2014 Range Rover Evoque gets new technology

Land Rover has announced a couple of updates for the Range Rover Evoque for the 2014 model year. The copper-like shade you see in these set of photos is new, as is the alloy wheel design that the SUV is wearing. There’s also a new style of Land Rover badges on the grille, wheel caps and tailgate. But the real changes, however, are under the skin.

First of all, you have the new ZF nine-speed automatic, which was first announced in February this year. That’s a total of three new gear ratios to play with, with a new first gear ratio that’s much lower than in the current six-speed ‘box, which will be useful for creeping off-road.

The new gearbox also has the ability to skip a gear or two to the intended gear when downshifting, instead of going down the gears sequentially. An essential feature really, when you have that many gear ratios. Other than improved off-road performance, there’s also fuel economy improvements of up to 11.4%.

There’s a host of new driver assist features such as Park Exit (to automatically exit parallel parking bays), Perpendicular Park (to position the car centrally in parking bays), Closing Vehicle Sensing and Reverse Traffic Detection (to warn drivers of oncoming traffic), Lane Departure Warning, Traffic Sign Recognition and Wade Sensing.

In the interior, other than new interior colour choices, you also have the new Land Rover InControl connected car system, which has two new features called InControl Remote and InControl Secure.

InControl Remote allows owners to trigger an SOS Emergency Call, which automatically informs the emergency services of the vehicle’s position in the event of an accident. A button concealed behind a flap in the overhead console (to avoid accidental triggering) activates the system manually. A second button connects to Land Rover Assistance if the need for technical assistance arises. 

Land Rover InControl Secure tracks the vehicle in the event of theft. It raises a silent alarm at an operation centre, where a third party service provider will assist the relevant local authorities in a timely recovery of the vehicle. The system ensures the vehicle complies with the Thatcham Category 6 standard.

The Evoque’s all-wheel drive system now features a Torque Vectoring by Braking feature, which redirects torque between all four wheels to counteract understeer.

Another big change is an optional upgrade to a more advanced all-wheel drive system called Active Driveline, available on the 2.0 litre petrol Si4 engine initially. This allows the Evoque to run in front-wheel drive mode most of the time, with all-wheel drive mode kicking in within 300 ms whenever extra traction is needed. This improves efficiency, thus reducing fuel consumption.

Active Driveline also includes a feature called Active Torque Biasing which uses an e-Diff to transfer torque between the rear wheels to improve handling.

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