The Evoque is trying to do two things at once. On the one hand, it takes the brand into previously unheard-of levels of petiteness and economy - no Range Rover has ever been so small, nor used so little fuel or exhaled such low levels of CO2. On the other, it is an attempt to raise the average chic rating of the small SUV class.There can be no argument about the success of the first part. Until the Evoque arrived, the nearest Range Rover had got to producing a small car was the Sport, which is based on the Land Rover Discovery and can hardly be described as small whether you're sitting in it or standing next to it. The Evoque is a close relative of the Defender, and while you're not going to be able to hide it behind much apart from another Range Rover it is unquestionably the baby of the range.Three engines are offered, of which the 190bhp SD4 turbo diesel reviewed here is the most widespread. That's partly because it's the only one offered with a choice of manual or automatic transmission (six-speed in each case). "Our" car is an auto, and it differs from most autos in that it gives the car a much better 0-62mph time - 8.5 rather than 10.0 seconds - than the equivalent manual.This seems weird, but it's down to the way the transmission engages as the car moves away from rest. In reality, the automatic makes the Evoque feel quite sluggish, as if it had far less than 190bhp available, though the real problem is that it takes more than a second to react to a sudden prod of the accelerator.Fuel economy and CO2 emissions are severely affected, to the point where Vehicle Excise Duty payments move from Band F to Band H, adding £60 a year to your tax bill in addition to the extra fuel costs and the £1610 price increase.Sue Baker reported in our launch report of the Evoque that it's impressive off-road, and I have no reason to doubt it. However, we have differing views on its behaviour on tarmac (possibly because I've driven just this one version so far, while she has sampled several). For me, the ride quality is disappointingly lumpy - even though the test car was fitted with 55-section tyres which shouldn't have caused so much of a problem - and the handling does nothing to suggest that the car is the slighest bit smaller or lighter than it actually is.There's quite a lot of road noise, too, and you are never left in any doubt that there's a diesel engine under the bonnet. It's all a lot less refined than I was expecting.Mind you, there's no doubt that the Evoque is stylish, even in five-door form (the three-door Coupé is even more so, though it's not expected to account for more than 30% of UK sales). But style comes at a price. There isn't much room for rear passengers, and the wedge design of the windows blows visibility out of the water. Range Rover has made some attempt to claw back ground by angling the right front windscreen pillar towards the driver, but the pillar on the left is very unhelpful and blocks a lot of the view on that side.To me, the Evoque is a case of style over substance in a way that no previous Range Rover has been. There will no doubt be plenty of people prepared to pay nearly £39,000 for the version reviewed here, but I think that's because they want to be associated with the brand more than anything else. If exactly the same car were on sale with a different badge and costing £10,000 less, I'm not at all sure that it would generate anything like the same interest. Engine 2200cc, 4 cylinders Power 190bhp Transmission 6-speed automatic Fuel/CO2 43.0mpg / 174g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 8.5 seconds Top speed 121mph Price £38,990 Details correct at publication date
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