RANGE ROVER EVOQUE: DRIVEN 31 Mar 2011

What is it?

The smallest, lightest, greenest Range Rover yet – and quite possibly the most desirable new car of 2011.

The Evoque will be available as a four-wheel-drive car with three or five doors and four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines. A two-wheel-drive diesel version will follow. Sustainability, from the start of the production process to the day the car is scrapped, has been at the core of its design and development.

When is it on sale? Most versions will be on sale in September, but you'll have to wait until early 2012 for the two-wheel-drive option. How much? From less than £30,000 to more than £40,000 – but we'll be able to tell you exactly next Monday.

Fuel consumption? 44.1mpg for the 2.2-litre manual diesel and 32.4mpg for the 2.0-litre petrol, which comes with a six-speed automatic gearbox. The two-wheel-drive eD4 model with a detuned diesel will be capable of 58mpg. CO2 emissions? From less than 130g/km to 199g/km. Why would I want one? Well, just look at it for a start.

This is SUV meets GTI. It's also a Range Rover through-and-through, with a stylish, high-quality cabin that offers lots of personalisation possibilities and a surprising amount of cabin and cargo space for a car that's less than 4.4 metres long and styled like a coupe.

The driving position is great and the range of gadgets on offer, from an eight-inch dual-view touch-screen navigation system to self-parking and all-round cameras that even help you line the car up when hitching a trailer, should keep dealers laughing all the way to the bank. We haven't even touched on the best bits yet, though.

The Evoque is a car that drives exactly as it looks, a fact which will delight the legions who are desperate to buy one and praying that the car is not just a pretty face. We've driven petrol and diesel versions around Land Rover's test facility in the West Midlands, and can unhesitatingly say it doesn't disappoint in any way. Both models had the optional adaptive dynamics variable damping system, and with this equipped, the Evoque feels more like a VW Golf GTI than a compact 4x4. It rides well, steers well, makes mincemeat of corners and keeps the din from all sources to a minimum.

The 2.2 diesel (188bhp and 311lb ft of torque) will probably be the best-seller, but unless you're likely to be doing high mileage or are worried about the impact of company car tax, we'd recommend the 2.0-litre direct-injection turbo petrol engine (236bhp and 251lb ft). It doesn't feel significantly less torquey than the diesel, because what it's got is available across such a wide rev band, the extra power is immediately noticeable and it's more refined and sounds better. We haven't tried either version off-road yet, but we're assured the legendary Range Rover capabilities haven't been diluted. It actually has more ground clearance than a Land Rover Freelander.

There must be something to dislike? The economy and CO2 figures don't look that impressive against some small SUVs, but the Evoque will be a much more capable car over a wider range of terrain. Over-the-shoulder and rear visibility is hampered by the coupe styling, and the rear seats don't fold totally flat.