Especially in cars more and more talk of deceleration in our hectic time. Often this is supposed to hide only lacking dynamic qualities, but sometimes this effect actually occurs. For example, the new Range Rover Evoque, which came with standard suspension and the average petrol engine (250 hp) for testing, includes its occupants literally with a kind of feel-good bubble.
Soberly considered is the Evoque with its 4.37 meters in length simply a compact SUV. In fact, he feels but a whole class higher – like a purely outwardly compact format abbreviated Nobel SUV. If you have taken a seat on the driver’s seat, there is not much to notice about compactness, because the body looks more opulent from the inside than from the outside. This makes them confusing but also puts you into one of the big brothers of the Evoque.
Of these, he also takes over the control system with the two touchscreens and the variably assigned dials, which is not thought out in the last consequence (so Apple CarPlay blocks the upper display until you pull off the phone cable), but very elegantly designed and after some Acclimation is quite good to act. Only the buttons on the steering wheel proved again and again unsuitable, for example, to operate the complicated on-board computer with the menu on the digital tachometer display, because they often react incorrectly to pressure.
But any trouble about such succinct everyday problems seeped into the thick cotton ball in which one of the Range Rover Evoque packs. You sit relaxed in good leather armchairs (there were also eco-friendly recycling covers) and glides from the standard suspension comfortably sprung and dampened by the landscape. You can hear either excellent sound from the speakers or just not much: Because the interior is finely insulated, hardly penetrates anything from the vile world to inside. Even the two-litre four-cylinder petrol engine keeps in the background.
This is a fine engine at all, which fits well with this version of the Evoque because of its acoustic restraint. On German highways, it lacks in connection with the Neungangautomatik, not emphasis. However, we do not want to conceal that the Range Rover Evoque P250 has missed the specified maximum speed of 230 km / h by 13 km / h (speedometer at GPS-measured 217 km / h: 225 km / h).
Which brings us back to slowing down. Travelling is the domain of the Evoque in this version. You think you are hovering over the highway, you have enough power to not get stressed out when you want to pass one, let’s say, competitors for speeding, but you do not notice much of the pace. So you get relaxed in the evening when you left in the morning.
The whole driving experience is based on decoupling from the hectic outside world, the relationship between driver and world is not direct. But that also means that the steering works rather indirectly and gives little feeling for curve radii. Even a kick on the accelerator, such as at a junction when turning, must first be approved by some instances. You will not often try to get out of the way of approaching cross-traffic.
But it fits the character. Who wants to get to know the sporty side of the Evoque (yes, they are also available), must order the adaptive suspension including dynamics mode. Then the Briton becomes a hero in the Curve, as we were told in March on Greek roads. The character bandwidth is considerable.
So we do not get us wrong: we’re not talking lame here. When sprinting from 0 to 100, only 7.5 seconds pass. Incidentally, the test consumption was 11.5 litres (NEDC consumption 7.9 l / 100 km).
Funny assistance systems
The Range Rover Evoque can do much more than decelerate, such as off-road or make transparent. Yes, really: Using intelligent cameras, he can (for an additional charge) display a transparent image of himself on the display and thus show what is in front of and under the car and where exactly the wheels are currently running. That can also be very helpful in the big city jungle.
It is little things that can sometimes be annoying. The memory buttons for the electrically adjustable driver’s seat are exactly where the driver’s knee is. So you have to save your seating position on all three buttons, so you do not constantly involuntary with the seat moves (that the Lehnenneigung also beyond a life of their own, should have been an isolated case-shrink of the test car). What air conditioning fans will not care much about is that you can not drive with the windows open, because it starts to rumble very soon (unless you also opens another).