The creation of the Range Rover Evoque was a really smart move by Land Rover, and now there’s hardly a posh café without one parked outside – with 170,000 of them sold in just 18 months, it figures.
Its concept-like styling, sumptuous interior and decent driving dynamics really set it apart in its niche, and now it has been made even more appealing courtesy of several “exterior and interior design enhancements, plus new alloy wheel designs,” as well as an efficiency-boosting nine-speed automatic transmission and other novel features.
First off, we have the exterior detail changes, which aren’t hugely noticeable, but the new choice of color options available (like the new gold finish of the car below) will help owners of these new cars differentiate themselves from those of the first-gen model – the new rim designs will also do their part. In addition, the Land Rover badge has been restyled, for some reason…
Then there’s the new 9-speed ZF gearbox which improves fuel consumption by a noticeable 11.4 percent, while dropping emissions by 9.5 percent. These figures are achieved with the help of Active Driveline, “the world’s first ‘on demand’ four-wheel drive system which enhances agility and improves fuel efficiency by operating in front-wheel drive only during steady-state driving at speeds above 22 mph,” says Land Rover.
A Torque Vectoring by Braking feature is also available on all engine options, which incidentally are carried over unchanged from the outgoing model, and its goal is to limit understeer and enhance agility.
Finally, the Indian-owned British manufacturer has also introduced a new system called Land Rover InControl. Optionally available, it “allows owners to trigger an SOS Emergency Call which automatically informs the emergency services of the vehicle’s position, in the event of an accident.”
By Andrei Nedelea
PHOTO GALLERY
