Review: The Range Rover Evoque is Rugged and Fun—And Tight Quarters for Four

I just spent a week with the Range Rover Evoque in Dynamic SE trim. Translation: This is the up-leveled Evoque, but both the base and Dynamic SE get the same, 246-horsepower 2.0-liter four. Naturally, I drove it around town and on the interstate, but this is a Range Rover.

It has to earn its cred, so I did a bit of off-roading, too, to test out how it works on rougher terrain. For an as-tested sticker north of 60 large ($61,615, with the extra goodies this unit had), I wanted to know if there’s a legitimate reason to go with the legendary British label. Remember: A Lexus NX350 starts at $45,525, and is a pretty strong seller in this segment. And there’s also a gussied-up BMW X1, and even the steadfast 2025 Mini Countryman to fend off. So is the baby-est Rover worthy?

First Impressions: Beauty More than Skin Deep

This was an acquired taste. If you’ve seen a Defender, you think: RANGE ROVER. Literally, the ALLCAPS button is activated in your brain. That doesn’t happen with the Evoque. It evokes, well, petite ute small-caps thoughts. But there is no doubt that if you’re a fan of rose gold (technically, Corinthian Bronze), the baby Rover is pretty, and the paint is oceans deep.

Furthermore, the cabin is an excellent place for a driver to do business, with firm seats that hug you in corners but aren’t so sporty that you’d beef about spending an entire day scooting around. One day, I spent several hours behind the wheel running multiple, tedious errands. No worries: Each time I stepped aboard I was in Business Class (upper case B, upper case C).

2025 Range Rover Evoque Exterior Dimensions

Driving Impressions And Performance

The throttle tip-in for the 246-horsepower 2.0-liter four is immediate. And you’ve got a nice, wide torque band, with 269 pound-feet on tap from 1,300-4,500 RPM. So gusto, when you’re darting around town, is excellent. Nine, closely-spaced gears mean the motor is never hunting for propulsion. Well, not exactly, never.

Getting to 60 MPH takes roughly seven seconds, which isn’t slow, but Land Rover used to sell the Evoque with a 296-horsepower motor, and you can tell why. Luckily, although more communicative steering would be swell, the car does handle decently, even though it came fitted with all-season tires (Pirelli Scorpion Zeros).

You get a fair bit of just-off-center lean, so at first, it takes some trust that the commotion will settle. Indeed, it actually does, but because all the signals come back dampened and quiet, this isn’t a car that’s designed for hard charging. It’ll do it, but there’s no Red Bull-addled gremlin under the hood shouting encouragement. In fact, the raspy engine note is probably the one larger demerit I’d prefer. Small in-line fours can sound awesome, but this one doesn’t.

Off-Tarmac Joyousness

A Subaru Outback Wilderness has 9.3 inches of ground clearance. Here you get merely 8.3 inches of it. Still, there are a bunch of modes on tap for the muck, so I took the Evoque onto some snowy and icy two-track. It wasn’t exactly rock-crawling terrain, nor is the tiny ute made for that, but you do get dedicated modes for grass/gravel/snow, as well as sand and mud and ruts. In snow mode, there’s a bit of throttle delay as you’re starting in a higher gear, but wisely, Land Rover engineers know about driving in slippery terrain, so they retard traction control, biting off the AWD’s ability to spin the tires to gin up momentum.

On-board hill-descent control lets you relinquish crawling up or down a grade to the vehicle and just steer. (You adjust the speed through cruise control.) That was pretty handy over rockier terrain when we were really hemmed in by trees and finding the exact line was a little delicate. Never fear: Here, Land Rover’s unique camera angle that lets you virtually delete the forward view of the hood enables you to place the tires very precisely, and another camera angle lets you see both front wheels as they pivot off-center while steering. Not having to also manage your speed reduces the multitasking burden, and it all works beautifully.

2025 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Technical Specifications

2025 Range Rover Evoque Fuel Economy

Yeah, we’re a bit picky. We’d appreciate more horsepower, but also think the 20 city and 27 highway MPG isn’t amazing. Since it was mostly not too cold during my testing and didn’t hammer it especially hard, I didn’t see the car waver much from these numbers (using the onboard computer). Though anyone who does a bunch of off-roading will know it’s not kind to fuel economy. The reason to be a little harsh about a combined 22 EPA is that a lot of the Evoque’s competitors do a bunch better.

Interior Design and Comfort: It’s a Great Place to Sit—in the Front

On the pro side, whether you’re parked riding shotgun or parked behind the wheel, the powered and heated front perches are excellent. And, no lie, when it’s cold out, the heated leather steering wheel is also very friendly. Plus, Land Rover seems to have figured out that shorter humans want a steering wheel that can be lowered enough to see comfortably over the tiller, and taller humans don’t want that, and when I put a taller friend at the wheel, he could also get comfortable. Wow!

Also great: The Meridian sound system ($450), a 14-speaker unit with dual subwoofers that has tack-sharp clarity, as well as big-bass depth. If you’re springing for this baby, get the upgraded audio system. Period.

Both a Mini Cooper Countryman and a BMW X1 offer three more inches of backseat room. I asked a six-foot-tall friend to sit behind his driver’s seat settings. He could do it, but it was no fun.

Interior Dimensions

Technology And Ease Of Use: It’s All On The Screen

Land Rover’s Pivo system embeds all functions in the touchscreen. There are pros and cons to this. The upside is it’s perfectly executed. Land Rover, rather than get too clever, simply copied what works on our phones. That means getting out of any “app” in the car’s menu structure is just a tap of the square home button away. And, wisely, Land Rover retains a few backtrack icons for climate and other functions, so you’re fewer taps away from adjusting, say, your seat heater.

The downsides are real, however, too. There’s no volume button, independent of the scroll wheel on the steering wheel, or a quick mute, or the ability to advance tracks, etc. It’s all on the screen, which means that anyone riding beside you cannot make changes quickly. None of this is a tragedy, but as other carmakers have learned lately, all screens and no buttons make customers unhappy, and if you’re spending $61,000 on a Range Rover, you want to be very happy.

Cargo And Storage Space: Coach Capacity at a Business-Class Sticker

This is a small car that rides tall. That’s pretty much the gist of the matter. Cargo capacity behind the second row just barely bests that of a Golf GTI. All-wheel-drive cars that joust directly against this small Rover, the BMW X1 and the Audi Q5, both do marginally better than the Evoque, both in maximum capacity and behind the second row. Both those cars ride on a more responsive chassis, too, and in the case of the Audi, it’s also more powerful, even in base trim. Props to Land Rover for giving the Evoque 40/20/40 split seats, though, because that at least means you can keep two aft passengers and stuff skis or other long objects into the cabin.

One other demerit: The Evoque doesn’t have especially handy front storage, either. There’s a bin beneath the center armrest and another location for wireless or wired phone charging, but a lack of center cup storage and, in general, tight quarters, make the Evoque less appealing when you stack this car against simply roomier alternatives.

2025 Range Rover Evoque vs. Audi Q5 vs. Range Rover Defender

The Evoque is a good car. The issue is it’s long in the tooth, having first gone into production in 2019. Plus, it’s cramped inside. It’s also not very quick, and rivals, like the 2024 Audi Q5, have been updated more recently. The newest Q5 just debuted and its base price of $46,695 undercuts the base Evoque by three grand. Plus, it’s more powerful, with 268 horsepower, and it gets better fuel economy, yielding a combined 26 MPG. Oh, and it’s also roomier, too, and it has about the same amount of ground clearance. All of this argues against the Evoque.

Sure, there’s still a fine-gauze mystique to the Range Rover label, but if that’s your jam, go get a Defender instead. It’s more expensive, but the out-the-door price of our test Evoque was $61,615. You’re right that a Defender isn’t as nimble on the pavement, but it’s way better off of it, far roomier, and spunkier, and boy does it turn heads. The Evoque is merely fine. The Defender, no doubt, is the genuine article.