Range Rover wisely realized that the world has a finite number of English noblemen and wide receivers who can afford its $60,000-and-up SUVs. So it created the Evoque, a baby ute meant to completely reimagine the brand. At first glimpse, the Evoque looks a bit like the unplanned result of a one-night stand between a Range Rover Sport and a Mini Cooper. The diminutive Brit and the Evoque share the same wide, low stance and appreciation for brevity; the four-door Evoque is the same length as a Toyota Corolla. Unlike the Mini, the Evoque is equal parts sleek (the wedge-shaped profile) and brawny (the bulging hood and flared fenders flexing around stock nineteen-inch wheels). This thing is tiny enough to compete with compact cars for parking spots yet butch enough to earn nods of approval from dudes walking pit bulls on steel chains.
The interior is less in-your-face than the exterior, more elegantly restrained. You'll find plush cowhide, brushed-aluminum trim, and a shift dial that rises to meet your hand when you hit the "start" button (a move borrowed from Jaguar, owned by the same Indian parent company as Land Rover). The four-door Evoque's back half is spacious, but the coupe's radically sloped roofline makes the backseat feel a little claustrophobic. Its designers devised a beautiful solution: The roof is essentially one expansive piece of glass. Which, to be honest, doesn't actually add more headroom. But being able to watch the stars fly by overhead will distract your friends from the slit-like windows. And while the Evoque comes stocked with the same all-terrain toys as its big brothers—a hardened undercarriage, waterproof seals, and the trademark Land Rover Terrain Response system that configures the vehicle for messy runs over mud, sand, or snow—it's built for expeditions to Vail, not to the far side of the Gobi. Its on-road ride is the smoothest and most refined of any Range Rover.
So what's the trade-off? The 240-horsepower engine offers good fuel economy but no bragging rights. And truth be told, the Evoque's affordability is relative. It's competing against luxury compact crossovers like the BMW X3 and the Mercedes-Benz GLK but costs only a few thousand dollars less than the step-up BMW X5 and Benz M-Class. In other words, it sacrifices a little practicality for a hell of a lot more style. But hey, you're reading GQ—you'll make that sacrifice every day of the week.
Range Rover Evoque
Price: $43,995
Horsepower: 240
0–60 time: 7.1 sec
City mpg: 18
Highway mpg: 28