WITHIN STRIKING RANGE

The all-new Range Rover Evoque is here to set a few things straight.

- Aditya Upadhyaula

When the first-generation Range Rover Evoque came out, it was an absolute sensation — people would stop cars in the middle of the road to try and get a glimpse of the stunner from Coventry. For the second generation, though, the changes are more evolutionary rather than revolutionary, so it didn’t draw quite the reaction I was hoping for. No, traffic didn’t part to let me by nor did anyone stop just to take a look at the car.

It might not look very different compared to the outgoing car or its bigger brother, the Velar, for that matter, but rest assured it’s all new. In fact, Land Rover claims that only the door hinges of the original car are reused in the new car. It looks more like the original LRX concept than the original Evoque did, too.

For starters, the door handles are now gone. I mean, they’re still there — you do need to pull on something to get the doors open, but they retract after you’re done with them, just like in the Velar. From what I could gather, there is no way to make those handles pop out without actually pressing the unlock button on the remote, and there doesn’t seem to be a request sensor on the handles themselves. It also loses its wheel arch cladding giving it a sleeker overall appearance. LED matrix headlights and infinity-style tail-lights round out the noticeable differences. The car is also larger overall; it’s 11 mm longer, 6 mm wider and 14 mm taller than the outgoing model. Wheelbase is now longer by 21 mm, too. The new Evoque rides on Land Rover’s Premium Transverse Architecture platform which makes the car more rigid. So despite the added dimensions, the Evoque manages to retain its sporty, agile character.