2012 Range Rover Evoque first drive

is much more to the Range Rover Evoque than a design job that's the automotive equivalent of a Prada handbag. The shape and style is enough to ensure its success, and has created a worldwide order bank of 20,000 cars including 150 deposit-paid buyers in Australia, but it's not enough - nearly - for Land Rover and its long-term followers.So the Evoque is genuinely capable when the bitumen stops, even through the sort of deep water, ruts and muddy country that would have an Audi Q5 or Volvo XC60 driver making a quick U-turn. There is a front-drive model that will be best for the bright lights of big cities, but the focus at the moment is on the four-wheel drive Evoque that's coming out of the blocks first with a starting price of $53,395 in Australia. It will hit showrooms in November and promises the driving ability that justifies a Range Rover badge on the tail.It's got to be authentic. We couldn't put a car on the road and then not have it perform the way you expect it to perform as a Land Rover or Range Rover team leader, Murray Dietsch. "Put it up against anything in its class and it will rings around it."But there is a problem with that. No-one really knows the Evoque's rivals. The compact prestige four-wheel drives are obvious, especially for the five-door family-focussed Evoque, but the three-door model - which designer Gerry McGovern insists is a coupe - could be shopped against other trend setters including the Audi TT and Mini.The starting price for the Evoque in Australia is a tasty $49,995. But it's not that simple, as the top end runs up to $75,895. The base price is possible because of the equipment, driveline choices and three engines. So the starter car is a front-wheel drive, six-  speed manual with a 110kW diesel engine and Pure equipment. The flagship car is the four-wheel drive Prestige with 177kW petrol engine and six-speed automatic.When you look at a lot of its rivals, including the Q5 from $63,400 and the XC60 from $54,150 with front drive, it is well positioned. Even the BMW X1, a favourite with yummy mummies, costs at least $57,400. Still, an automatic is almost mandatory in a car like the Evoque, which is far more likely to be used as a car than ana lot of people are also going to splash on things like the parking camera and satnav which areessential in the luxury class despite the effect on the bottom line.Land Rover is still waiting for feedback from buyers but is expecting 70 percent of people to go for the five-door body and only 40 per cent of Evoques to go off-road, companyAlmost everything under the Evoque's good looking body comes from the Land Rover Freelander II. That's good news for everyone, from the accountants at Land Rover to serious off-roaders. The only real difference off-road is that the Evoque is a little short of front clearance, but otherwise Land Rover's excellent Terrain Response system does more than enough to compensate for low-range gears.