Motorweek is made possible by tire rack long before domestic brands put luxury and off-road prowess in the same sentence there was great britain’s range rover the large uppercross four-by-fours of the land rover empire were and still are the all-terrain choice of royalty but land rover has never been able to infuse a small utility with that same passion capable
Mix neither the freelander nor the lr2 were a success here so in the best tradition they’re trying again welcome to the range rover evoque the ultra-modern lookin 2012 land rover range rover evoque utility is available as both a sleek 3-door and as an only slightly more conservative five-door crossover we chose the sporty or three-door for our test as it is truly
Unlike anything else in the small utility segment riding on a compact wheelbase of 100 4.8 inches about 3 inches less than the range rover sport the unibody evoke looks more sport coupe than crossover our three doors stornoway gray paint job is one of the more sedate colors of the 12 available and while the white roof is optional the full fixed panoramic glass panel
That it surrounds is standard clearly designers put a lot of their passion into the evokes design with a fast wind chill rising beltline wraparound greenhouse and optional 20-inch wheels it even looks sporty from the rear with a high mounted spoiler small clear lens tail lights and lower rear diffuser the thunder under the hood comes from a small but potent 2 liter
I-4 turbocharged and direct injected it puts out a stout 240 horsepower and 251 palliative torque made into a standard 6-speed automatic transmission it was good for our swift zero to 60 time of just 6.7 seconds in our test track the quarter-mile passed in an equally spirited 15.1 seconds at 92 miles per hour there’s no turbo lag at launch and steady power with
Firm shifts made for an enjoyable trip down to 1320 it still sounds like a four-cylinder but a good one steering is electric assisted and provided a nice firm feeling quick turn ins through our slalom course the back end is a little looser than we’d like but it does help you rotate this ute in a hurry and the optional magna ride damping system with active dynamics
In sport setting keeps body roll to a minimum evoke buyers will have a choice of three exterior and interior design themes pure premium and dynamic our top of the line dynamic sported nice-looking leather throughout with contrasting stitching and aluminum trim seats are comfortable and there’s more room in the cabin than it first appears which is also the case in
The rear the three doors folding back seats are not the easiest to access the five-door solves this issue but once you’re in there’s an unexpected amount of space including legroom butwhere utility vehicles are concerned there’s always a price for style behind the standard power liftgate you’ll find room for just 19.4 cubic feet of cargo folding the rear seats will
Get you forty seven point six cubic feet of space but both numbers are among the worst in class while we all know range rovers see much more pavement than dirt there is a heritage to uphold and all evokes come with a full time all-wheel drive system with an electronically controlled haldex center differential to nearly instantly distribute power where it’s needed
Most also standard is land rover’s terrain response system with settings for snow or slippery conditions ruddy trails and sand with hill descent control gradient release control high ground clearance and steep approach and departure angles the evoque is certainly capable of more than most buyers will ever throw it in ride quality falls more to the sporty side
Of the sport luxury equation with a solid composure that gets the evoke the feeling of a much larger suv government fuel economy ratings r18 city and 28 highway we average define twenty five point eight miles per gallon of premium fuel the energy impact scores an average one at fifteen point six barrels of oil consumed per year while producing a carbon footprint
Of eight point five annual tonnes of co2 regrettably all this style and luxury does not come cheap with a base price of forty four thousand nine hundred ninety five dollars for the coupe the five-door is actually cheaper starting at forty one thousand nine hundred ninety five dollars both are pricey for compact utes but are also extremely well equipped the 2012
Land rover range rover evoque is as much form as function and it’s a great format that but moreover the elusive goal of mixing range rover luxury with land rover capability and a small utility seems to have been achieve and that alone ensures that this proper import will evoke a lot of attention you
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Road Test: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque By MotorWeek