2019 Jaguar E-Pace vs Range Rover Evoque

What's the difference?

For years, if you wanted a sleek British SUV, you had the simple choice of one car; the Range Rover Evoque. It's a lovely car and all (and it just clicked over to its second-generation), but if you weren't keen on any of the growing number of Germans and didn't want that particular Rangie, you were stuck.

Jaguar was stuck, too. With a sister brand built on SUVs before they were even called that, it seemed a no-go area for Jag, and it wasn't until the F-Pace that the leaping cat could even start to make inroads into a market that had developed a deep love of cars on stilts.

Eighteen months ago, the E-Pace finally met the road. Built on the wildly successful Evoque platform, sleek and small(er) had finally arrived in the Jaguar range, giving buyers a second, very British choice.

But it's a choice that has yet to charm too many people and we wanted to find out why, or why not.

Our car had optional 20-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli P-Zeros, as well as the Performance Pack, which adds bigger brakes with red brake calipers.

The original Range Rover Evoque was a victory. It was the right car, in the right place, at the right time.

It was a small SUV dropped in an unprepared premium segment, it went on to become a design icon and subsequently Land Rover’s fastest-selling SUV.

As the years rolled on though, competitors caught up, and Land Rover launched its stunning Velar in the segment above. The unthinkable had happened. The Evoque looked dated.

At long last, Land Rover has launched the second-generation version. Can it replicate even a fraction of the success of the first? We drove it at its Australian launch to find out if it has what it takes.