Tesla Model Y vs Range Rover Evoque

What's the difference?

The Model Y Long Range is the pick of the line-up thanks mainly to its ability to travel further on a full charge, but also the price is excellent. The styling is starting to date, especially compared to fresher rivals with intriguing designs. But the advantage to Tesla is its battery tech and the constant over-the-air updates which will continue to enhance this product long after you've bought it.

The Range Rover Evoque is more highly specified and more luxurious than ever, and this plug-in hybrid version makes the most of what’s on offer with its slick but familiar feel from behind the wheel. 

Unfortunately, it does have an eye-watering price tag to go with its classy design and the options list is a bit rude, all things considered, but the core offering is a solid luxury buy for city-slickers, nonetheless. 

What makes the Evoque P300e stand out for me is its impressive EV driving range and excellent charging specs which make it as convenient as possible to make the most of its electrified features.

It’s up to the buyer whether these conveniences and the Range Rover badge are worth swapping into a car a full size down from its luxury plug-in rivals for the same money.

The Model Y is a mid-sized SUV, about 4.75 metres long and has an aerodynamic wedge shape similar to the one Toyota’s early Prius had, but with a smooth and flat styling Tesla twist.

The clean and featureless look made the Model Y appear futuristic and modern two years ago but now, with the arrival of other mid-sized electric rivals and their intriguing and attractive designs, the Tesla is starting to appear dated. 

There is a styling update coming to the Model Y, but it won’t be a completely new car, just a few tweaks to keep it looking current. But it won’t do much. I think the time is up on this design.

The cabin embraces minimalism with plenty of clean and smooth horizontal surfaces devoid of buttons or dials. Only the large central screen and the steering wheel exist on the dashboard and in my eyes compared to rival offerings the Model Y’s interior has quickly gone from cool to devoid of personality.

The Evoque has always been a car all about its sleek, city-slicking design, an iconic piece of modern SUV art from Jaguar Land Rover head of design, Gerry McGovern.

With its shapely proportions, clever descending roofline, and a silhouette which successfully reflects a miniaturised version of the Range Rover, the Evoque is at once classy with a faint suggestion of toughness under the skin.

The blacked-out grille, slimline headlights, and contemporary strip across the tailgate all serve to add intrigue to this SUV, and the extra detailing in the front bumper, shapeliness of the bonnet, and contrast black trims (with extra contrast panels on our test car matching the gloss black wheels) serving to add to its premium appeal.

It’s important to remember, while the Evoque slides into a busy small SUV landscape now, it was one of the first to make a premium car so successfully appealing in this small SUV space way back in 2011 with the first Evoque, following Land Rover’s historic trend of being in front of the SUV curve.

Rival small SUV designs may have caught up in the minds of many with the likes of the Audi Q3, BMW X2, and Volvo XC40 shining in recent years, but few have won as many design accolades as the Evoque.

Range Rover seems to be leaning into a more upper luxury trend, not just with the pricing, but with the vibe of the car’s interiors, too.

The new generation Evoque, for example, took a big jump in the look and feel of its interior appointments when it launched in 2019, and over time has only consolidated its market positioning.

The HSE grade which our P300e hybrid arrives in is lavish on the inside, with lovely suede-like seats, intricate contrasting grey cloth trims in the doors (do I detect an influence from Volvo here?) and a plush-looking dash, all finished in soft-to-the touch materials.

Attention to detail, like the silver bezels which adorn the centre console and media screen, add to the premium flair which lifts the Range Rover badge above the Land Rover one, and I do like the way the additional function screen seamlessly melts into the piano finish and integrated dials. While it’s always a nightmare to keep gloss piano finishes clean, it looks oh-so primo.

It’s a little odd the P300e has analogue dials, which seems to miss the premium edge which a fully digital dash might provide although the 7.0-inch centre dash screen has a great resolution and speed, as well as a mostly well laid out operating system.

I found the R-Dynamic modes, which can sharpen up the accelerator response and steering buried two menus deep, unnecessarily hard to find, as were various EV information screens and other less important functions.

Electric SUVs have moved practicality to a level combustion-engine equivalents can’t compete with thanks to their front and back boots and (no transmission tunnel) flat floors maximising people and storage space. 

The Model Y is practical with a 117L front boot and a rear boot with 854L litres of cargo capacity, while the cabin has large door pockets, wireless phone charging and two cupholders up front and in the second row.

The Model Y comes as a five-seater only, but leg- and headroom in the second row is excellent and even at 189cm tall I can sit behind my driving position. 

Back seat passengers also have directional air vents and two USB ports for charging.

Cabin practicality could be better, though. The large centre console is unnecessary as it’s not covering a transmission and driveshaft. We’re seeing other brands such as Kia make use of this area as a storage space perfect for even large bags.

Locking and unlocking the Model Y is done with a key card that needs to be swiped against a sensor in the B-pillar. This worked sporadically for me and I felt like the action could scratch the pillar’s surface.

There’s a phone app which can also lock and unlock the Model Y. We downloaded it and found the functions useful, from seeing how much charge is in the battery, to opening the boot, tracking the location of the car and turning the climate control on to cool or heat the cabin before driving. 

While it still plays the role of Range Rover’s smallest SUV, the current Evoque is much bigger than the car it replaced in 2019. I would go so far as to say it’s deceptively large on the inside.

Front occupants are treated to a cabin which now feels almost as wide as an actual Range Rover, with plenty of room for elbows on either side, which are, of course, met by lovely soft-touch surfaces.

The raised console helps with the upmarket feel, as does the plush dash. The standard 14-way adjust front seats help to accommodate most passengers, with my only criticism being the large A-pillars and height of the dash can make it feel a little bit claustrophobic compared to some rival luxury SUVs.

Storage is offered through a set of large door pockets, a centre console box, dual bottle holders behind the shift lever, and a healthy nook underneath the climate controls, which also hosts a wireless charging bay.

The rear seats share the same comfortable rim as the front ones, and also have large pockets in the doors. Despite the descending roofline, I had just enough room for my head at 182cm tall although it is notable the space in the PHEV feels smaller with the raised floor needed to accommodate the batteries.

I had a little airspace for my knees behind my own driving position, too. The main drawback for rear passengers is the large transmission tunnel, making it difficult to accommodate an adult in the centre position.

There are adjustable air vents for rear passengers, but it is frustrating Land Rover has chosen to make rear USB-C charging ports an arbitrary $270 option.

The boot is also deceptively large for such a small SUV, measuring in at 472 litres (VDA), it’s above average for the small SUV class and fits the full CarsGuide luggage set, provided you remove the parcel shelf as it's just a smidge too high.

You'll also need to keep your charging cables in the boot, as there's no underfloor storage, the entire space being taken up by a space-saver spare wheel.

While we’re on the topic of excess, the Evoque HSE P300e certainly reflects it in the price tag. This plug-in starts from a whopping $105,060 price-wise putting it in the same league as luxury PHEV rivals a full size up.

Because there are no small luxury segment small SUVs in this league currently, we’re in fact forced to compare the Evoque to cars like the Volvo XC60 Recharge (from $100,990), BMW X3 xDrive30e ($107,000), or the particularly good-value Lexus NX 450h+ (from $88,323).

All are larger than our Evoque here, so it’s automatically at a disadvantage, and as is the usual case with Land Rover products, there’s an extensive and occasionally rude options list which can add thousands more to the price.

Our test vehicle, for example, had over $10,000 worth of options attached to it, only three of which (dual-zone climate with second row vents - $1000, and the additional Type 2 charging cable - $528) I would bother to add.

The included equipment at the HSE grade is good, with 20-inch alloy wheels, 14-way electrically adjustable front seats, Matrix LED headlights, a 10-inch tiltable ‘Pivi Pro’ touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, as well as built-in navigation, and a second screen for the climate and car functions.

There’s also a semi-digital dash (oddly, with analogue dials for engine rpm and road speed, but a 7.0-inch digital element for everything else), the choice of either leather or suede interior trim, a leather-bound steering wheel, and keyless entry with push-start ignition. 

It’s nice to see the Matrix LEDs as standard here, as well as a swish set of screens and a premium feeling interior. But it’s also frustrating things like digital radio ($520), a head-up display ($1690), data plan ($1040), and USB-C for the rear seats ($351) are optional on a car north of $100,000, especially since most of these are standard on its rivals.

One major catch is how long you might be waiting for one. Some dealer sources tell us customers will need to wait up to 12 months for delivery at the time of writing, so be prepared for this if you want one.

The Model Y Long Range is all-wheel drive thanks to a motor powering the front wheels and another turning the rear ones.

Together the motors have a combined output of 378kW and 493Nm which is an enormous amount of power and torque for a family SUV like this and that means the 0-100km/h time is also a pretty quick 5.0 seconds.  

The Evoque now sports Jaguar Land Rover’s hybridised ‘Ingenium’ engine family across the range, and the set-up which appears in the plug-in hybrid model might be the most interesting.

It consists of a 1.5-litre three-cylinder combustion engine which is said to produce 147kW/280Nm, and an electric motor powering the rear axle producing 80kW, the two of which combine for an impressive quoted total output of 227kW/540Nm, driving all four wheels.

The motor sources its power from a 15kWh lithium-ion battery pack under the floor of the car, which provides a claimed 62km of fully-electric driving range.

Land Rover also replaced the mechanical brake pedal with a drive-by-wire one to allow for improved ‘blended’ regenerative braking.

The Model Y Long Range’s name suggests it's the version for those looking for the maximum distance they can travel on a full charge and it is the smart choice in the line-up. That said, the extra range isn’t all that much more than the other grades.

Tesla says the Long Range with its battery fully charged can travel up to 533km and has a combined cycle energy efficiency of 16.9kWh per 100km (WLPT).

A range of 533km is impressive but only 78km more than the entry-grade Model Y and just 19km more than the top-of-the-line Performance.

How accurate are Tesla fuel efficiency figures? Well, my own testing over a combination of all types of driving saw the trip computer report an average of 16.8kWh/100km.

Tesla says one of its 250kW Superchargers can add up to 275km of range in 15 minutes.

Claimed energy consumption on the combined WLTP cycle for the Range Rover Evoque P300e is 2.0L/100km. As with all plug-in hybrids though, this will heavily depend on how it is driven.

The 15kWh battery is said to provide a 62km driving range (again, on the WLTP cycle), which seems healthy for a PHEV, and I was pleased to find that my car was reporting about 56km on a full charge, not far off the claim.

Importantly, the Evoque has stellar charging specifications, which make it ideal for a city-slicker with minimal time to conveniently charge.

I was shocked to find a DC charging port when I flipped open the panel, which is capable of charging the tiny battery up in just 20 minutes (at a peak rate of 35kW), while on a slower but easier-to-find AC charger, it can extract 7kW allowing a charge time of around two hours.

This is well above par for a plug-in hybrid, and makes charging quick, painless and convenient, even for those who can’t charge at home.

As a result of this ease-of-charging and therefore minimal time spent in the hold or hybrid modes, my car reported an astounding 1.0/100km of fuel consumption during my week, covering mostly urban kilometres.

The only drawback is the need to fill this small turbo engine with mid-shelf 95RON fuel.

CarsGuide hasn't been alone in criticising the Model Y’s overly firm suspension with potholes and bumps seeming to unsettle the vehicle easily.

But Tesla says it's updated the suspension to a more ‘comfortable’ tune and we had a chance to test it.

So, is it more comfortable now? Yes, but it could be better. There appears to be softer absorption in the suspension but anything other than small bumps are still prominent.

Body control remains a bit jelly-like in that there’s too much jiggling and leaning when driving normally, even on typical suburban roads.

At this price point we'd expect the ride to be more comfortable and settled. But this is unlikely to be a deal breaker for most people.

Otherwise, the Model Y drives like most electric cars with instant and quick acceleration, direct steering and it’s all done in silence which makes commuting far more pleasant than idling in the traffic with a petrol or diesel engine and a transmission constantly shifting from first to second and back.

And apart from not using petrol or diesel that's the appeal of electric cars; how easy they are to drive. 

What would make life even easier is a head-up display or driver’s instrument cluster because the current central screen set-up, which shows the speed in a fairly small size in the display's top right corner, is far from ideal.

There have been cases reported on Australian Tesla forums where displays have broken making the car illegal to operate and if this happens out of warranty the repair can be costly.

Be aware, too, that the 'Full Self-Driving' abilities of the Model Y are restricted in Australia. The law states that some autonomous tech can be used, such as adaptive cruise control with lane changing, but you must keep your hands on the wheel.  

The second-gen Evoque is still the lovely, luxury, small SUV it was when it launched in 2019, and this plug-in hybrid version only serves to improve the formula, adding sleek electric driving characteristics to the already-smooth turbo engine and torque converter automatic.

Interestingly, and like its Volvo XC60 rival, the electric motor is located on the rear axle, giving this car the odd characteristic of being rear-wheel drive when driven electrically, or predominantly front-wheel drive when driven in combustion mode.

Speaking of modes, this car does the bulk of the management, with only three driving modes available to the pilot. These include the default ‘hybrid’ mode, which as the name suggests, blends the two power sources with more of an emphasis on electric driving when the battery is charged.

There's also an electric mode, which will only use the rear axle motor until the battery runs out, and a ‘Hold’ mode which will still blend the two sources but predominantly rely on the combustion engine to maintain the car’s state of charge.

You might want to use the last mode if you're travelling long-distance, to maintain the electric range for where it is most efficient - in low-speed stop-start driving.

The regenerative braking is not adjustable, having just a single mild level. It’s far from the single-pedal driving you can experience in a fully electric car, but Land Rover has made the brake pedal fly-by-wire so it can blend increased regen with the mechanical brakes.

It makes for a familiar experience from behind the wheel for those coming straight out of a purely combustion vehicle.

The electrified brake pedal does have the consequence of removing a bit of feel for a keen driver, and the same can be said for the rather slow steering tune in the default settings which makes the Evoque feel more luxurious and less sporty or reactive than it could be.

It’s a shame, because the two power sources combine to make for a thumping amount of power when you stick your boot in, and the all-wheel drive system and nicely balanced suspension keep this little SUV well under control in the corners.

As with my original Evoque range review in 2019, though, it is notable how heavy this SUV feels, particularly compared to some rivals like the Audi Q3.

The heftiness suits the Evoque's expanded dimensions and even more upmarket feel, but despite the power on offer it’s not an agile SUV to be carving corners in.

At least the ride quality and quietness is superb, making the Evoque an ideal SUV for driving around the centre of pothole-stricken Sydney, with a notable amount of poise. At the end of the day, isn’t that what this Range Rover was built for?

Despite its long options list, thankfully all key safety equipment is standard on the Evoque. Active items include auto emergency braking, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, traffic sign recognition, driver attention alert, a clear exit monitor, and adaptive cruise control.

Only two items which could be considered under the safety umbrella remain on the options list (the options list becoming a recurring theme in this review), a 360-degree parking camera ($500), and the ‘ClearSight’ rear view mirror, which is able to show a camera view out the rear if the mirror is obscured by luggage or people in the cabin ($1230).

Elsewhere, the Evoque scores two ISOFIX child seat mounting points on the outer rear seats, and three top tethers across the rear row.

There are six airbags, and despite notably missing a front centre airbag, which is often required for a maximum safety rating to today’s standard, the Evoque maintains the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating it was awarded in 2019. For the record, it scored very highly across all categories.

When it comes to ownership the Tesla Model Y is covered by a four-year/80,000km warranty which falls short of the Hyundai Ioniq 5’s five-year, unlimited kilometre cover and Kia’s seven-year, unlimited km promise on the EV6.

As for the battery warranty, Tesla will cover it for eight years or 192,000km, which is better than Hyundai’s eight year 160,000km deal and seven years or 150,000km from Kia.

The Model Y has condition-based servicing, meaning it will tell you when it wants to go to a Tesla workshop.

As of April, 2021 all Land Rover products are finally covered by an industry-standard five-year and unlimited kilometre warranty, matching its key rivals, and beating out BMW which persists with an old three-year warranty promise. Five years of roadside assist is also included for the duration.

When it comes to servicing, the P300e is available to be purchased with a five-year plan ($2650 - $530 annually) which covers 102,000km of visits.

This pack is well worthwhile as Land Rover servicing is generally quite expensive when purchased a-la-carte.