Range Rover Evoque Convertible 2016 Review

Range Rover Evoque Convertible Si4 and TD4
Australian Launch
Fraser Island, Queensland

The idea of an open-top four-wheel drive isn't new – just ask owners of the Jeep Wrangler and the handful of Americans that bought Nissan's short-lived Murano cabrio. Nor is the concept of an SUV that blurs the line with another vehicle type such as a coupe new – just look at the inexplicably popular BMW X2, X4 and X6, the Mercedes-Benz GLC and GLE Coupes, and the Range Rover Evoque Coupe itself. Now that very vehicle has spawned what Land Rover claims is the world's first premium compact convertible SUV and premium is the operative word. The British off-road specialist is charging significantly more for the Evoque Convertible, which it says offers a unique design statement that will be irresistible for a small group of mostly female convertible buyers. Four-cylinder petrol and diesel versions are offered – both with an automatic transmission and all-wheel drive as standard – priced from a handsome $84,948.

Would you pay at least $85,000 – or potentially well over $100,000 with options -- for a small luxury SUV with a folding soft-top roof?

We wouldn't, but Land Rover already has almost 100 customers that will, and expects the Evoque Convertible to attract up to 200 Australian buyers annually.

Most of them are well-heeled, fashion-conscious females that would normally buy convertibles, which makes one wonder why Land Rover is spruiking the drop-top Evoque's go-anywhere capabilities so loudly.

If nothing else, the first convertible in Range Rover's 45-year history is certainly unique, and it probably also lives up to the company's claim of being the world's most capable all-terrain convertible.

To that end, after staging the global launch in the snow of the French Alps earlier this year, Land Rover chose Queensland's Fraser Island for the Australian media launch of the Evoque Convertible this week.

It made for a unique photographic backdrop, even if it went against the first rule of sand or mud driving (keep you windows closed; yes, with their tops down, the interiors of all cars were quickly filled with sand and sea spray) and didn't really test their off-roading ability.

The fact was that after recent rain, even a two-wheel drive vehicle with decent ground clearance and recommended tyre pressures would have easily traversed the inland sand tracks of the world's biggest sand island.

But if nothing else we learned it's certainly a head-turner, especially on an island frequented almost exclusively by Toyota Troopies and 4x4 tourist coaches, with the flush-fitting soft-top accentuating the Evoque's undeniably sexy lines.

And, for what it's worth, we've driven the standard, five-year-old Evoque enough to know it has the ground clearance, approach/departure angles and all-wheel drive system – aided by Land Rover's five-mode Terrain Response traction system – to easily make it the most off-road capable convertible this side of a Wrangler.

Of course, the Rangie cabrio will spend most of its life on bitumen, perhaps navigating Gold Coast suburbia, Sydney's northern beaches or outer Melbourne wineries in spring time. And in these environments the Evoque Convertible is not only fit for purpose, but will stand well out from the crowd.

But there's a high price for making such a statement. First, it loses a rear seat and can only carry four occupants. Then there's cargo capacity, which shrinks from 550 litres to a meagre 251 litres, which is still pretty handy for a convertible.

However, it's not augmented by the split/folding rear seats of the Evoque hard-top and offers only a small through-loading ski-port.

There's also a sizeable price penalty for the folding soft-top, which is absolutely huge and doesn't look all that great erected, but is fully electric and can be operated at speed of up to 50km/h – even if it takes a long 18 seconds to stow and an even longer 21 seconds to raise.

All models come well equipped with seven airbags, stability/traction control, anti-lock brakes and rollover stability control, plus Jaguar's new high-resolution 10.2-inch colour touch-screen and InControl Touch Pro infotainment system with smartphone integration, door-to-door navigation and premium sound system as standard.

The entry-level SE Dynamic also comes standard with 17-inch alloy wheels and powered leather front seats, while additional features for the high-spec HSE Dynamic include head-up display, solar windscreen, fog lights, auto high-beam, 18-inch alloy wheels, configurable ambient interior lighting, illuminated Rangie tread plates, bright pedals and heated and cooled front seats with 12-way power adjustment.

But buyers must pay extra for metallic paint ($1870), any of the seven bright premium metallic paint colours ($3750, including the orange hue pictured here), LED headlights ($3820), a host of 19- and 20-inch alloys ($2010-$4690) and a windbreak ($600).

More sadly, a host of driver safety aids are optional extras – either as part of a pack or individually – including blind spot monitor ($1460), wade sensing ($720), tyre pressure monitoring ($860) and, for $980, lane keeping assistance, lane departure warning, autonomous emergency braking and driver condition monitor.

Also available is semi-automatic parking ($2360) and a surround camera ($1860), and while adaptive cruise control with queue assist, forward alert and high-speed intelligent emergency braking costs $2680 extra on the HSE Dynamic, these safety features are unavailable for the SE Dynamic.

All this is in addition to the hefty price premium over the equivalent hard-top model -- about $10,000 more at base level and between around $11,000 for the flagship petrol and about $15,000 for the top-spec diesel, which costs $93,195 plus on-road costs.

Both SE Dynamic and HSE Dynamic model grades are available with the option of turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol or diesel engines matched exclusively to a nine-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.

The 177kW/340Nm Si4 petrol engine is easily the pick, even if it delivers less torque than Land Rover's latest 132kW/430Nm Ingenium diesel in the TD4, simply because its better sounding, higher-revving nature suits this car better.

But the performance of both engines is best described as dull, since the extensive reinforcements required to stiffen the Evoque's underbody in lieu of a fixed roof have led to a massive 280kg kerb weight gain, to a hefty 1745kg in HSE petrol form.

Fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions also suffer as a result, increasing from 5.1 to 5.7L/100km and from 134 to 149g/km for the diesel, and from 7.8L/100km and 181g/km to 8.6L/100km and 201g/km for the petrol.

The Evoque's trusty all-steel D8 platform it shares with the Discovery Sport remains a solid, well sorted base, but in this guise it not only feels slower in a straight line and heavier in corners, but flimsier over road holes and bumps, where there's visible windscreen and A-pillar vibration, or 'scuttle shake'.

These are significant shortcomings, but if you're in the market for a stylish convertible that offers the unique ability to also head off-road – and prepared to pay handsomely for it -- then you might also be happy to overlook them.

2016 Range Rover Evoque Convertible pricing and specifications:
Price: From $84,948 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol and diesel
Output: 177kW/340Nm petrol, 132kW/430Nm siesel
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.6L/100km petrol, 5.7L/100km diesel
CO2: 201g/km petrol, 149g/km diesel
Safety rating: Not tested