think the Titanium alloys are far nicer than standard chrome - so will be 'trying' to make an order change there.
Detested the 'blinged up' shiny silver alloys - unless you are Mr T - no go!
Although that car didnt feel rapid - not much would coming from the TT - it was reasonably quick - a little deceptive to be honest. Quite reasonable.
Visibility wasnt too bad - just a case of getting used to the vehicles dimensions.
White does look good - possibly the nicest colour - but with the amount of white Evoque's likely to be sold - glad we went for Firenze Red.
Red interior, on Red exterior definately too much - as though - they had an example there.
Still undecied on 2 vs 3 seats in the back of the Coupe.
There was a rattling noise in our vehicle - seemed to be the pan roof. Hopefully that wont occur in the final builds.
Got quite a few looks in the car - as expected with the hype surrounding the launch.
All in all - quietly pleased. Not blown away - but not dissapointed either.
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - Charlie - 17-08-2011 05:45pm
Great reviews, cheers.
Glad it lived upto expectations Blackseries
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - Deekster - 17-08-2011 06:07pm
Pricy 147
I note your comments about the car's performance with the auto box and your view that it will be better with a manual box. Have you seen how much quicker the auto version is against the manual? The 0 - 60 is considerably quicker with the auto. I also drove the SD4 Auto and thought it was great and I am replacing a 2.0T Audi Q5 DSG. OK, the auto diesel Evoque is not as quick as the auto petrol Q5 but it is more than adequate and will be much kinder on the fuel.
Anyway, whichever version you choose, you will, just like the rest of us, be more than satisfied with your Evoque.
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - 3VOQU3 - 18-08-2011 01:50am
I think 0-60 times can send mixed messages,
Your measuring basically just flooring it up to a speed.. Obviously the auto changes quicker in this style of driving.. But when your driving around town i think the manual allows for much better control and you get to shift when you want to, not when the gearbox wants to..
Each to their own..
Thats said, if your sitting bumper to bumper or just want a leisurely drive somewhere the auto would be the way to go..
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - mark_n - 18-08-2011 02:34am
Anyone get to try an Si4?
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - Alex - 18-08-2011 07:51am
Got back from the Cardiff event last night and thoroughly enjoyed it - impressed with the overall effort LR has placed in their pre-launch marketing/events, I do not know if any other car manufacturer has placed this much creative and diverse marketing in a pre-launch.
We drove the SD4 Dynamic Coupe, even though we have ordered a 5-door, we thought might as well take it for a spin. We arrived early so we had a pick of any vehicle and I was in two minds about choosing the petrol (SI4) – despite my order for the SD4 I’m toying with the idea if I should change it to petrol. As mentioned in the previous threads/posts the route was pre-planned in the Sat Nav, so once the briefing was finished we took off around Cardiff for our 55 minute drive.
My wife drove first and I sat and messed around with the features, and swapped over at the designated driver swap over point.
Sat Nav - I was impressed with the features and the voice assisted directions was clear and precise. I liked the fact how the voice assistance warned you of your upcoming turning, then a summary of where you were heading after the turning, the voice assistance was softer and less mechanical in its overall sentence construction/directions than other sat nav systems.
On the screen you could split the views with a choice of three options. So for instance you could split the screen into two views, showing a zoomed in map view, and the other view zoomed out. You could also customise the view to include a text map directions running alongside the map view, which included a sand timer as you approached the various upcoming junctions. There was also 2D/3D options as well, and overall I thought it was very intuitive.
Audio System – We had the 825w Meridian Sound System (I’m sure all the cars had it) and it sounded great! I’m familiar with sound environments and acoustics etc (worked as an engineer in the audio industry). For some reason the default EQ settings including Sub were maxed and needed tweaking, so at first the bass was completely out (there could have been some compression settings as well, but didn’t delve in deep enough to explore). However once adjusted I plugged in my iPhone and played various genres to test out the overall quality. I thought the system sounded good and have no regrets with my upgrade decision.
It’s funny but when a LR assistant was walking around with a CD to demo the sound systems we sat in one car and he gave me a test, but occasionally it would break out with a wobbling bass sound causing some vibrations in the car. At that point I’m guessing out of the box it needs some calibration. But he also showed me how you could play tunes via your iPhone using the Bluetooth streaming, that was good, but the streaming comprised some of the bit data so you didn’t track information, also there is probably comprise on sound performance. But I guess it depends how fussy you are.
Again I think the Meridian upgrade is worth it/advisable, but I didn’t hear the standard audio system to do a full benchmark.
Comfort – I first sat in the passenger seat as my wife drove. She was nervous at first mainly due to the small view in the rear, and felt worried about the big mirrors. I admit when sitting in the car they look or appear too big for its size. When driving for the first time you do feel slightly unaware of your space/size on the road when driving next to other vehicles as the mirrors perhaps make you feel slightly wider than you actually are. We were told by a LR assistant that they were that big to composite for the reduced/narrow view in your rear. Either way it just takes some getting used to, only main complaint from me is it appears to create a new blind spot that I didn’t know previously could exist due to mirror size, again could be something that one has to get used too.
Our Dynamic didn’t have the Dynamic Plus seats, but the standard Dynamic seats. The seats were comfortable; and we had the cirrus/lunar interior (however I was not overly impressed by the colour scheme, and ironically this was out initial choice of Dynamic interior). My wife didn’t like the dashboard and thought it looked cheap, but funny enough at the Evoque Live shows when I saw the vehicles in the interior lighted space I didn’t think they fake leather looked that bad. However in daylight the fake leather dashboard material was more noticeable, I think it would have been fine if they didn’t try to make it look like a leather dash with the stitching, do not understand why they couldn’t have comprised on a different dash layout – i.e. something that was not trying to be something else, but something in its own right. I’m glad I choose the Dynamic Plus, and if not choosing the Plus then perhaps having seeing the interiors in daylight I would have gone for the Prestige.
We played around with the various suspension settings or adaptive dynamics, and as a passenger I didn’t really notice that much difference (when driving you did feel the difference). In adaptive mode or not, the 20” wheels we had felt a lot more comfortable than the 19” in our current SUV. I have no regrets in not downsizing to the 19” wheels.
When I drove I tried out the sports mode, and paddle shifting – which was fun. On one instance when pulling out from a busy roundabout I had to wait some time to find a gap in the traffic. At this point I had the car in normal drive mode, and when pulling out I have to admit I was thinking come on faster, faster!! After that first instance or shall I say lack of confidence I decided to place it in sports mode and used the paddle shifts to speed away quicker when needed. However at faster speeds when on the dual carriage way you could feel the cars performance a lot more than in the 0-30 driving environment, and I easily climbed to 70 from 50 a lot faster than in my Kuga.
Looking back I wished I tried the petrol version to have answered that question running in the back of my head if I have made the wrong choice as most of our driving is in town at lower speeds. But then again this is a SUV hybrid and not a sports car so I guess if I want something faster I should buy something else.
When driving on the dual carriage way we turned the off the stereo to hear the interior sound quality. And it was fairly quiet. I read some previous mentions of people hearing some vibrational noises but we didn’t hear a thing. The diesel engine sounded fairly quiet and at lights we put our windows down to see what if there was any noticeable noise and to be honest it’s a lot quieter than our current diesel.
I didn’t have any complaints about the gear changing as mentioned above. Apart from that one instant at that roundabout which I compensated by the paddle shifting, I think the auto gear box was fine. But I guess like my interest in the audio it can be subjective and depends on your style and what you want.
The only problem I had when driving was moving my foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal. I noticed the tip of my foot was catching on I assume some of the steering wheel column plastic housing. I do not have big feet (5’10 with size 10 shoes). My wife didn’t have the problem, and I forgot to mention this to the LR people when we got back. But what was happening was when pivoting/angling my heal to brake, the tip of my shoe (toe end) was hitting/rubbing something and preventing my foot from applying the brake comfortably.
To compensate for this I had to consciously think how I applied my foot on the brake. I have been driving for 20 years (auto and manual) and I never had a problem like this before so would be interested to know if anyone else noticed that.
Other interior features – air con was air con, but it felt more zoned around you than in our current car, also the temperature control felt more sensitive and not to hot or too cold. I have to admit this could just be me and my lack of experience in more expensive vehicles, but I have always had a pet hate about various climate control features in the previous cars we have owned. The Evoque appeared to have resolved that issue for me. There was not that much room for small items, and I guess shades, maybe nibbles, or other small paraphernalia you may include on your driving journeys would more than likely have to go in the glove compartment. The centre arm rest area I guess would have enough room to leave your sun glass case, wallet, phone etc, but the interior was not screaming out with storage space. But it’s a small car and to be expected I guess.
The seat memory was a nice feature and I didn’t realise the passenger side had 3 memory functions as well, were in the Coupe so I’m not sure if that’s the same in 5-door – i.e. perhaps one of the memory functions on the passenger side is to slide the seat forward. As I said I’m 5’10 and for me the driving and sitting as a passenger was comfortable, I did not in any way feel cramped, and have no reservations about ride comfort. When looking over our shoulder at the rear the seat area did look smaller than say the 5-door, but this could be more of an allusion a bit like the car width when driving due to the mirror size. If I had a choice and we were not expecting a child, or maybe rear passengers I would have definitely chosen the Coupe, but either way the 5-doors looked just as nice.
Overall impressions – the event was great, and I’m so pleased we had that opportunity to drive the vehicle (the terrapod course was an experience in itself, all I can say is wow, definitely booking a driving experience day with Land Rover!!). I’m still in two minds about the petrol version and despite being given my order date for November I do not know if I could change anyway.
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - SebM - 18-08-2011 07:59am
(18-08-2011 02:34am)mark_n Wrote: Anyone get to try an Si4?+1 !!
RE: Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th) - XFullFatTim - 18-08-2011 09:11am
Quote:definitely booking a driving experience day with Land Rover!
Alex, have a chat with your dealer as some will book and pay for you to go if you have a good dealer