Range Rover Evoque review - Interior & comfort
Superb refinement and lots of technology, although entry-level models lack desirable features
As the Evoque is focusing on being more luxurious than ever, the interior offers plentiful amounts of comfort and luxury for long journeys. Land Rover has added extra sound insulation and suppressed the tyre noise, so the Evoque is incredibly refined - even at motorway speeds and above. If you’re upgrading from the previous model, you’ll notice how much quieter this new Evoque is.
The car we first tested rode on 21-inch alloy wheels and featured expensive adaptive suspension, and it certainly hid most bumps very well. But the adaptive suspension is necessary to make the Evoque ride well on such large wheels. We've also driven an Evoque with 20-inch wheels on British roads and found it rode exactly how you'd hope a baby Range Rover would, smoothing out bumps especially well in its comfort setting.
Range Rover Evoque dashboard
The Evoque may be the most attainable Range Rover, but almost all of the dashboard is shared with the larger Velar. Prior to the 2023 update, most Evoques came with a pair of touchscreens on the centre console and a further screen behind the steering wheel that replaces traditional dials. After this update, the Evoque reverted to a single 11.4-inch touchscreen with all the features of the double setup bundled in. Everything looks modern and stylish, and the main dashboard fascia feels premium thanks to the use of soft-touch materials, easily putting it ahead of any of its rivals.
Equipment
The old entry-level Evoque has been removed so now the lineup starts from S trim. This gets LED headlights, rain-sensing wipers, flush deployable door handles that retract when you drive off, front and rear parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, a 10-inch infotainment screen with Land Rover’s Pivi Pro operating system, heated leather seats, traffic sign recognition, a premium Meridian stereo system and connected sat nav.
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Step up to either of the SE and HSE trim levels though, and you’ll get plenty more standard kit to play with. Both trims add auto high-beam assist, a powered tailgate, the Touch Pro Duo touchscreens mentioned above, digital dials, memory seats and a parking assistance pack, which also includes a 360-degree camera and rear traffic alert. Both also get 20-inch alloy wheels and animated LED indicators. Edition specification adds lots of sporting styling touches including gloss black wheels.
HSE adds keyless entry, an Interior Luxury Pack, a Meridian sound system, blind-spot warning, adaptive cruise control and Land Rover’s clever ClearSight digital rear mirror. A camera on the roof allows the rear mirror to ‘hide’ whatever you have in the back seats or boot.
For cars that don’t have this feature as standard, it’s likely that many people will choose to add it in. The Evoque’s shape means the rear window is still little more than letterbox-sized, so the reversing camera comes in handy when manoeuvring. You can flick back to a normal mirror, if you wish.
Top-spec Autobiography models up the wheel size to 21 inches and add heated rear seats to keep rear passengers warm in the winter.
Options
When using Land Rover’s online configurator, you could easily spec your Evoque to a very high spec and a very high price. There are hundreds of options to choose from, including different wheel designs, a panoramic sunroof, a heads-up display and multiple driver assistance packs. You can also add plenty of Land Rover branded merchandise and accessories, a digital TV and a smaller fuel tank, amongst the many available choices.
As for seat and upholstery choices, there are no fewer than 97 options to pick from on a base-spec Evoque, with several sustainable leather alternatives.
Technology
The Evoque offers plenty of technology, both as standard and in the options list. In terms of safety assistance, a range of features including automatic emergency braking are fitted on even the cheapest entry-level model. Elsewhere, the myriad of cameras means the Evoque can offer tow-bar connection assistance, a 360-degree parking aid and wading depth assistance when off-road.
Accessed through the new 11.4-inch touchscreen, Land Rover’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment operating system works very well indeed, with menus that are easy to navigate and quick responses to taps of your finger. The new single-screen arrangement (earlier Evoques used a pair, one above the other) looks good too and frees up console space, but it’s not all good news – there are no longer physical dials for adjusting the temperature, and while you still get a button on the new steering wheel, the volume control has to be changed via the screen too. It’s a little more distracting to use as a result.
