The Range Rover Evoque, often seen on the school run of Middle England and popular with celebrities, has been condemned by drivers as a victory of style over substance.
Sold as a plug-in hybrid it has been presented as reasonably green given it operates on a mix of a battery and petrol engine.
But while the likes of Jamie Oliver and Victoria Beckham have added their glitz to the Evoque brand, people who use the car say it has failed to live up to the £51,000 price tag.
A survey of 70,000 drivers by Which? found that the prestige car, which was first introduced in 2020, typically spends 21 days of the year off the road for repairs.
Owners of the Evoque complained of constant breakdowns, long delays for replacement parts and range anxiety, leading those surveyed to rank it as Britain’s least favourite car.
The consumer rights champion found the hybrid was less reliable than its fully petrol or diesel counterparts, which spent an average of seven days a year out for repairs.
One Evoque owner described the hybrid was “the most frustrating thing that I have ever owned”.
He added: “The car has been less than reliable, particularly in the first two years of ownership.”
Another said he had replaced his Evoque because it was “plagued by electrical and other issues”.
The Evoque line of Range Rovers has been a mainstay of the British commute since its launch in 2011.
Victoria Beckham, who designed a special edition of the car in 2012, once described the Evoque as “like a bag on wheels”.
She added: “I’ve driven a Range Rover for as long as I can remember, and I have a lot of respect for Range Rover as a brand and for their heritage.”
The Evoque was similarly endorsed by Jamie Oliver, who described it as “agile” and a “testament to this brilliant British brand”.
At the time, he said: “I absolutely love this car, it was so much fun to drive on the busy streets of London and through the water trough in the Bishopsgate tunnels.”
But there have long been concerns about the Evoque’s reliability.
Natalie Hitchins, Which?’s head of home products and services, said: “Our latest survey shows that it pays to look beyond glitzy marketing or the priciest models when researching your next car purchase.”
Jaguar Land Rover told Which? that its move to a new logistics hub had caused disruption for customers but that issues had since been resolved. The company also claimed the survey was based on a sample size of 44 Hybrid Evoque owners, equivalent to 0.2pc of its customer base.
A JLR spokesman told Which?: “Ensuring our clients have the best possible experience of our brands is our priority, and the data tells us that vehicle quality at launch is the best it has ever been.
“We understand some clients experienced delays, with their vehicles awaiting parts for repair following JLR’s transition to a new global parts logistics centre.
“Throughout this period, we increased our mobility fleet by 50 percent to ensure impacted clients were supported with courtesy vehicles. We have now resolved this disruption and will remain focused on providing the high levels of customer service our clients rightfully expect.”
Other least-loved models included the Renault Zoe (2013-19), which had a price range of £18,444 to £31,520, and was the joint-lowest rated EV with 69 percent customer satisfaction, alongside the Peugeot E-2008 SUV, which costs from £34,400.
The customer score was based on a combination of how satisfied respondents were with their car and how likely they were to recommend it to others.
The least-loved petrol or diesel car was the 2017-20 Vauxhall Crossland X (65 percent customer satisfaction). This can typically now be found for around £6,500.
The Lexus RX, a full hybrid that was discontinued a decade ago, was named Britain’s “most-loved” car by those surveyed. Which? said drivers praised its reliability and comfort.
One owner from Shropshire told Which?: “It’s done 145,000 miles and still drives just like it was new.”
The top-scoring new car was the current Honda Civic full hybrid (94 per cent customer satisfaction) which launched in 2022, alongside the Toyota RAV4 plug-in hybrid (94 per cent) which launched in 2021.
