2023 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Performance

The 296-hp mild-hybrid turbocharged four-cylinder engine is used a sole model, the HST. Every other Evoque besides the HST is powered by a more traditional 246-hp version of the same engine, sans the electric help.

Performance is acceptable. Land Rover claims that the standard car is capable of getting from 0 to 60 mph in seven seconds and reaching a top speed of 143 mph. The HST is not much faster and is claimed to reach 60 mph in 6.5 seconds. Every model in the range comes as standard with a nine-speed automatic transmission. That's relatively quick, but the four-wheel-drive Evoque is more than just a relatively quick pretty face. Under the specifications section on Land Rover's website, you'll find all sorts of information not usually available for compact luxury SUVs. We're talking wading depth, off-road geometry, and roof-carrying abilities. More on that later, but for now, we'll just say that the Evoque has a maximum towing capacity of 3,968 lbs.

The entire Evoque range is powered by the same 2.0-liter turbocharged four-pot engine, coupled to a nine-speed automatic transmission. Outputs of 246 hp and 269 lb-ft of torque apply to the S, SE, and R-Dynamic models. On the HST, this engine is supplemented by a mild-hybrid system to produce 296 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. It's interesting to note that the Evoque's cousin, and one of its main rivals, the Jaguar E-Pace, is available with the same two powertrains. In terms of power output, the Rangey is not the least potent competitor nor the most powerful.

At lower speeds, the gearbox is sluggish. As the standard Evoque's maximum torque output is available from an extremely low 1,300 rpm, we find this odd. And with nine gear ratios to work with, the car should have been a joy in all situations. Instead, the gearbox hesitates too much at slow speed, which results in an almost unpleasant city driving experience. The gearbox is more capable at higher speeds and makes merging onto the freeway and overtaking easy. The HST does offer more bottom-end torque, thanks to the hybrid assistance.

One of the main reasons manufacturers moved over to small-capacity turbocharged engines is better gas mileage. To demonstrate this, we'd like to take you back to 2012, just before the Evoque's introduction. Back then, Land Rover's smallest offering was the LR2, equipped with a 3.2-liter naturally-aspirated six-cylinder engine. According to the EPA, it could manage 15/22/18 mpg city/highway/combined.

Nearly a decade later, and after dropping two cylinders, the Evoque comes with EPA estimates of 20/27/22 mpg. The HST should return around 21/26/23 mpg. That's a significant improvement, and the new engine is more powerful. The Evoque is equipped with a 17.7-gallon tank, which means a theoretical range of between 389 and 407 miles between refills on the combined cycle.