Land Rover Range Rover Evoque SUV SE P300e auto 5d Owner Review

Was looking for a premium plug-in hybrid able to cope with adverse winter weather and occasional off road/rough track use when needed but mostly for short journeys into and about town and some A road/motorway use. Coming from 2 x generations of PHEV Outlanders this is the perfect step up. Mitsubishi’s EV will not work without the petrol engine at less than 10 degrees C...the Evoque laughs at that and happily works in EV mode at sub-zero temps. I’ve done 1500 miles on one tank of petrol over winter! In EV mode this is the smoothest vehicle I’ve ever driven (I opted to ‘down spec’ to 18” wheels and this materially improves the ride on poor surfaces)...unfortunately this means that when using it in Hybrid mode you actually notice the gear changes a little too much, not that they are agricultural at all, simply that they are there. Performance in EV mode is acceptable around town but you notice its limitations when on open roads...Tip: always engage Hybrid mode before going for an overtake!! The electronic off-road stuff seems highly capable...I’ve not exactly stretched it to the limit due to the small matter of COVID etc...but recent snow (12+cm) was no barrier and descending a 1in5 hill in these conditions was ridiculously easy using Hill Descent. Only slight criticisms... 1. in-car software is a bit slow to ‘wake up’ when setting out. 2. it would be nice to have proper flat folding rear seats to extend the load-carrying a bit. Best toy...mobile phone app to remotely switch on climate...no more standing around de-icing, ever!!!