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Range Rover Evoque P200 S crossover SUV on display at Brussels Expo

The Range Rover Evoque Fails in More Ways Than One

Sometimes a vehicle is simply too good to be true, and the Range Rover Evoque fits into that category. It looks incredibly modern and stylish, has a great brand name, and can hit the trails with some of the best off-road vehicles on the market. So, what’s the problem? Is it too expensive? Does it …

Sometimes a vehicle is simply too good to be true, and the Range Rover Evoque fits into that category. It looks incredibly modern and stylish, has a great brand name, and can hit the trails with some of the best off-road vehicles on the market.

So, what’s the problem? Is it too expensive? Does it have some strange quirks that no mechanic can fix? According to CarFax, there are three reasons why the Evoque drives owners crazy, and none of them have to do with the price range.

Laggy infotainment screen

This may not matter to some people, but for others, it’s more than enough to make them walk away or trade-in a vehicle. It might not be so bad if it only happens every once in a while, but if it happens a lot, then it’s enough to drive you crazy.

According to CarFax, it happens on a regular basis. You can’t play music using Apple CarPlay because it is constantly skipping and stuttering. Doing a simple task such as changing the temperature caused the entire system to crash. 

While it is highly plausible that CarFax simply got an Evoque with a faulty infotainment system, other critics have issues with the system. Edmunds complained about how “slow to react and difficult to use” the infotainment system is. Car and Driver also had issues and stated, “The system is functional and buyers will get accustomed to its quirks, but it suffers from pronounced lag when moving from menu to menu, which irks the impatient among us.” So is it worth the hassle of spending $42,650 on a vehicle that you can’t even play the radio on? Probably not.

Slow response in the engine

Range Rover Evoque P200 S crossover SUV on display at Brussels Expo
The Land Rover Range Rover Evoque | Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty Images

The point of driving a vehicle is to get from point A to point B. Since not everyone drives like a NASCAR driver, it only makes sense that not everyone will care if their vehicle can drive as fast as a McLaren Senna, but you still want to get there at a reasonable pace.

The Evoque sadly fails in this arena. CarFax reports, “In stop-and-go traffic, there’s a few-second delay between pressing the gas pedal and when the Evoque begins moving. That gets annoying. It’s made worse by the engine stop/start system, which adds an extra second of delay each time.”

The whole point of pressing the gas is to go. When you press the gas, and you’re still sitting there, it can get really frustrating, really quickly. The question then becomes, does the Evoque begin to move before you lose your temper?

Lack of room

Having a lack of legroom is to be expected in the economy section of a plane, but in a vehicle you and your family ride in every day, it’s simply unacceptable. It might be fine if everyone jumps in the car to run down to the grocery store, but if you’re going on vacation, this can easily turn into a nightmare.

You can feel cramped, your body is forced into an unnatural position, and if you have three people sitting in the back, you may feel a little claustrophobic. U.S. News reports that Range Rover actually added legroom to the back seat as compared to older models, but it’s still very cramped. In fact, a Lego car would probably give you more legroom than the Evoque does.  

To top it off, the backseat is no longer the safest place in the vehicle. According to the New York Times, the front is now the safest. For many years, everyone assumed that the front seat was more dangerous. The risk of being thrown out of the car is greater in the front. Or, it was until seatbelt technology drastically improved. Now, technology for the backseat is lagging behind, and automakers aren’t stepping up to the plate to make it safer. The lack of legroom plus the lack of safety means the back seat is the last place you want to be in a Range Rover Evoque.