What kind of Evoquery is this? (Used)

The Land Rover Evoque Convertible may be the silliest and most pointless convertible one can buy. It sure in hell is one good looking convertible-crossover, but dear lord the price of admission!

The Evoque Convertible uses the same turbocharged 2-liter four-cylinder found in the three-door and five-door variants. It does have plenty of torque at low revs which helps make it quick around town but it doesn’t feel as flexible as the other two when it comes to faster paced roads. You’ll feel like you’d have to push engine harder thanks to the extra weight of the chassis and electric motors to actuate the ragtop. The biggest complaint we had with the Evoque Convertible wasn’t the fault of the car it was the sheer fact that everywhere we went people stared at us and had a million questions to ask about the vehicle. Many of them looked as if this were a monstrosity of a vehicle. Have people never seen a Nissan Murano cross-cabriolet? That was one convertible that was ugly both inside and out but drove actually better than it looked. The Evoque Convertible drives better than the Murano Cross-cabriolet did and it looks better too so it really is a win-win here.

The steering feedback is okay, nothing to really brag about. What we really do like though is how comfortable it is to drive. Despite the roof being chopped off the ride comfort is actually quite good and doesn’t shimmy around like some convertibles we’ve tested. Driving around town with the roof down on Lake Shore Drive was actually one of the most enjoyed driving experiences we’ve had. Despite the lack of horsepower, it wasn’t really short of puff and the fact that we felt even more confident in the corners and bends put a smile on our face. It’s one of those convertibles that is meant to be seen in and well the last leg of our test drive was spend on Michigan Ave aka Magnificent Mile where all the shoppers gagged at how awesome we looked in this convertible. Who says that men can’t look good in a convertible? We certainly felt we rocked the hell out of it.

The driving position is what you’d expect of it. You can see practically in all directions with the top down, with the top up you’ll be thankful for parking aids and blind spot monitoring system which was fitted on our tester car. We hadn’t had the chance to check if this were optional equipment or not but we’re pretty sure that it might’ve been ticked as optional kit. The infotainment system is decent to navigate through and well some of the menus can get a bit confusing; what we didn’t like is how lag luster the response of it was. The navigation system worked on its own time and the Bluetooth flat out refused to connect to our mobile devices. The rear seats are definitely meant for shorter passengers. I myself is 5’8 while my fellow tester was 6’2 and with the seat positioned the way he would feel comfortable meant that you’d have to have your legs chopped off to even think about sitting back there. Small children wouldn’t even dare to sit there either. What’s the rear seat good for? Well a wind shade is about the only thing fitting back there unless you are willing to share out the space or buy a used Murano Cross-Cabriolet. But who wants to drive that ugly lug around?

Our tester car came equipped with 20-inch alloy wheels, smoked finish fog lamps and headlamps, bi-xenon headlamps and heated steering wheel. Heated windshield washer jets and 14-way climate bucket seats were also added into the options list along with a heated windshield. Despite having all these added bits on top of an already decently kitted car the price tag is what made our eyes water, before dealer discount the Evoque Convertible came out with a price tag of nearly $65k! That’s some serious cash for a car that many will only use to flaunt around in the warmer climates and maybe go to the ski resort. You could drive this convertible off-road thanks to the advanced four-wheel-drive system but we don’t even see that happening, too much either. But if you ever did decide you surely can and yes it is capable of holding its own the way a proper Land Rover should.

This has had to be the most interesting vehicle we have ever driven. It certainly has the price tag to appeal only to a select few and while it is just a darling little convertible. We can’t get over how expensive it really is. Dear lord! One can almost have a heart attack just from the price tag alone. But you can’t fault it too much because it is just a smashing vehicle to have had for a short period of time. We wish that all convertibles made you feel this special because this one certainly did.

Likes: This is quite literally the only convertible you can drive on-road and off-road, yet it’s comfortable and luxurious where it matters most. It’s devilishly handsome inside out.

Dislikes: Land Rover Reliability certainly needs improvement. Dear lord! How much does it cost?

Our pick: Go right for the HSE Dynamic because if you have the cash to buy the SE you can certainly spend the extra money to get all the bells and whistles. The version we built on the Land Rover website costs nearly $70k! Yes we do think that the price is insane but we love the way it looks and that alone would’ve encouraged us to consider it if we had money to blow on a car such as this.

Short drive review

Kia Niro

Likes: A hybrid crossover is definitely a smart move on Kia's part. Spacious interior for five with a decently sized boot.

Dislikes: Leisure-hybrid-acceleration. The auto gearbox can be jerky at low speeds.

Overall: It's the hybrid for those who aren't trying to appear snobby.



Land Rover Evoque

Likes: It's stylish and fully capable off-road. The convertible version makes no sense but it looks good.

Dislikes: It can get expensive quickly. Build quality is still iffy no matter how you look at it.

Overall: It's the smallest and the cutest Land Rover of the range.



Honda Accord

Likes: We personally love the way it looks. We love the way it drives and we love the new turbo engines.

Dislikes: Sleek styling makes visibility slightly compromised.

Overall: This maybe the best Accord, ever, and there's a hybrid available.



Alfa Romeo Giulia

Likes: No matter which engine you choose, both are up for the job. Dare we say more fun to drive than a BMW 3-series?

Dislikes: The interior build quality is iffy in build quality. Resale value is weak.

Overall: It's full of Italian flare and charm.



Jeep Compass

Likes: A handsome little thing with real off-road capabilities. The interior is much improved over previous generation.

Dislikes: Engine stop/start isn't very smooth. It needs a 2-liter turbo engine option.

Overall: A decent option in a very crowded segment.

The Great Evoque Buy Back

The story of how we bought a brand new Land Rover Evoque and it proved to be our worse purchase ever.

Despite being very classy inside out, the Evoque may have been the worst choice we’ve ever made. Here’s why:

The Evoque only comes with one engine choice and that’s a 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder pumping out 240hp. The engine doesn’t feel short on puff thanks to high torque at low revs, and it certainly does feel very light on its feet when you’re driving around town or if you decided to put your foot down on the highway. The transmission is nicely geared to the engine and doesn’t feel all that fussy, our only problem with it is that (this is the first time we’ve experienced this with a Land Rover product) is the transmission was leaking oil. We took the vehicle back in to have some repairs done and wasn’t given the vehicle back until three weeks later. This is how we managed to test drive so many different Land Rovers because were constantly in and out of loaner vehicles. Once we gotten our Evoque back from the shop we noticed that again the problems weren’t quite done yet, the engine light came on and shortly after that the whole car completely stalled. We had to phone up Land Rover Dealer (again) and have the Evoque towed and we were given another loaner car. You’d think at a certain point, your investment in an expensive luxury crossover would be rewarding, but so far it has been a nightmare.

Shortly after getting our Evoque back, the issues just didn’t stop there. Early the following morning, we decided to drive over to a wedding near the state line. We were going to take the Evoque since it’s been in the shop now over four times and had less than 1,000 miles on it. The first thing we noticed when turning on the engine is that the gear selector didn’t rise from the console like it normally does. We turned the car off and turned it back on a few times and the gear selector wouldn’t rise from the console. We waited an hour and decided to try again and still the same results, we had to ring up Land Rover Dealer and they gave us another loaner. This is how had managed to get the Range Rover (supercharged eight-cylinder), which in our eyes is the worse vehicle to take on a road trip, but we had an ultra-luxurious Range Rover and went on our way. The dealer phoned us while at the wedding to inform us that our Evoque had some kind of electrical issues and they would have to send it back to the manufacturer to resolve the issue. This didn’t really bother us because what we thought at the time was the vehicle was going to get fixed properly by Land Rover. Boy we were wrong for thinking that!

Our Evoque finally came back from the factory after being there for about six weeks, and we went from the Range Rover to the LR4 which we kept the remainder of the six-weeks. The mechanic promised us that Land Rover fixed our Evoque and we should have no problems at all with the vehicle. I decided since I was off for the day to run some errands and drop by at my parent’s house. The electrical issues that we were promised were resolved were not, the vehicle wouldn’t start. The steering wheel moved up and down and the instrumental panel pretty much had a seizure, all the warning lights flashed and the alarm system kept honking. It was quite embarrassing actually as this wasn’t’ a cheap car to begin with and well to not even be able to go anywhere was what made it even more embarrassing. I had to ring up Land Rover Dealer (again) and get the damn thing towed back to the dealership. They claimed they couldn’t find anything wrong with the car and that it started up normally and was fine, even though the tow-truck driver couldn’t jump start the vehicle and told me he had to bring it in. I got my Evoque back and once again, the problems kept coming. The engine check light came on and stayed on the remainder of the time we owned the vehicle and once again we kept having electrical issues with the gear selector and the headlights kept malfunctioning.
We took the Evoque back to the dealership and yet again they told us that there was nothing they could do about it because the issues couldn’t be ‘fixed’ and well, after sitting at the repair shop for weeks at a time, we were phoned by Land Rover and they offered to buy back our vehicle. We took the offer and got our money back from the purchase and ended up buying a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. We settled on something cheaper this time around since we were planning to move into our new home and needed to save the money.

Don’t get us wrong, we’ve test driven several Land Rover products and we loved them. They are amazing to drive and are such beauties to look at. What we loathe the most is that despite them being so glamorous, they have horrid reliability. The newer ones we've test driven the infotainment systems were a complete disaster.