Car designers have a pretty challenging job constantly having to come up with a new look that will be both aerodynamic, distinctive, and appealing so it would be fascinating to sit in on one of their ideas meetings.
I would imagine, like most think tanks, that everybody is expected to come up with an idea that will improve the product and that makes some people a little slow in coming forward. What if the idea is rejected amid sniggers of derision?
Actually, there is no such thing as a bad idea because it proves you are at least thinking about things and often those that may seem mildly insane at the time often turn out to be game changers.
Take, for example, the idea to chop the roof off the Range Rover Evoque and turn it into a drop top? Er, sorry, are you serious… a drop top SUV? No way!
The Evoque is already a distinctive compact SUV so why take away that unusual sloping roof and open it up to the sky. At first it seems like an act of total madness and it would be easy to guffaw and dismiss it as design gone bonkers. Except, it isn’t. Strange as it may seem, and I have to admit to a certain amount of trepidation as I waited to collect what is the world’s only convertible compact SUV, it actually works brilliantly.
The Evoque is a pretty vehicle and is the smallest of the Range Rover fleet which means it has the best chance of carrying the convertible thing off. My test drive car was the HSE Dynamic model which looked pretty cool in white with the black Webasto canvas roof which has what they call tension bow architecture which creates a sharp silhouette to retain the shape of the original vehicle when it is up.
The roof comes down and folds away neatly in just 18 seconds and takes 21 seconds to go back up. With the roof up the rear visibility through the small heated glass rear window is not the best but it’s not a deal breaker and, anyway, you will be driving with the roof down for most of the time.
The appearance of the car is both stylish and reasonably aggressive, particularly the front with that mesh grille, gloss-black bonnet vents, deep front bumper, large air intakes and slimline LED fog lights. Body-coloured sideskirts make the vehicle look hunkered down and the rear looks classy with the bumper housing twin exhaust pipes. Our test vehicle came with 20-inch nine-spoke alloy wheels with a polish finish which look pretty cool but were a bit too blingy for my liking, but that’s because I am an old bloke.
So below the glass line this car appears identical to the Evoque Coupe but the boydwork behind the front doors has been re-engineered to accommodate the stowed roof mechanism and the upper part of the rear fenders have also been redesigned to deal with the drop-top.
The interior is standard Range Rover fare with plenty of space, quality leather seats, and a nicely designed facia which features a really good 10.2-inch infotainment screen where you can access the impressive InControl Touch Pro system. The vehicle is also packed with all the driver assists available on top end vehicles these days.
The steering wheel is a bit button heavy but is still nicely designed and the cutting-edge instrument cluster provides all the information about the car’s status that you need.
The drive selector is a dial which rises out of the centre console when you hit the ignition button and disappears back out of view when you turn the engine off. And like all Range Rovers this Evoque is equipped to go off road with all-terrain technology. It can even get through water to up a depth of 500mm if the need arises.
The power comes from a two-litre, four-cylinder turbo engine which delivers 240bhp and 340nm of torque to the four-wheel-drive system via a nine-speed automatic gearbox and there are paddle-shifts if you feel the need for a more engaging drive.
This is not built as a speed machine and so it takes 8.6 seconds to get from 0-100kmh but that is plenty fast enough to get your hair messed up with the roof down.
Removing a car’s roof can sometimes affect handling so there has been some strengthening work to compensate for loss of rigidity
but although there was a bit of body-roll going through corners at reasonable speed which is not surprising considering it weighs nearly two tonnes it handles perfectly well and was more a lot more agile than I expected.
The only complaint I would have is the amount of luggage space in the boot where there is just about room for one decent sized piece of luggage but it’s not big enough for a set of golf clubs.
Other than that this Evoque opens up a whole new market for Range Rover providing fun and distinctive motoring. For the weather and driving conditions in the UAE it is uniquely brilliant.
