Small SUV receives a handful of tweaks in a bid to keep it fresh against upmarket rivals On sale Now Price from £40,080
Lawrence Cheung lawrence.cheung@haymarket.com
EVEN IF YOU currently own a Range Rover Evoque, we’d be impressed if you could identify this updated version from a glance at its exterior. Other than a few new paint colours (including the Corinthian Bronze in our photos) and simplified front and rear light signatures, not a lot announces this mid-life refresh.
You’ll be better off peeking at the interior. It remains as luxurious as before, with plenty of plush, soft-touch materials covering most surfaces, but the biggest visual change concerns the infotainment system. The previous rectangular Pivi Pro 10.0in touchscreen has been replaced by a larger, squarer 11.4in one, running the firm’s latest software.
Its crisp graphics and quick response times are very welcome, but it now has a lot more work to do than before, assuming duties previously taken care of by a secondary lower touchscreen, which is now absent.
This means the climate control, heated seats and drive modes are all now accessed via the infotainment screen. Shortcuts to most of these functions are permanently displayed on each side of the screen, but they’re fiddlier than using the older set-up and it’s all too easy to stab the wrong shortcut icon by mistake.
On the plus side, in place of the missing touchscreen, you’ll now find a lidded storage cubby that houses the wireless phone charging tray that w
