You lot make me laugh, you really do. Everyone sat at home behind their computer saying "oooh look, the Evoque is ****, how horrendous is that" when I bet most of you have not even seen one in the flesh, let alone sat in or driven one.
If any of you were to venture into one of those places where lots of people live called Cities, you would realise that the Evoque is actually a stunning looking car and fits in very well in this environment. Yes it's a bit glitzy and shiney, but no more so than the LED lights adorning the front of current Range Rovers/Sports/Discovery 4's.
It's small, yes - but then it was meant to be smaller than the RR/RRS/D4. It has a smaller engine too, yet its performance figures are pretty respectable, as are its economy and emissions credentials.
Yet despite all its "glitz" and showiness, it still did a respectable, indeed remarkable, job of the offroad test in LRO last month, and the video's online suggests they were not biased. So, it will get people around in the snow or off to the point-to-point at the weekend just as capabaly as anything else in the LR range, and far better than an equivalent BMW/Mercedes/etc.
Now, don't for a minute think I am some townie wanting a shiney bit of four wheeled jewellery to ponce around in. I live out in the sticks and have a 17 year old Range Rover Classic and spend my weekends in my wellies cleaning out the chickens and repairing fences! All I am saying is LR are diversifying into different markets and are doing a damn good job at it too. Every single one of their range is far more capable offroad than any competitor vehicle, which is what LR products are all about.
Love it or hate it, if all LR had done was kept selling Series/Defenders for the past 63 years, they'd have been dead in the water about, ooooh, 30 years ago? So go have a look at an Evoque before jumping on the band wagon, take it for a drive and then come back and tell me its a crock of ****.