Sport utility vehicle

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Thursday – It Really Does What It Says On The Tin…

steer

Jeremy I have a friend who lives in splendid isolation, near Cordes-sur-Ciel, in France. She is spending her retirement camped by the swimming pool but earned part of her estate from dreaming up the advertising slogan ‘it does what it says on the tin’.

If Maddy was road testing the Sorento, that would probably have been her headline. It’s not the most remarkable 4×4 SUV but if you want a no-nonsense seven-seater for a modest price, look no further.

With England bathed in sunshine today, it’s not been hard to find excuses to get out of the office. I’ve dropped the back five seats of the Kia and been to the dump, picked up a lawn mower from the service garage and swotted up on the form for Badminton Horse Trials this weekend. It’s bound to rain…

The Sorento is going to come in handy, no doubt battling for a space in a muddy press car park with assorted Land Rovers and Range Rovers. We will be six-up with three dogs, so it should be a true test of the Sorento’s resolve!

Today I’ve struggled a little finding a good driving position in the Kia. I either feel too close to the pedals, or too far back, which results in me constantly crashing the gearbox because I’m depressing the clutch far enough. It’s happening so much I’m wondering if it’s my bodily proportions.

Otherwise, the leather seats in the KX-2 model are big and comfortable, like your favourite armchair. There are three proper seats in the middle row while the rear, fold-up pair are for little people only.

This model also lacks a sat nav as standard but the radio console is touchscreen and setting up Bluetooth for a mobile phone is the easiest system I have used to date.

Fingers crossed for good weather this weekend…

 

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Friday – Style At A Price

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Jeremy Anyone who thinks the Evoque is just a squashed Range Rover should consider this – despite the low roofline, I’ve discovered that there is enough room inside for five adults to sit comfortably.

Admittedly, the glass, full-length glass roof (a £1300 option) helps reduce the feeling of claustrophia if your rear-seat passengers are over 6ft tall and don’t like the narrow side windows. But overall, the leather-clad cabin in the SD4 is a very relaxing place to be.

If you are wondering how Land Rover designers managed that, well, it’s probably at the expense of a decent-sized boot. It’s best described as adequate – but as Malin the Viszla will tell you, it’s nowhere near as big as a Freelander either.

And then there is rear visibility. The small back window really does hinder vision, not helped by the sloping roofline at the back. (a standard issue Labrador will have his head pressed hard against the roof).

Loving the Evoque but all this style does have to come at a price…

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Tuesday – In The Mode

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Jeremy My 1972 Series 3 Land Rover has a lot of metal rods poking up from the floor. Apart from a rather vague gearstick, there’s one for overdrive, two for high and low ratio gears, with a handbrake position in a pretty awkward spot too.

I mention this because the Evoque has none – not even a conventional handbrake. Gears are selected via a rotating dial, the handbrake is push button, and to select different suspension settings, a selection of buttons is provided. It’s totally foolproof – provided you read the instruction manual.

This is all designed to make using the baby Range Rover on various terrains a much simpler process. Pressing a button is easier than wrestling with a stick but for some reason, it doesn’t feel as intuitive. Jump in the Evoque and you might want to know what everything does before attempting to go off-road.

Despite its short dimensions, the Evoque is comfortable on city streets in ‘Normal’ suspension mode but for more spirited driving, the ‘Dynamic’ setting is better. I imagine most drivers won’t even touch these buttons unless they are going off-road proper but the choice is there.

So far, the Evoque is proving the perfect vehicle for all driving conditions. Only Malin the Hungarian Viszla is finding the boot a bit small – but then he has been used to a Series 3 for five years…

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Monday – The Evoque Has Landed

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Jeremy Let’s face it, SUVs don’t often come out of the design studio eye-catchingly beautiful. The need for all-round ability means good looks often have to be sacrificed for load capacity and extra ground clearance.

Which is why the Range Rover Evoque has genuinely broken the mould. At last, here is a compact SUV that you don’t need children, dogs or an interesting sport involving Lycra to justify ownership.

Our Firenze red Evoque has just arrived and already I’m looking for excuses to drive it. Low, squat and purposeful, the slim side windows and low roof give this Range Rover a thoroughly modern appeal.

The contemporary shape makes other SUVs look positively old-fashioned by comparison. We also have some suitably bling chrome wheels on our test car – let’s see how they look after seven days of Wiltshire mud and dirt…

Not quite so sure about the red leather interior but I’ll let Jessica have her say on that later in the week.

 

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Monday – From Unlikely Beginnings

Jeremy – About the same time my father acquired his second Datsun 120Y (not easy to own up to), Hyundai launched the Pony hatchback on an unsuspecting British public. It was Korea’s first mass-produced car and, thankfully, you won’t see many around today because the Pony never achieved classic status.

It was developed by George Turnbull – the former MD of Austin Morris – and a team of five other Brits hired by Hyundai. Styled in Italy by Giugiaro, it was instantly forgettable, apart from the headlights, which did a good impression of a Ford Capri.

That was 1982 and how times have changed. Hyundai Motor Group (which incorporates Kia) is now the world’s fourth largest car manufacturer. It operates the world’s largest car plant too. The Ulsan site can produce a staggering 1.6 million cars every year and employs 35,000 people.

Our third generation Santa Fe must be one of the best Hyundai models ever produced. In long wheelbase, seven-seat form it really is a masterclass of an SUV – a fact confirmed by huge sales in the USA, where they know their SUVs. You’re not getting German design standards on the inside but in terms of looks, value-for-money and equipment levels, I think you would be hard pushed to find a better option.

Fortunately, CarCouture has escaped the worst of the weekend snow so we can’t report on its 4×4 abilities. We have the Santa Fe for another couple of days, so you never know…

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ad735055-bbce-4079-865f-e838ca5df924Jeremy It’s the last day for our Volvo XC60 . With snow forecast for tomorrow I’m going to regret handing over the keys for all sorts of reasons. This is the model that buries the myth that all Volvos are boxy estates driven by conservative types. The flowing lines of the bodywork and beautifully crafted dashboard are light years ahead of Volvos of old – a pretty SUV estate that manages to put a smile on your face every morning. I think it looks sensational from most angles – apart from head on, which is about to be rectified with a new, re-nosed version due out this summer. Solid, robust and capable of 4X4-type forays into the semi-rough stuff, the XC60 is a thoroughly modern estate car that will tick a lot of boxes for most families. Arriving tomorrow at Car Couture is the new Jaguar XJ 3.0 Supercharged V6. Find out how we get on with the luxury saloon every day next week.