Friday was spent at Halewood Operations, part of which gave me a brand new MY20 Evoque that had come on-fleet that morning to play with for a couple of hours.

Those of you that know Halewood will be familiar with the in-house off road track there, and whilst small, really gave me the opportunity to see how far along technology has come in the 5 years that the Freelander has been out of production.

This particular model was an HSE D240 MHEV, and whilst we probably all sneered at the Evoque a few years ago and thought that it was a hairdressers car (and rightly so), this is very much a game-changer.

I wasn't gentle with this vehicle, despite it having only 23 miles on the clock when I got in it, and it coped with just about everything I threw at it in limited space. In particular, I had it at a 27 degree side tilt which it handled without any issues, and the uphill waterfall rock-crawl was a piece of cake, owing largely to the 'invisible bonnet' camera technology, which allows you to see everything underneath the vehicle, so you know exactly where to put your tyres. Brilliant!

The battery pack is located on the nearside between the front wheel and fuel tank. It coped with 600mm wading without any issues, in fact the only thing that didn't work straight out of the box was the wade-sensing cameras, but that was probably user error as I was in a rush to set the vehicle up properly.

In short - it now becomes a serious contender for when the Freelander eventually falls to bits. It's a bigger vehicle all round, copes with my 6'1 frame in terms of leg-reach, and watching them all roll off the line destined for all parts of the world looking at the build cards, I think that they are on to a winner with this variant.

Afterwards, I pointed the trusty Freelander in the direction of Whitby and had a thoroughly pleasant weekend up there, before heading back late last night. Again, no issues whatsoever on the total journey with the Freelander, which did a total of 643 miles since last Thursday afternoon. I also didn't see Yorky Bob, although was looking out for him as he was buying the beers. I did eat his Fish and Chips in the Magpie Café however, and have to say that they were First Class! Next time Yorky, eh?!

Nope, never sneered at it, I went out and bought it. One of the first on the road. Mine was a TD4 Pure. I only got rid because I got a dog so needed a bit more space.

It’s been a competent car since 2011, wasn’t designed as a Freelander replacement it was designed to attract new buyers to the brand and bring LR back in the black. Which it did.

The new one looks the business, just a shame we have to wait until November to get the PHEV model

 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

so whats the difference between PHEV and MHEV ?

The Evoque is a great all round car, good looking and well equipped in all models, but if you want a bit higher seating position and a more usable boot space then the FL2 wins that race. The DS was then meant to fill the space to a certain degree IMO which I guess it has as they are everywhere.

PHEV is plug in hybrid so can be driven on electric only

MHEV is mild hybrid which harvests energy normally lost when slowing down and stores it to assist the engine. It also allows the engine to switch off as you slow down. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

for me then the MHEV is the one to go for.... no worrying about having to stop for 24 hours to recharge on a trip to Cornwall that I can drive in 5 hours now.

RogB wrote:

for me then the MHEV is the one to go for.... no worrying about having to stop for 24 hours to recharge on a trip to Cornwall that I can drive in 5 hours now.

A PHEV and a MHEV on a long run will be for practical purposes the same, where the PHEV wins is around town on short journeys because it will have a much greater EV range (20-30 miles) where as the MHEV has usually a very short range (2-4 miles) so if you do lots of shorts journeys from home for example the PHEV wins hands down, and with both on a long journey like London to Cornwall for example they will be the same, no need to stop and charge the PHEV, just keep driving.

Obviously the ranges quoted are presently the norm, these will get better (much) as technology of the batteries advances.

Thanks for the little review, very interesting. We test drove the Evoque several times a few years ago but found it felt too small inside, more like sitting within a car cabin rather than a 4X4/truck. They all drove OK but not as easy ingress/egress as some mid size SUVs. Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

Already a few on the roads up here.

Very mini Velar, I just hope it doesn’t have mini Velar software issues that I’ve been plagued with for the last 14 months. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

j77 wrote:

Already a few on the roads up here.

MHEV variants? I was told that they weren't shipping until June!

the PHEV range is quite low IIRC - about 200 miles maximum I think so I couldn't get from Nottingham to Newquay on a single charge, I would have to pull over somewhere overnight and recharge. And how many charging points are currently in Cornwall ??

I don't do huge amounts of town driving, so the PHEV range for urban is irrelevant to me regardless of the manufacturer.
The MHEV wont require charging as it will effectively charge itself.

SouthamFL2 wrote:

j77 wrote:

Already a few on the roads up here.

MHEV variants? I was told that they weren't shipping until June!

RogB wrote:

the PHEV range is quite low IIRC - about 200 miles maximum I think so I couldn't get from Nottingham to Newquay on a single charge, I would have to pull over somewhere overnight and recharge. And how many charging points are currently in Cornwall ??

ah ok .... I thought that PHEV were fully electric

.................. but even in its most basic form it has more than enough kit on it.

See We had an Ewok pure tech and (I) hated every single minute of ownership, and on occasion took out the wifes 14 year old Nissan Micra in preference - and that's for a 30+ mile motorway jaunt - not exactly the Micras forte.

The lack of toys made it a very unpleasant place to be, basics like you can't adjust passenger seat height, headlamps so poor you would be better off using one of the lights pedal cyclists use strapped to their heads, arguing over what temperature to have the air con (her side is always too hot).
Learned a very valuable lesson, an older car with more toys is much more preferable to a newer cave with a posh badge. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

I take it that the Southam's review will be equally valid to the new DS that is coming this autumn, I think it will be on the same new platform. Welcome news.

Was there any sign of a Plug In (PHEV) version? FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)