Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Prestige Review
She's in fashion

Go to any major motor shows and you’ll be swarmed with concept cars. More often than not, these concept studies are nothing more but thinly disguised versions of upcoming production models.

While there are some concept cars out there that go past the bean counters and into production virtually unchanged, there are some that will look visually less exciting when they go into production. Range Rover though has a habit of putting its concept study models into production virtually unchanged. The Range Stormer concept for example went to become the Range Rover Sport albeit with two extra doors while the Land Rover LRX concept from the 2008 Detroit Motorshow is now the Range Rover Evoque.

Thanks to its LRX concept car looks, the Evoque has been one of the most highly anticipated SUVs in recent times and it is now on sale here in both two-door coupe and five-door forms. Both body styles are available in three trim levels – Pure, Prestige (the version tested here) and the sporty Dynamic.

If you’d Google for images of the LRX concept, I’m sure you’ll agree that the Evoque pictured here looks exactly like the car in those images bar running on smaller wheels. It is the Evoque’s nose that will capture anyone’s attention first and foremost – those slim wraparound headlamps housing arc shaped LED daytime running lights, a slimmer, less upright version of the Range Rover grille, LED fog lamps just look plain gorgeous. Along the flanks, the Evoque shows off its massive wheel arches, the wraparound bonnet’s obvious shut line above the front wheel arches, the short overhangs as well as a roofline that gently slopes downwards towards the rear. The rear windscreen is a pretty small affair while the rear wiper neatly hides under the cover of the sizable roof spoiler.

Other than their different wheels, Pure, Prestige and Dynamic models can be differentiated by the colour of the grille – different shades of grey for Pure and Prestige and satin black for Dynamic. In addition, Dynamic models feature a deeper and sportier aerodynamic kit. Two-door coupe models can be further differentiated by the lower roofline at the rear as well as their bonnet vents. The latter look like they are come from the Jaguar XFR.    

In Prestige trim and running on optional 20-inch wheels, the Evoque just looks marvelous. This is one car that’ll make you walk around it to admire its design details each and every time before you get into it and drive off.