Range Rover Evoque

Make
Land Rover
Segment
SUV

It may be hard to believe, but the Range Rover Evoque has been on the market since 2011. Unlike other cars that haven't been redesigned in six years, the Evoque looks incredibly up-to-date. Still, Land Rover is getting ready to reveal an updated Evoque for the 2019 model year. This new Evoque should adopt the styling cues of the stunning Range Rover Velar. Demand for the Evoque certainly hasn't tapered off, and it is still Land Rover's best-selling SUV. That said, there are few features that we'd like to see when the next Evoque arrives.

Despite being one of the most futuristic SUVs on the road, the Range Rover Evoque actually has a very conventional 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Even with a nine-speed automatic transmission, the Evoque only gets 21 mpg city and 29 mpg highway. For such a small SUV, these aren't very impressive numbers. We'd like to see Land Rover improve the Evoque's fuel economy figures. Unfortunately, the new Evoque will ride on the D8 platform, which is unable to accommodate any form of electrification. Land Rover will have to find some other clever way to improve the car's fuel economy. Perhaps the US will finally get the diesel Evoque?

Even with a 240 hp 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, the Evoque isn't a very quick SUV. The Evoque takes 7.1 seconds to get to 60 mph and over 15 seconds to complete the quarter-mile. We think that the standard engine in the Evoque should be a little bit more powerful. The Evoque isn't a sports car, but a 20-30 hp bump would make it a bit more exhilarating to drive. The new Evoque should come with around 270 hp and a mid six-second 0-60 mph time. It would also be nice if Land Rover offered two states of engine tune like JLR does with many of its models. This way, people who want more power can simply pay a bit more.

Land Rover should let its SVR tuning department get its hands on the Evoque. We have seen what JLR's tuning division is capable of with the new 518-hp Discovery SVX. We know that the mighty 5.0-liter supercharged V8 wouldn't fit into the tiny Evoque, but we'd love to see the 2.0-liter engine tuned up to 300-350 hp. An Evoque SVR would help make the Evoque a true performance luxury SUV in the segment. SVR could add bigger brakes, a sportier suspension and other upgrades that would make the Evoque even better.

The Evoque may not look like a model that needs a refresh, but the infotainment system is a bit of a weak spot. Land Rover hasn't yet replaced the Evoque's old 8.0-inch infotainment system. JLR has rolled out a new 10.0-inch system called Touch Pro. This system is much more modern looking and doesn't suffer from the same performance issues as its predecessor. We'd like to see Land Rover give the Evoque the the same set of digital controls that are found in the new Velar. This replaces many of the old-school buttons and switches with an HD display. This should make the Evoque's interior feel more upscale and high tech.

So far, all of our choices have been pretty likely to appear on the next Evoque. For our finally option, we wanted to pick something that was extremely unlikely. In Europe, the Evoque has always been available with a six-speed manual transmission. We doubt that Land Rover would bring this transmission choice to the US, but it would be extremely unique. The manual transmission would be excellent with a performance SVR model, but we doubt that this combination will ever happen.