I’m more than 30,000ft in the air, half way through a 12,000km, 14-hour flight from Dubai to Sydney on the final leg of my journey home. My nasal passages are dry, burning and almost bleeding, no amount of moisturiser will rehydrate the arid desert that used to be my skin and I don’t know if it’s time for breakfast or dinner. Come to think of it, I’m sure my last two meals have been breakfast and thinking only serves to further confuse me. I’m also desperate for a shower and so tired my eyes are falling out of my head. Always the optimist, rather than wallowing I opt for another glass of wine.
International launches are simultaneously the best and worst part of my job. When I was assigned the Range Rover Evoque convertible launch, I was super excited. This is an exciting car that marks the start of a new segment, the convertible SUV. Combining the practicality of an SUV with the fun and freedom of a convertible – genius!
The Range Rover Evoque is itself a fashion statement, a medium SUV with a distinct focus on style and design. In 2012 Victoria Beckham and Land Rover released a special edition Range Rover Evoque that Beckham had spent 18-months helping to design.
I had received the itinerary prior to departing and was surprised to discover we would be getting to know the convertible with a drive from Lyon in France, to Courchevel in the Alps. You’d think something a little more tropical and coastal would be the obvious way to show this car off to hundreds of international motoring journalists, but the aim of this was to show off its off-road credentials in the snow. But it would certainly be a whirlwind – exactly four-days between leaving Sydney and landing back here.
An international launch is a major logistical operation. A small group of just four Australian motoring journalists would join others from China and the Middle East and we would be part of the 11th wave of attendees.
After a comedy of errors that almost resulted in my suitcase being either empty or full of wet clothes – the night before the flight, my washing was rained on, then I put it in the washer/dryer on a wash cycle – I somehow managed to get to the airport in time to check-in for the 6am flight on a Monday morning.
Fourteen hours later we were power-walking through the massive Dubai airport to ensure we were at our next gate in time for the seven-hour flight to Lyon. By around 7pm Tuesday evening, local time, we had arrived and checked-in to our hotel at the airport.
The food in France is to die for! The cheese is strong, creamy and amazing, the croissants and pastries flaky and crunchy, and the wine is just divine. Despite our best efforts, dinner that night was a short-lived affair and bed beckoned around 10pm. I hardly remember hitting the pillow; sleep hit me like a sledgehammer.
I awoke feeling refreshed and flung open the curtains expecting to see the sun rising and Lyon beginning to stir. Nope. It was 2am and my amazing sleep had been a pitiful four-hours in duration. The pre-dawn hours came in handy though, by 8.30am I’d filed a story covering pricing and specification of the new car and even stopped working long enough to enjoy an indulgent breakfast.
By 9am our group of journo’s (all looking as ragged as me) gathered for a safety briefing, product information presentation and an overview of the next couple of days. From Lyon airport we would drive the Range Rover Evoque convertible through the urban bustle, out on to the motorway, through tiny villages, on an off-road detour and up the windy mountain pass to Courchevel where we would put the car through it’s paces over obstacles in the snow, stay the night and return to the airport the next day after another snow-driving activity.
The French countryside is simply breathtaking. After a good stretch of highway driving at 130km/hr, we got away from the crowd and headed through regional France. It’s peppered with tiny villages, hairpin bends wind their way up the sides of mountains and then you see the snow-capped peaks approaching from a distance and the butterflies flap a little harder in your stomach.
The Evoque convertible handled every type of road beautifully. Though it’s the same inside as the Evoque, a lot of work was done to increase the rigidity of the body and it worked. Some convertibles feel a little shaky because of the lack of a fixed roof, for example you’ll in some topless cars the rear-view mirror shakes. But this feels almost exactly like driving the Evoque SUV.
Passing the snowline and heading higher towards Courchevel, I spend some time as a passenger and explore the new 10.2-inch touchscreen and infotainment system. This you won’t find in the regular Evoque, in fact the system has only recently made its debut in the Jaguar XF. It looks and works like a tablet and it’s easy to find my way around it.
Earlier, we’d taken a detour off-road to test out the hill-descent control and enjoyed a taste of its 4WD capabilities. These are further put to the test when we arrive at a snowy area where obstacles have been set up. Driving along ramps and getting wheels hanging in the air, the structures we drive over have been designed to showcase the extreme conditions the car can handle.
Courchevel is a popular ski village, part of the Three Valleys, which is the biggest connected ski area in the world. The rich and famous flock here. There are 11 five-star resorts, two six-star resorts (or palaces), and it’s the ski resort with the most Michelin starred restaurants; there are 11 with four of those awarded two Michelin stars.
We are staying at the five-star L’Apogee. I feel like a rock-star while being escorted through the lobby to the door to my room. The furnishings are plush, the lighting subtle and sexy, there’s exposed wood surfaces everywhere and it smells amazing. I have the deepest bathtub I’ve seen and a gorgeous sitting area (read: work area), as well as a balcony with a view over the mountains and ski lifts.
Dinner that night provides the opportunity to meet executives and senior designers involved with the Evoque convertible, so with recorded interviews and notes in hand, it’s back to the room to start working on the car review.
I’m relieved to get an extra hour sleep on the second night, waking at 3am rather than 2am. Winning! Again those extra hours come in handy to get some work done, the gorgeous indoor swimming pool goes unvisited.
The morning’s activity involves heading higher up the mountain to drive around a snowy course. It starts to snow so the roof goes back up at this point, but it’s a lot of fun testing hill-descent control on the slippery surface and getting the convertible sideways around the corners. The optional heated steering wheel and seats are set to max in these conditions.
Land Rover has installed extra safety measures too, providing peace of mind as we slide around in the snow. There are pop-up roll bars that deploy in the event of a rollover, and side curtain airbags.
After some fun in the snow, we make our way back through more gorgeous villages, over beautiful waterways and stop for lunch at a winery without enjoying the spoils before arriving back at the airport in Lyon. The Evoque convertible has proven to be very capable, fun and drives like a regular Evoque, though you can feel the extra weight on inclines.
It will be available in Australia in the third quarter of this year, in two well-kitted out trim-levels with a choice of a turbo petrol or turbo diesel engine. The diesel engine is my pick, it’s newer, very quiet and refined. It can be yours from $84,440 before on-road costs.
Between Lyon and Dubai I manage to finish my written review of the convertible and try to catch up on some sleep but it evades me. I have no idea what time it is in Australia but we land in Dubai a 6am local time and are due to depart for Sydney at 9am.
So here I am, after a whirlwind adventure, finally on the last flight home. At 6am, exactly 96-hours, four flights, one night in a five-star hotel, two days behind the wheel of the Range Rover Evoque convertible and a grand total of nine-hours sleep in a real bed, we touchdown in Sydney.
The Carousel thanks Tegan Lawson from Car Advice for this article
