2020 Audi Q3 vs Range Rover Evoque

What's the difference?

I hate how this car has challenged my long-held belief that coupe SUVs are silly. Even more so than other notable examples I’ve driven, like Mercedes’ GLC 53.

It’s so sleek and stylish, drives beautifully, and is so packed with immersive technology that I had to triple check the price. The Sportback takes everything good about the Q3 and makes it even better looking with barely a penalty to practicality. Bravo.

The D180 might be more expensive than the other cars it's compared to. You can thank Land Rover's weird habit of straddling sizes for that. But it does come with a fair bit of carefully chosen gear. It's mildly annoying you need to tick a few boxes to finish the job (at least the packages aren't too stupidly priced), but I guess you know what you're getting yourself into.

The Evoque is a gorgeous car and one that will keep you feeling good about your purchase every time you look at it. Even with the D180 S, you're getting plenty of the good things the Evoque has to offer. It's also a far more substantial car than any of its German rivals with a far greater breadth of capability.

This is the best-looking coupe SUV I’ve seen. Do you agree?

You could argue the Porsche Macan is up there alongside it, and I’d agree, but it’s also at least $20K more expensive.

Volvo’s XC40 maybe comes close in terms of exterior appeal, but it isn’t a coupe.

You can see elements of Lamborghini Urus (an Audi subsidiary) in the air dams and roofline, and there’s a complexity to it which hints at the tech within.

In fact, I’d say this Audi is so swish I kind of understand now. This is what coupe SUVs are meant to be about. Redefining the ‘SUV look’, inside and out.

Why pretend SUVs are about off-roading anymore? They’re really about comfort and convenience in the confines of a city.

Of course, the ‘inside’ bit comes naturally to the Q3, which has a swish, simplistic, but wonderfully advanced cockpit.

The design is upright, but not imposing, spacious, but not barren. The slight driver focus of the vents, touchscreen, and controls is noted and appreciated.

Both screens are ultra-high resolution, sharp and crisp to look at, and it adds so much to the lustre of everything you use, fitting seamlessly with the sharp and detailed lines in the dash. The fully adjustable LED interior ambient lighting is wholly unnecessary but does make it a nice place to be at night, and changing the colours entertained my family members no end.

Virtual Cockpit is still unrivalled for its aesthetics and ease of use, too. The wheel is even notable for its neat proportions and comfortable shape.

What don’t I like? The tall plasticky shift-knob still looks like it belongs in a base-model VW Polo, and some padding around the centre tunnel for the knees would be appreciated.

The Evoque is extremely pretty and it's difficult to find a person who disagrees with me. Even other designers are a bit jealous of what Gerry McGovern and his team can get done, this time without the interfering publicity of a Spice Girl.

I think this car is much closer to the design of the LRX Concept that kicked off the whole Evoque phenomenon (and, if you're interested, kick-started the career of Rob Melville, now head of design at McLaren).

The flush surfaces are quite lovely and probably work slightly better here than on the Velar. It just seems to suit this size a bit more. My only complaint is there isn't a three-door version anymore.

It's at its best on big wheels, however. The standard 17s are completely lost in the flared wheelarches, so spend some money on bigger hoops.

The cabin is another triumph. A mix of traditional Range Rover chunkiness and sleek lines, it's a big jump over the old car.

With the Touch Pro Duo it's techy-looking and everything works with everything else as far as graphics go. A consistent look and feel is something you don't notice, but when it isn't done right, it's jarring.

We like the practicality in the regular Q3, but is the Sportback too compromised? Let’s take a look

The front two passengers are treated to a spacious and airy cabin, with loads of glass and space for your elbows. You can adjust the height of the centre box to suit your driving position, and there are no complaints when it comes to leg- or headroom.

Tech spills out of the dash and into your hands. USB-A, USB-C and wireless connectivity are available to you. In fact, wireless Apple CarPlay is as revolutionary as keyless entry.

You set it up once and that’s it. Just turn the car on, leave the phone in your pocket and the media system does the rest. The cost is a slight input lag, but the payoff of just being able to throw your phone in the charging bay or simply leave it in your pocket and forget about it is well worth it.

Storage areas are abundant for front passengers with big cupholders with a large centre slot for a phone or wallet perhaps, the large wireless charging bay and a small but useful centre console box.

There are also small bottle holders in the doors and a decently-sized glove box.

A small annoyance comes from the high-resolution screen. Some items become too fine to accurately jab at without taking your eyes off the road, particularly in Apple CarPlay mode. Thankfully all essentials, like the climate and volume controls have physical dials.

Visibility out the front and sides for the driver is fantastic, although there’s no denying the smaller rear aperture in the Sportback’s design makes seeing out the rear a bit more difficult.

Rear passengers are treated to a customizable area. The rear seats are on rails, and I found my legroom to be more than adequate in the standard, furthest-back position. I could have moved the seat about 20 per cent further forward without running into issues.

Height is a different story. I’m 182cm (6.0ft) tall and fit okay with maybe a couple of centimetres space above my head. My slightly taller brother (around 185cm) had his head pretty much up against the roof. The standard Q3 had no such issues, but it’s worth considering if you plan to regularly transport taller family or friends.

The back of the rear seats are clad in plastic which looks nasty but will be good for those with kids, and rear passengers can make use of two USB-C ports, a 12V outlet and dual adjustable air vents on the back of the centre stack.

Boot space comes in at 530 litres (VDA) with all seats in their default positions which proved more than enough for our largest CarsGuide suitcase, some duffel bags, and camera equipment.

It can be adjusted up to 1400L with all the seats stowed. Apparently, this is no less than the regular Q3, which would make sense as the space is meant to be measured to the parcel shelf, before the more aggressive roofline starts to cut its shape.

The new Evoque feels substantially bigger than the old one. Passenger space is more generous, partly due to a longer wheelbase, so four adults will fit comfortably. A fifth, not so much, but few cars manage that and certainly not in this segment.

The boot is a massive 591 litres, which is unheard of in the compact SUV segment and difficult to find in the next size up, too. The load space is pretty good, with over a metre between the wheelarches, but when you fold the rear seats, they don't go completely flat, which might be a drama.

You get two cupholders front and rear and a good size centre console bin which hides the USB ports. If you plug it in, your phone kind of has to go on the tray under your elbow and, honestly, that's annoying. I really can't work out why it irritates me, but there you have it.

If you do want to take it off-road, the Evoque has 210mm of clearance, a wading depth of 600mm (I've driven one in a river), approach angle of 22.2-degrees, breakover of 20.7 and departure of 30.6. Not startlingly good, but there aren't many cars in this class that can do all that.

The Evoque range is still dizzyingly large, with four trim levels and six engines. My Evoque for the week was the base model S teamed with the second of the three diesels, the D180.

It might be a base model and is often compared to compact SUVs like the BMW X2 or Audi Q3 (it's not that compact), so the $64,640 base price looks a bit stiff.

There is a bit of Range Rover added on to the price, but it's also usefully bigger than its European rivals.

The base price includes 18-inch alloys, LED headlights with auto high beam, electric front seats, leather trim, dual-zone climate control, six-speaker stereo, sat nav, reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, cruise control, power everything, wireless hotspot and a space saver spare.

It also comes with a massive 10-inch central screen running JLR's 'InControl' software which is light years ahead of where it started.

Fronted by a nice tiled interface, you can connect a phone app to it to tell you all sorts of things about the car and it has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The sat nav is good-looking but still a bit dim.

If anyone buys an Evoque without any options, have they really bought an Evoque? 

Range Rover's local team certainly doesn't think so, with 20-inch wheels ($2120), 14-way heated front seats (also heated rear seats) for $1725, 'Drive Pack' (adaptive cruise, blind spot detection, high-speed AEB, $1340), 'Park Pack' (clear exit detection, rear cross traffic alert, park assist), keyless entry and start ($900), privacy glass ($690), digital dash ($690), 'Touch Pro Duo' (a second screen manages climate control and various functions, $600), 'Smart View' rear mirror ($515), powered tailgate ($480), around view cameras ($410), ambient lighting ($410), digital radio ($400) and paddle shifters ($270).

Some of this stuff really should be standard, like high-speed AEB, keyless entry and start and reverse cross-traffic alert, but there you are.

You can obviously get away with far fewer options, but the Touch Pro Duo, Drive and Park Packs are sensible buys for a family car and if a dealer doesn't throw in DAB for nothing, dob them in to the cops.

All of this took the price to $76,160. So that was going to make it difficult for me to judge whether this "entry level" Evoque was worth the money, but I'll give a it a lash.

Powering 35 TFSI variants is a 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, producing 110kW/250Nm. It’s mated to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and powers the front wheels only.

An all-wheel drive version with a 2.0-litre engine is available further up the range.

The 2.0-litre Ingenium engine is exactly the same size as every engine offered in the Evoque. There are six of them, of course, because why not? The D180 is the second of three turbo-diesels, winding up for 132kW and a walloping 430Nm.

It's a Range Rover, so it has all-wheel drive with an electronic rear differential and a nine-speed automatic directing power to the wheels.

Range Rover reckons it accelerates from 0-100km/h in 9.3 seconds and says it's rated to tow 2000kg.

The chunky little beast weighs 1770kg and has a gross vehicle mass (GVM) rating of 2490kg.

The 35 TFSI has a claimed/combined fuel consumption figure of 7.3L/100km, against which I scored 8.4L/100km on my weekly test.

That number's very good for something this size, probably helped along by the 35 TFSI's relatively light 1545kg kerb weight.

Oddly, and unlike most VW Group vehicles with similar drivetrains, the Q3 35 TFSI does not have a stop/start system.

The 35 TFSI requires 95 RON premium unleaded petrol and has a 60-litre fuel tank.

Even though it's a diesel, the claimed fuel consumption number for such a chunky boy of 5.8L/100km looks a little optimistic. And it was, but just a little.

Our week with the car (during which it was gently driven because I managed to do something unspeakably painful to my back resulting in a genuine fear of even the tiniest bump or lurch) we got 7.4L/100km. Not bad at all.

The Q3 offers a slick, modern, and comfortable drive, but not one without its flaws.

The ride is superb. A great balance of sportiness and damping, the Q3 keeps it stable in the corners, but comfortable over bumps. This was helped along by comfort-spec Hankook tyres on our car, and the 19-inch wheels proved to be a sensible size.

The only thing which seemed to transmit unpleasantness into the cabin was the dampers going out of frequency on rutted roads. I couldn’t help but note the similarity of the Q3’s ride characteristics to those of the new VW T-Roc, a size under.

Inside is quiet and refined, and all of the Q3’s features are ergonomic and easy to use to the point where you take it for granted. But with the Sportback’s cropped rear window, seeing out the rear isn’t as easy as it is in the regular Q3.

The engine has sufficient power when the boost, and subsequently peak torque, sets in, the trouble is this can all happen very suddenly.

There’s a delay when stomping on the go-pedal, which is replaced a full second thereafter with a surge of torque. It takes a bit of getting used to working in a moment of restraint while you wait for power to arrive.

Get impatient, and the Q3 will simply spin its wheels off the line. It’s not a problem isolated to this car, but one I also found in other VW Group vehicles with similar drivetrains. The Tiguan comes to mind.

A neat trick is setting the Q3 into the sportier ‘Dynamic’ mode and then switching the transmission from ‘S’ to the regular Drive. This gives you the best of a more responsive powertrain without having the transmission hang around in gears for too long.

The six-speed can still be caught out fairly easily as it tries to be ‘smart’ about its changes to a fault. I wonder how well its computer would go about learning your driving patterns long-term.

All up, the Q3 offers a nice balance of SUV comfort and hatch-like sportiness thanks to its light frame. The turbo engine has its small issues, but there are no red flags here for urban commuters.

Up until I drove the D180, I hadn't driven a diesel Evoque, even during the first-generation's lengthy run. The P300 is a belter of a car, but you certainly pay for the privilege.

I can't say I was expecting much in the way of driving enjoyment in the Evoque (which I did drive before injuring myself) but came away quite impressed.

Only two things genuinely annoyed me. The first was the too-light steering. While it's beautifully set up for driving around town and keeping effort to a minimum, it took a while to get used to.

The second thing, which is entirely selfish, is that the Evoque's diesel engine isn't as quick as some of its smaller rivals. But that's pretty much it.

Once you're moving, the slow feeling melts away, because a combination of a now much better nine-speed automatic and that huge torque figure means very swift and/or relaxed progress.

In the old days, the nine-speeder spent a fair amount of time looking for the right gear. It seems right at home in the turbo-diesel, ensuring it stays in that fat torque band.

It's a terrifically competent car to drive, too. Despite its off-road abilities (no, you can't get too carried away, but it'll do more than most), it has a lovely on-road feel. Not too soft, but with a nice flow in the ride and handling either in the city or out on the highway.

The Evoque arrives with six airbags, pedestrian airbag, ABS, stability and traction controls, AEB with pedestrian detection, rollover stability, hill descent control, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, speed zone recognition and driver fatigue warning.

As mentioned earlier, you can add various safety features through the Drive Pack and Park Pack.

There are two ISOFIX anchors and three top-tether points.

The Range Rover Evoque scored the maximum five-star ANCAP stars in May, 2019.

Audi’s standard warranty offer of three years and unlimited kilometres is annoyingly short, but not unexpected from a premium brand.

The pressure is on though, with Mercedes-Benz and newcomer, Genesis, now offering five years of warranty coverage, as well as Japanese stalwart Lexus offering four years.

Audi was even considering making a promotional five-year unlimited kilometre warranty permanent at the time of writing, so hopefully that has come to pass by the time you’re reading this review. Time will tell.

Where Audi makes ground back though is its very competitive service pricing. We’d strongly recommend bundling in an Audi ‘Genuine Care’ service plan at the time of purchase which will make your servicing much cheaper.

Three years of servicing for the Q3 under this scheme is $1610, while five years is $2630 it’s worth it. All Q3s require servicing once every 12 months or 15,000km.

Annoyingly, Range Rovers is still stuck with a three-year/100,000km warranty, something I know dealers aren't too happy with.

Mercedes-Benz recently went to five years, so hopefully the rest of the luxury sector follows. In fact, maybe part of the welcome back to life post-Corona could be just such an announcement.

On the flip-side, the servicing regime is really good. Like BMW, it's condition-based and means you will likely only have to return to the dealer once per year.

If you want to pre-pay your servicing, you can do it for five years and it will cost you $1950, or just under $400 per year. Bargain.

A Mercedes GLA will cost you between $1950 and $2400 for just three years, and five years is a lot more at $3500. A BMW X2 or Audi Q3 will cost you roughly $1700 for five years.