Video: 2017 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Convertible Review

Land Rover has gotten a little more creative, and has come up with this: a convertible SUV. While the 2017 Range Rover Evoque convertible's driving experience is decidedly car-like, familiar convertible shortcomings remain. The convertible retains the overall styling theme of the two and four-door Evoque SUVs, but don't be surprised that people do a double-take trying to figure out what this thing is. It's about a foot shorter than the BMW 430i and Mercedes-Benz c300 convertibles, and when you combine that with its tall belt line, it has a bit of a stubby shape. I do like, though, how the power soft top retains the overall styling theme of the car. And that power soft top is pretty easy to use. There's a single switch on the center console that controls it, and in our testing, it took about 14 seconds for the top to go down or back up. That's pretty quick. And unlike some convertible tops, you can use it when you're on the move. It works as speeds up to 29 miles per hour. The soft top stows neatly behind the rear seats, and unlike some convertible tops, it doesn't take up any cargo space when it's down. To get to that cargo area, you lift this small windowless hatch right here, and it measures 8.8 cubic feet. That's big enough for a couple of duffle bags. So what's it like to drive this thing? Well, it feels more like a car than an SUV actually. For one, you step down into it as opposed to stepping up, and that ride height translates into a planted feeling corners. Steering is light and direct, and the turbocharged four cylinder engine delivers plenty of power when you step on the accelerator. With the top up, ambient noise levels are a little higher, but when the top's down, wind buffeting isn't excessive. Convertible's have been gaining all-wheel drive systems to increase their appeal, but the off-road capability built into Evoque convertible's all-wheel drive system is unique. It includes settings for grass, gravel, and snow, mud and ruts, and also sand. Plus it includes hill descent control, which lets the Evoque convertible walk slowly down steep grades. That said, familiar convertible downsides are present as well as a few unexpected ones. With the steel roof gone, the chassis isn't as rigid, and you notice some windshield pillar shake on rougher roads. Rear visibility with the top up is very limited too, which makes the backup camera that much more important. And the rear view mirror blocks quite a bit of your view out the right side of the windshield. The Evoque convertible also has the problem that I've noticed in some minis. And that's if you'd like to sit with your seat up high, like I do, the top of the windshield frame ends up blocking overhead stoplights, so you have to peer down to see whether the lights changed green. The convertible gets Land Rover's InControl touch pro multimedia system, and it features a 10.2 inch widescreen display. It's pretty easy to overall. It also packs a lot of processing power, and that's pretty clear when you start interacting with the available navigation map. Because it's snappy and it has the same type of response that you'd expect from your smartphone. While it's easy to pair your phone to the system using Bluetooth, Apple Car Play and Android Auto smartphone connectivity isn't currently offered, though Land Rover says it plans to add it to its lineup in the future. The Evoque starts around $43,000, but the least expensive convertible version is around $10,000 more. And this HSE dynamic trim level is nearly $60,000, and that's before you add any options to it. While that might seem like an eye-popping figure for a small convertible, it's only about $5,000 more than all-wheel drive versions of the 430i and c300 convertibles. But if you want to turn heads, there's no question, this is the one to get.