SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.

*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


We review the 2013 Range Rover Evoque 2.0 Si4 Dynamic

Pics by Land Rover

Spoiling you rotten

Ever noticed how you don’t usually think of SUVs as “powerful” in the same sense as you might say certain cars are? There are exceptions, but you get the idea.

Take the 2.0-litre EcoBoost engine in the Range Rover Evoque we drove recently, for example. It develops 177 kilowatts and 340 Newton metres of torque. So what, you ask? Well, the two-litre motor in the sizzling-hot Golf GTI develops 15 kW less than that, and the very desirable 1997cc BMW 328i GT can muster ‘only’ 180 – just three kW more. So let’s just say that the petrol powered Evoque has plenty ponies down there on the farm.

If you insist on being crass, auto-shifting versions of the two cars get up to 100 km/h a second to a second-and-a-half quicker and their maximum speeds are higher; but can they carry the same loads or gallivant along goat tracks? We won’t dignify that with an answer, will we?

As you already know, Evoque shares its Haldex4 all-wheel drive system, six-speed automatic transmission and its terrain response programming with the boxy and less expensive Freelander, so it’s decently capable. Freelander is slightly more off-road oriented with greater ground clearance, sharper approach and departure angles and softer suspension, although breakover angle and wading depth are the same. Being more of an asphalt machine, Evoque offers a little more load space, a spacesaver rather than a fully sized spare wheel and a fifth function on the terrain response selector. It’s called Dynamic Mode and it tunes the suspension to deliver tighter body control with flatter handling and sharper responses.

Exclusive to Dynamic (that word again) versions like our test unit, unique bumpers, sills, grille, tailpipes, and contrasting roof and spoiler colours project a more confident and assertive image. Sportier interiors are based on a darker, moodier environment with splashes of bright contrast colour and leather seats with unique sports detailing. Those fancy bumpers steal a few degrees off its approach and departure angles however, so think before you buy, if planning to go off-road. The package adds just under R7000 to the price of otherwise equivalent Prestige models.

Being a Range Rover rather than one of the poorer cousins, Evoque’s gear selector is a Jaguar-style rotary switch rather than a conventional fore-and-aft stick, and manual override is by means of paddles behind the steering wheel. Suspension is pleasantly firm, providing an excellent ride without compromising one’s fillings over normal street hazards or our regular tenderfoot trail. Day-to-day performance, as promised by the turbocharged engine, is pleasantly quick. Steering is light and responsive, turning in 11,3 metres; about average for an SUV this size.

Spoiling you rotten, the electronic parking brake disengages automatically as you select Drive. Further pampering is courtesy of the usual electric mirrors and windows, a powered tailgate, dual-channel automatic climate control with repeater vents at the back, 11-speaker and 380-Watt Meridian sound system, push-button starting, parallel-parking assistance, parking aids, and powered front seats with three memory settings on the driver’s side. You still have to adjust the steering wheel by hand, unfortunately. If you want that powered too, you need to buy a “real” Range Rover. Space for its intended cargo of five people plus luggage is more than adequate, and all the expected safety kit is included.

Summarising; this multiple award-winning car is quick, spacious, comfortable and safe. It’s a little too Victoria Beckham for this reviewer’s personal taste, but having been informed that he is in a hopeless minority, he can be safely ignored.

Test car from Jaguar-Land Rover SA press fleet

The numbers
Price: R675 000
Engine: 1999 cc, all-aluminium, DOHC 16-valve, inline four-cylinder turbopetrol
Power: 177 kW at 5500 rpm
Torque: 340 Nm between 1750 and 4500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 7,6 seconds
Maximum speed: 217 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 12,2 l/100 km
Tank: 70 litres
Luggage: 575 to 1445 litres

Approach/Departure/Rampover angles: 19/30/22 degrees
Warranty and Maintenance: 5 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.



Comments?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously.