When I started writing motoring reviews, the (then) relatively new Evoque was one of my first. I remember being quite excited to be driving a new Range Rover.

There were a few niggles with it, but nothing insurmountable. If my memory serves me, the sat nav was woeful and the automatic gearbox not quite the standard you’d expect from a premium marque, but the drive was definitely on a par with the reputation.

Fast forward to the convertible and things had moved on. The infotainment system was lifted from the partnership with Jaguar and the gearbox was much improved too. A lack of boot space was perhaps the third issue with the first gen model… clearly that wasn’t going to improve with a drop top version, but at the same time, my frame of reference had changed.

In 2015, I had a young baby so everywhere I went involved a buggy, change bag and supplies well suited to a small-scale polar expedition. By 2017, testing the convertible, the need for a buggy had gone, and with a growing family, it was fairly well suited to our needs.

Another four years on and the Evoque has evolved again. But is it for the better? The exterior looks sleeker, taking more styling tips from the Velar, with a noticeably different front grill, and the same vanishing door handles. I’m a fan of the grill, but the door handles aren’t my cup of tea.

On a Tesla, flush handles work well, and seem to extend from the body when your hand approaches, but with the Evoque, light pressure is needed on the discrete button, which kind of ruins the effect for me.

An impressive touch screen display

Moving inside, the Velar’s touches can again be felt – an impressive touch screen display controlling pretty much everything in the car. In principle this is fine, but there are two issues from my point of view.

Firstly, it took some getting used to switching between the various apps, which isn’t necessarily a problem, but for the money, I’d like it to be simple, intuitive and straightforward.

Secondly, the high gloss touch screen looked great in most conditions, apart from direct sunlight, where every fingerprint, every smudge and every touch was evident. Easily polished off, but again, a little disappointing. I think a different graphical background would sort it – the similar screen on a Tesla doesn’t suffer the same fate, but uses a predominantly white background.

I should have mentioned earlier that this was a PHEV – plug-in hybrid – but with a maximum electric range of around 30 miles. For me, this should have been a 2.0 diesel engine Range Rover, instead of the 1.5 litre petrol hybrid, but as a hybrid it was relatively effective, just not quite what you’d expect from the appearance.

All in all, it is a great car – capable off road, hybrid capabilities and comfort for five adults… but frankly, while I like the interior and front end of this new model, I prefer the slightly more rugged rear end of the previous derivation.

That said, I couldn’t mark it down purely for that, but I think the £40-50k market that this sits in is very congested, and my only concern is that this new Evoque isn’t completely convincing of its premium heritage. But I think I could be convinced with a little more time with it.