Range Rover Evoque interior, tech and practicality

You won’t find it hard to get comfortable in the Range Rover Evoque. All models from S trim upwards include leather seats with electric adjustment for the front pair. The seats themselves are supportive, allowing you to cover hundreds of miles without bothering your back. That’s also true in the rear, where generous sculpting means back-seat passengers will sit a little more comfortably than those on firmer bench seats in rival cars.

Like many cars in this class, most of the Evoque’s functions are now controlled by the infotainment touchscreen, with only a handful of functions still handled by buttons. The climate controls come in two forms – both versions include a pair of physical knobs for the temperature and touch-sensitive buttons for the remaining controls. However, the upgraded setup offered on SE and HSE cars includes an extra touchscreen for even finer control over the cabin’s atmosphere.

As standard, the Evoque comes with front and rear parking sensors along with a reversing camera. That’s just as well because the sloped roofline and rising beltline below the side windows means visibility isn’t the best. The view out front is mostly fine but seeing over your shoulder is tricky thanks to thick pillars and the narrowing windowline.

Standard equipment for the Evoque is fairly generous. You’ll find 17-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, auto lights and wipers, two-zone climate control, cruise control, cabin ambient lighting, all-round parking sensors, a reversing camera, automatic emergency braking and lane-keep assist. You also get a basic 10-inch infotainment system with DAB radio and Bluetooth.

You can build on this with three upgraded trim levels – S, SE and HSE. The former adds Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a built-in sat nav to the infotainment system, along with larger 18-inch alloys, leather upholstery and electrically adjustable front seats. SE gains 20-inch alloys, upgraded LED headlights with sweeping indicators, a power-opening boot lid, heated front seats, an upgraded twin-screen infotainment setup and a 360-degree parking camera. HSE gets adaptive cruise control, keyless entry, a digital rear-view mirror and even more leather trim in the cabin.

You also have the option to add the R-Dynamic pack to any of these trim levels. This is Range Rover’s sporty styling option and adds a slightly meaner-looking body kit, dark-coloured badges and subtle brushed copper styling accents to the exterior. There's also more aluminium, metal and black-coloured details in the cabin to mark it out from regular Evoque models.

We reckon S and SE trim are the sweet spots in the range – offering the luxuries you’d expect in a Range Rover without the blowout pricetag of range-topping HSE R-Dynamic cars.

Entry-level Evoques and cars in S trim get the standard infotainment setup. This means a 10-inch touchscreen slightly sunk into the dashboard, with traditional dials for the driver and a bank of touch-sensitive buttons to control the heating and A/C. Functionally, this setup works fine, with sharp-enough graphics and responses, but it’s annoying that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are only standard on S trim and up, with entry-level cars missing out.

Stepping up to SE or HSE trim means you get the upgraded screen setup, which feels much more high tech. The centre touchscreen is still 10 inches, but it sits more prominently atop the dashboard, with even clearer graphics making it more intuitive to use. Below the central screen is a second screen for the climate controls – we still don’t think this setup is as easy as proper knobs and buttons, but it does at least look suitably posh. You also get digital driver’s dials to complete the cabin’s digital makeover.

Regular Evoques get a six-speaker stereo, which will be fine for most buyers. Jump up to HSE trim, however, and you’re treated to an upgraded 10-speaker setup from UK audio nerds Meridian, with an impressively rich sound. You can also delve into the options list and choose Meridian’s 14-speaker Surround Sound System, which has nearly 1,000 watts of supreme sound-reproduction power.

Coupe SUVs like the BMW X2 or Renault Arkana have become popular recently, but they’re often compromised by the sloping roofline that eats into rear passenger space. The Evoque somewhat bucks this trend with an impressive amount of rear legroom, especially considering it’s less than 4.4 metres long, putting it a hair shorter than a Ford Focus.

Headroom in the back is nothing to write home about and very tall passengers will find they’re brushing the ceiling but, for most occupants, the Evoque’s rear seats are a comfortable place to spend time.

There’s the now-standard pair of Isofix points in the outer-rear seats. The doors open wide and there’s generally enough space to wrestle a kid into their car seat, although the slightly lower roofline means you’ll need to stoop a little more than you would in a Skoda Karoq, for example.

Boot space space is acceptable for this class but has definitely taken a hit to give the Evoque its impressive rear legroom. You get around 470 litres of space – enough for a pushchair or a couple of large suitcases – but the Evoque’s boot does come up noticeably shorter in length than that in the BMW X1 or Volkswagen Tiguan.