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  • Yes, you idiot. You've always wanted one.

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Hello! New non-owner. Sort of.

1K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  15498 
#1 ·
Hiya! First off, thanks for all the useful information on the forum! It's always heartening to see help being given freely to people who would otherwise be completely stumped - gotta love owners clubs!

Danger. Long rambling post ahead. You can probably skip to the last couple of paragraphs and save a few braincells.

It's time for a new car. I've been doing all the usual research; marques, models, finance, TCO, etc. I also started doing the inevitable 'feature creep' that we ALL do ?. I was originally just going to go for a Skoda Yeti as a family workhorse to replace the trusty Focus, but the wife really didn't want the badge on the drive ?. The inlaws are on the Ford ticket, so I've been buying their 3 year old cast offs for a great price for years. I have Focus fatigue in a big way! Having said that, I've owned 3, covered a whole lot of miles in them and apart from a faulty coil pack and suspension bushes, that's the total amount of non service/wear items I've needed.

So I decided to up the budget and get something I might actually be interested in owning - the wife has a brand new A3 S-Line, so why can't I have a nice motor?. Enter the usual suspects; Q3, X1, Sportage, Kuga, Qashqai, Countryman, Tiguan. Of all the ones I test drove, the Tig was (for me) the pick of the bunch. I feature creeped a bit more and decided it was an R Line spec or bust. Also bear in mind, I'm in the sub 20k range here, so older models. But hey, THEN I'm in Evoque territory - whole new ball game! A car I've always wanted! Why did I even bother with the others?! Sure, there's a bit of a practicality tradeoff, but sod it - it's an Evoque, dammit, I want one. I really want one.

So lets spend hours and hours (days, weeks) researching Evoques, trawling forums, drooling at Autotrader etc. I know a couple of people with Evoques, so I had a drive and quizzed them. 'Yeah, it's been fine! The key packed in once, but they fixed it no problem' and 'Yeah, sound mate, it's been great!'. Then contrast it with the horror stories - so many of them. Then you rationalise it with 'people come to forums to find solutions to faults and complain about issues'. Then you read Trustpilot's reviews on JLR and think 'christ, that's eye-wateringly bad'. Then you think 'It's OK, mine will be a good one'. Then, 'but what if it's not...' Round and round and round...

So let's mitigate the risk... I've found a warrantied approved car at a Land Rover dealer for a surprisingly good price that's exactly the spec I want with a reasonable mileage for the lifecycle I have in mind. It's done 43k - I'd plan on owning for 4 years, adding about 12-13k a year, so say 90-95k-ish by the time I plan to get rid.

I'd made the decision. This is the car for me. The dealers number is in my phone.

And yet I just can't bring myself to hit the button and commit. It's a ridiculous place to be in. A car that I've absolutely loved since the day it came out is totally within my grasp and I'm scared to commit because JLR appears to be a complete sh!tshow. Do I want to own a car that I'll be constantly worrying will let me down - I wonder how many sales JLR lose to exactly this issue? Or am I just overthinking?

I'll let you know!

Stay safe, I hope you're all well. Strange and worrying times.
 
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#2 ·
It’s certainly not an easy decision to make. I was in a similar position as you last year, spent hours and hours looking and trying to decide, did I want to be sensible, did I want to go for economy, so many thoughts going through my mind I almost gave up with the idea of buying anything and just keeping mine forever. Then I had to take my car in for a recall so had a couple of hours wandering the streets and came across a Land Rover dealer, had a sit in an Evoque and was hooked. Just knew I wanted one. No other reason went with that I just wanted one. So I got one, from a dealer that I know with a 3 month warranty. About 5 months in now and still love driving and looking at it and fingers crossed all still going well.
 
#4 ·
Well, I've had mine for 4+ years and have worried about it letting me down having seen the various bad reports.

BUT, it hasn't and my 'local' dealer (Bucks JLR) have so far been excellent.

Only complaint so far is the variable radio reception, which seems peculiar to my car!

I've just had the passenger door latch replaced (under extended warranty) with no questions asked.

Still love it and wouldn't know what to get if I changed it.

A difficult decision for you!!!!!
 
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#5 ·
You want it, just buy it. Don’t shilly shally man, as Boris says “get it done”
 
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#8 ·
With a Government suggestion that car dealerships should now close (MOT stations open) your dealership doors might now be bolted shut.... that said, once this is over and providing they are still in business, there should be some great promotions / reductions to drive sales.... if you can hold off you might get a better bargain. Would i buy an Evoque, you bet i would.
 
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#9 ·
If you want it and providing the dealership is open go for it. Remember " he who hesitates is lost Rodders"
Me, I'm in the opposite predicament had 3 RRs and as I'm not towing boats or jet skis anymore now want a 2wd Merc. I'm however in a PCP deal where Im currently in negative equity so looks like I will have to be patient. ?
 
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#11 ·
Thanks for the comments chaps, much appreciated. Yep, the forecourts are closed, but I can still reserve the car over the phone. I'm going to give them a ring and see what they can do. I'm in no rush - let's face it, I've got nowhere to commute to for the forseeable!

Has anyone had any luck pushing for an extra years warranty? That would totally tip the deal as the finances stack up quite well if I needed to get rid after two years.
 
#14 ·
Just reserved a car after about three months of looking! I get to have a test drive on Tuesday...

Low mile - check
2015 - check
Full JLR SH - check
2.2 - check
Manual - check
Pan roof - check
Warranty! - check

...Disco Sport!

The sheer volume of camping crap I have to lug around swung it in favour of the DS. Although, I've never driven one, so there's still a chance I might end up with an Evoque.
 
#15 ·
The DS is very Tractor like-not a good car, very rustic inside compared with the Evoque.
 
#16 ·
We recently spent a few hours in a dealers showroom killing time while waiting for ours, we sat in them all and even my mrs could tell the difference between a Land Rover and a Range Rover and to be honest I have to agree, the DS is ok but it isn't a patch on the evoque
 
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#17 ·
I have only sat in one, never travelled in one. It is not a Range Rover. I had a very open mind when looking for my new car, but I quickly ruled out LR in favour of RR.
 
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#18 ·
The DS is the attempt to relace the old trusted Freelander 2, which in itself was a wonderful, purposeful carthe DS is wishy washy, basic (even in top form) lacks the quality interior feel and has a make do and mend look about it.-had a couple as loan cars-NO
Guess you could say i don't like it.
 
#19 ·
Heh - I guess I should have expected that response on an Evoque forum 😆 I've noticed on the DS forums, they're equally as dismissive about the 'Ewok'. I've been a passenger in a DS before and it was a nice place to be - although absolutely nowhere near the luxury of the Evoque. Either way, I like 'em both! :p
 
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