Land Rover Evoque (photos)

The Evoque was designed to reduce Land Rover's overall carbon footprint, and hence is the smallest Land Rover model ever. Although powered by a four-cylinder engine, the Evoque gets all of Land Rover's off-road tech, along with serious luxury cabin tech.

Wayne Cunningham

Sept. 30, 2010 4:11 p.m. PT

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The Evoque originally appeared in concept form as the LRX. Since then, Land Rover has made little secret about this new model, although we still found some surprises in the production version. Land Rover emphasizes how the little Evoque emits only 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer, helping reduce the company's overall carbon footprint.

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The Evoque gets power from a turbocharged and direct-injection 2-liter four-cylinder engine. Generating 240 horsepower, this engine should be robust enough for the small Evoque.

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Although it may seem that Land Rover has compromised its principles, the Evoque embodies all of the off-road capabilities of its big brothers. Not only does the ride height allow for acceptable breakover angles, the four-wheel-drive Evoque comes with all of Land Rover's off-road systems, and includes a magnetic active suspension.

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Despite the off-road prowess, the cargo area is not particularly large, limiting the amount of safari equipment the Evoque can carry.

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The shifter looks very similar to that used in the Jaguar XF, Land Rover's sister company. With an electronically actuated transmission, it does not need a shift lever. The Evoque also has Land Rover's Terrain Response System, which gives the driver a dial to set the car for different on- and off-road surfaces.

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Paddles behind the steering wheel spokes show that the Evoque has a manual shift mode for its automatic transmission. The d-pad-style controls on the spokes are similar to those used in the new Ford Edge for cabin tech control.

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Land Rover notes that the Evoque has a complete cabin tech system, with Bluetooth phone integration and navigation. But we did see that the buttons for activating these functions are inconveniently placed on the far side of the LCD from the driver.

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These three speakers in the passenger door are a part of the 17-speaker, 825-watt Meridian audio system. Meridian is a new partner for Land Rover.

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Backseat leg room is tight, although the fact that the Evoque is a two-door means the car is not really designed for easy backseat access.

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