Name: Range Rover Evoque Convertible
Brand: Land Rover

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When the Range Rover Evoque was launched back in 2011, its combination of concept car looks and a premium feel brought something new to the small SUV class. Now, though, there are plenty of rivals including the Porsche Macan, BMW X4 and Lexus NX.

Buy or lease the Range Rover Evoque Convertible at a price you’ll love

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RRP £46,775 - £56,125

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Used: £19,520

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wowscore

6/10

This score is awarded by our team of expert reviewers after extensive testing of the car

What's good

Concept car looks
Extremely quiet
Decent to drive

What's not so good

Slower than standard car
Relatively high runnings costs
The price

Find out more about the Range Rover Evoque Convertible

Is the Range Rover Evoque Convertible a good car?

But this is another class first – the Evoque Convertible, a soft-top SUV. Designed to broaden the car’s kudos with the kind of young up-and-comers that the standard car targets. Central to its appeal is a roof that drops in 18 seconds at speeds of up to 30mph.

The Convertible can be had with Land Rover’s new generation 178hp diesel engine while, for more pace, there’s a 237hp petrol engine. There’s also the option to specify a nine-speed automatic gearbox.

Losing the roof comes with its disadvantages – practicality has taken a serious knock, performance has been blunted thanks to 277kgs of chassis strengthening and Land Rover charges a £5,000 premium over the standard model. That car’s sharp handling characteristics are also dulled slightly, but standard four-wheel drive means the Convertible impresses off-road.

Land Rover only offers the Convertible in high-end trims, so all models come with xenon headlights, a Meridian stereo, leather upholstery, sat-nav and huge 20-inch alloy wheels.

The Evoque Convertible is filling a very niche hole in the market with great success

Mat Watson

carwow expert

In many ways the new Evoque Convertible is what many people feared the standard model would be – a style focussed model that shares few characteristics with a true Range Rover. It’ll doubtless appeal to those looking for kerbside credibility in fashionable areas of London, but most other people will find the huge price, blunted performance and excessive running costs nearly impossible to ignore. For them, a BMW 4 Series convertible makes a lot more sense and is irrefutably a better car.

How much is the Range Rover Evoque Convertible?

The Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Convertible has a RRP range of £46,775 to £56,125. The price of a used Range Rover Evoque Convertible on carwow starts at £19,520.

What's it like to drive?

Cutting off the metal roof means the Evoque Convertible loses the rigidity of the standard car, but Land Rover has tried to engineer round this by stiffening up the suspension. It feels a little harder than the standard car (which itself rides very well) but its steering feels direct and, despite the significant weight increase, there’s only a little more body lean. With no permanent roof to keep things solid, the Convertible suffers from scuttle shake (where you feel the windscreen flexing independent of the body) on bumpy roads and feels less precise than the regular car as a result.

When pushing on, you can easily feel the extra weight over the hard-top models

Mat Watson

carwow expert

Performance and Economy

In cars like the Evoque, performance plays second fiddle to looking good but it must be said, the Range Rover is pretty slow for the price.

You get three engines to choose from, but the 178hp 2.0-litre diesel engine is the best option. In this application, it gets from 0-62mph in a leisurely 10.3 seconds – more than a second slower than the hardtop.

Running costs also go up. The regular Evoque can return fuel economy of 57.6mpg and emits 129g/km of CO2 but, in the Convertible, that drops to 49.6mpg and CO2 rises to 149g/km.

If you want more performance, you can always opt for the 2.0-litre petrol. It gets from 0-62mph in 8.6 seconds, but most people will be put off by its sky-high running costs – fuel economy sits at a measly 32.8mpg and CO2 emissions of 201g/km.
All models come with a nine-speed automatic gearbox that’s fitted with paddle shifters behind the steering wheel. It changes smoothly and does an admirable job of masking the Evoque’s performance deficiencies.

Driving

While the Convertible’s folding fabric roof certainly has its compromises, interior refinement is not one of them. Wind noise – the bane of any convertible – is no worse than in the regular car. That’s thanks to the roof’s five-layer design and polyacrylic construction, which shuts out noise and heat.
You can expect the Evoque Convertible to be pretty safe because it’s based on the regular Evoque which scored five stars when it was crash tested by Euro NCAP in 2011. To the regular car’s complement of airbags, stability and traction control, the Convertible adds a rollover protection system that keeps passengers safe should the car tip over.

The Drive Assistance Pack is also worth a mention. Costing £2,385, it adds lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition, auto park, a blind-spot monitoring system, 360-degree camera and auto-dipping headlights.