After showing the three-door Range Rover Evoque at the Paris auto show in September, Land Rover, as expected, used the occasion of the Los Angeles show to unveil the five-door version.
With 20-inch wheels and styling that eschews typical SUV tough-guy cues such as faux skidplates, the three-door and five-door are aimed at upscale urban drivers who aspire to but can’t quite reach the $60,495 Range Rover Sport. Dimensionally, the Evoque twins are the same except that the five-door is about one inch taller and rear-seat passengers get about two more inches of shoulder room in the more-spacious back seat.
As in the three-door, the five’s powertrain will be a 2.0-liter turbocharged direct-injection four-cylinder making about 240 hp paired with full-time all-wheel drive. The engine is from Ford’s new family of EcoBoost four-cylinders. The powertrain will make the Evoque twins the two most expensive four-cylinder vehicles on the U.S. market.
The Evoque uses the largely steel, front-drive-based car platform under the Land Rover LR2, although only about 30 percent of the parts are carry-over. The Evoque’s sportier stance and proportions required major changes to the body stampings and suspension, says Land Rover managing director Phil Popham. The three-door Evoque should come in around 220 pounds lighter than the 4250-pound LR2, the five-door about 154 pounds lighter, says Popham.
One crucial difference between the three- and five-door: under U.S. law, sport-utility vehicles with two passenger doors are subjected to a withering 25-percent import duty. The so-called “chicken tax” owes its name to a 1963 trade dispute with France and Germany when the U.S. placed the duty on some agricultural goods and trucks in response to European duties on American-sourced chickens.
Trucks were different then, but the duty remains on the books and the urban-chic three-door (two passenger doors plus one tailgate) Evoque will have to pay it, while the five-door Evoque will be exempt. So beyond rear-seat comfort, the biggest difference between the two body styles will be their profit margins for Land Rover.
Read More: http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/10q4/2012_land_rover_range_rover_evoque_five-door_official_photos_and_info-auto_shows
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