The 2025 Range Rover Evoque Proves its Mettle in the SnowThe 2025 Range Rover Evoque Proves its Mettle in the Snow

Range Rover’s nimble, compact Evoque Dynamic SE proved a comfortable companion for a week of urban driving, but didn’t get to show off its Land Rover credentials until a medium-sized snowstorm provided the opportunity to drive in its Grass/Gravel/Snow driving mode in slippery conditions.

The Evoque, you may recall, is the four-door compact four-cylinder model in the Range Rover line, with a starting price of $51,175 (including destination) and our test model’s bottom line was $61,615.

There was a time when compact SUVs built on unibody platforms would have drawn skepticism for their off-road capabilities, but Land Rover has been showing what is possible since its LR2 model of 20 years ago.

The Evoque accomplishes this thanks to advanced chassis technologies such as the Configurable Dynamics system. This provides an all‑terrain breadth of capability from the intelligent torque on‑demand all‑wheel drive (AWD) system, which provides the optimum torque distribution to suit the conditions, whether driving at a brisk pace on clear roads or making that delicate start from a standstill on slippery surfaces such as this week’s snow.

Available modes in the Terrain Response 2 include Eco, Comfort, Grass‑Gravel‑Snow, Mud‑Ruts, Sand, Dynamic, and Automatic mode. Each alters the calibration of the engine, transmission, all‑wheel drive system, suspension, and stability control systems.

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The test car was fitted with Pirelli Scorpion all-season tires that looked pretty mild bit which teamed with the Evoque’s advanced systems to provide confident acceleration, steering, and braking in the snow. The best policy is to stay home in such conditions, but with a long-booked flight waiting at the airport, the Evoque’s capability was appreciated. Also, the $980 Cold Climate Pack, which includes a heated windshield, heated windshield washers, heated rear seats, and headlight cleaners, proved its value.

The mild-looking Pirelli Scorpion all-season tires delivered unexpected good grip in the snow. DAN CARNEY

Before the snow fell, the Evoque’s compact size, nimble handling, and tight turning radius made it perfect for in-town driving and parking. EPA fuel efficiency of 20 mpg in town and 27 on the highway for the 248 horsepower, 289 lb.-ft., 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and 9-speed automatic transmission makes a good case for a hybrid-electric version.

Comfortable heated seats and leather-wrapped steering wheel made the driver comfortable while everyone appreciated the light from the panoramic skylight. That was needed because the austere black cabin color and plastic surfaces look cheap and oppressive. Range Rover describes the Evoque’s style as “reductive” but that seems like a way of making cost-cutting seem like intentional design. Familiar warm taupe, beige, or tan colors with some convincing synthetic leather, soft fabric, and open-pore wood would be a welcome alternative.

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The central 11.4‑inch curved-glass infotainment touchscreen offers full digital control over key vehicle functions. As with the reductive design, Range Rover touts this as a good thing. As ever, the replacement of physical buttons and switches comes at a price in terms of useability. Designers tried to mitigate this by providing a pop-up window on startup of some frequently used functions such as seat heaters.

But that window’s appearance was unreliable. Sometimes it was there, sometimes it wasn’t. And a quick shift into Reverse to back out of a parking space obliterates everything on the display with the rear-view camera image. The radio frequently took a while to boot up on cold starts too, leaving me wondering a couple times whether it wasn’t going to work this time. It always did, with no restarts required, which has been common in previous Jaguar Land Rover models.

When selecting for snow driving, the Evoque offers the ability to choose softer acceleration to avoid breaking traction. DAN CARNEY

Range Rover boasts of the extensive testing it did to ensure the useability of this system, to “reduce task and interaction time and deliver the most user‑friendly experience possible.” Approximately 80 percent of tasks can be performed within two taps of the home screen, according to the company.

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But none of this effort would have been necessary if they’d only used the buttons and switches that drivers clearly prefer. And those “two-tap” functions that distract the driver’s attention from the road could be handled directly with a single action using switches. The difference is particularly acute when the driver is wearing gloves, during a snowstorm, for example.

A strong aspect of the infotainment system is the audio system. The optional $450 Meridian sound system is nothing less than attention-grabbing. I drive a lot of new cars with premium audio and it tends all sound pretty good. The Evoque’s Meridian audio system immediately got my attention for its audio clarity and separation despite using the same low-quality compressed SiriusXM satellite radio source as usual.

The $1,400 Technology Pack is also worthwhile, with the Head-Up Display and surround-view camera that makes it easier to squeeze the Evoque into tight parking spaces. Importantly for many drivers, the Evoque supports both wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It also has a wireless charging pad for mobile devices. It is handy, but I found it to be unusually sensitive to the device’s position to work.

But that is in contrast to the ease of driving the Evoque in slippery conditions, and because security is a primary motivation of drivers who buy SUVs, it was reassuring to have the opportunity to confirm the Evoque’s snow-going capabilities in the real world, rather than in a manufacturer-curated test environment, as is usually the case.