IT’S NO WONDER that the new Avengers movie broke opening weekend box office records everywhere. A world hungry for heroes creates an atmosphere perfectly conducive to explosive débuts. In the automotive realm, the Range Rover Evoque’s first appearance must rank as nuclear – an expertly orchestrated mixture of heavyweight marketing, show-stopping style and tangible talent. The recent launch of the Audi Q3 however, hasn’t evoked quite the same reaction. Blame Audi’s Roman Empire-like expansion plan for plugging perceived holes in its model line-up faster than a Dutch kid and a leaky dyke. ‘This month’s new Audi’ is a favourite line around the topCar office. Still, by significantly lowering the monetary barrier to Q-car ownership, the intriguing Q3 is certainly not without impact. By comparison, the BMW X1’s entrance two years ago was more damp squib. Despite this, the littlest X-car has been quietly getting on with business, selling around 150 units a month. Now that all the marketing noise has waned, which one is really king of the hill?

IMAGE GALLERY

Even though all three wear premium badges and harness 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engines that drive all four wheels through automated transmissions, I know what you’re thinking. How can we pit a two-door Evoque that retails for R600k, against two five-door models that list from R130k less? The answer is simple: spec either German to match the comprehensively-equipped Brit and its cheaper mechanically identical five-door derivative, and a sense of pricing parity is quickly restored. Fact: our long-term X1 xDrive28i tested here carries an all-inclusive price tag of R609000, and it is STILL short of the Evoque’s standard kit. So, in a like-for-like battle, can these range-topping Germans silence the big-banging Evoque? It’s time to find out.

EXTERIOR

We assemble in the dimly lit parking area of a fuel station on the R27 and make our way to Yzerfontein, arriving just as the sun breaks through the morning sky. It is our first real look at all three side by side and … well, if a beauty contest was war, this would be a slaughter. The futuristic movie prop of an Evoque is a tightly-bundled mass of magnetic visual energy. It’s the outrageous proportions – short overhangs, high bonnet, low roof, dramatically rising waistline – that are in such sharp contrast to the opposition. Where the X1 is an exact replica of a hippo’s head, the Q3 is shaped more like a tortoise. Obviously there’s more to it than that, but if I was a fatist, I’d say the Q3 looks like an A1 that ate all the other A1s. Still, of the two Germans, it is the Audi that is the more stylistically palatable, being a neat and homogenous design from most angles bar the front end. What’s wrong with that you ask? It’s perplexing how the top-heavy headlamp shapes – dictated by the heavily-chamfered upper corners of Audi’s new corporate grille – interrupt the bonnet crease lines as they flow down into the bumpers. That said, the standard Xenons hemmed-in by LED daylight running strips do add visual distinction. The slightly pinched-effect tail-lamps have similar latest-tech LED treatment. Measured against the instantly desirable Evoque, the Q3 needs careful wheel and paint colour choices, plus the optional S-line package to look its best.

Apart from intriguing character lines along its lower flanks, it’s harder to find positive things to say about the X1’s styling. It’s just so awkwardly proportioned, with a bonnet so flat and long you could park the pert Evoque on it. Probably. Alongside, the Evoque’s 20-inch alloys (a perk of this Dynamic model), the BMW’s standard 17s just look silly but, crucially, are a major boon to ride comfort. My advice? Opt for the biggest wheels your wallet and backside can live with.

INTERIOR

Initial photography in the bag, we head off towards the iron-ised roads around Saldahna. All three vehicles are quite well matched dimensionally, but both Audi and BM feel subjectively roomier. The Evoque counters with a higher, more commanding driving position, but beware the blind spots created by the massive side mirrors and minimal rear three-quarter vision. Compared with the X1’s uninspiring bog-standard seats, the single-piece buckets in the Evoque are simply gorgeous. They’re amazingly supportive and as luxurious as they look, but are not worth R45000 over the already excellent, motorised and leather-covered standard items.

It seems we’re not the only ones disappointed by the all-sorts cabin quality of the Beemer. The Bavarians themselves have opted for a new centre console and improved plastics for a facelift, due in SA later this year.

I know it’s clichéd, but the Audi’s interior really is a well built, albeit sombre and somewhat familiar environment. Where the Rangie is truly full-house, the Q3 is merely well-equipped with items like Bluetooth, voice control, an iPod and USB audio interface, rear park sensors and a pop-up 6.5-inch TFT colour screen – all options on the BMW. I’m not a fan of the spring-loaded temperature adjustment dials that have you constantly flicking them back and forth through a few degrees of rotation like you’re lighting a gas stove. The three-spoke wheel, complete with Audi’s latest style of satellite controls, is a treat to hold, especially compared with the thin, cheap feel of the BMW’s basic wheel, and comes standard with gear shift paddles, again optional on the X1 (tick the box alongside M-leather steering wheel and pay the measly R3000 – you’ll thank yourself every day).

As for the Audi MMI versus BMW iDrive debate, that will always come down to what you are used to. Too often a lack of familiarity gets unjustly labelled as poor ergonomics. The Evoque’s interior does without a controller by incorporating a touchscreen interface and uses a finely-judged combination of colour and material to create the most luxurious ambience.

RIDE AND HANDLING

Meandering our way on up the coast afforded a chance to get to grips with the Q3’s speed-sensitive electric steering, which though overly light across its range is pleasingly accurate, contributing greatly to the car’s pointy and nimble character. In sharp contrast, the X1’s hydraulic steering is like the first power-steered car you ever drove … with the pump broken. It is truly cumbersome in parking situations and distinctly vague around centre at freeway speeds. On most X1s, Servotronic (BM-speak for variable steering assistance) isn’t even an option. By design though, it offers the most consistent feel. The Evoque also runs electric motor assistance but differs in how it’s geared, taking fewer than two-and-a-half turns from lock to lock. Heavier and more direct, it feels much like a sports car from the helm.

All three ride reasonably well over smooth roads, but when things get a little uneven it’s the BMW, unsurprisingly, that loses out first thanks to the stiffer sidewalls of its run-flat tyres and a chassis set-up a smidgeon sportier than the others. As for the Evoque, our test car had the unfair advantage of running magnetorheological damping, thankfully dubbed simply Magneride. It’s the only option we’d tick from an admittedly very short list. Just R13500 adds a fifth, Dynamic mode to the four standard Terrain Response buttons, which stiffens the dampers and turns up the cornering potential of this Range Rover from handy to scarcely believable. Cancel Dynamic and the ride returns within milliseconds to properly cushy. That aside, even the basic steel suspension we tested last year offered more compliance than the X1’s. In compensation, the Beemer does offer limited, but genuine reward when driven with verve. Just imagine hustling a slightly taller, heavier E90 3 Series wagon and you’ve nailed the X1 cornering experience.

Unexpected repair works sent us on a lengthy detour over dirt roads muddied by rain. Where the Q3’s front end felt a bit floaty, exacerbated by the light steering, the Evoque just ploughed through. Hit a bump though, and you do sense the greater unsprung mass of its much larger wheels as the forces transfer themselves through the body.

It’s a fact that very few examples of these cars will ever endure even moderate off-road use. If they do, and however unfair it is, the psychology is simple: knowing you have Range Rover lettering on the nose of your vehicle gives you a sense of confidence that not even Audi’s famed quattro or BMW’s underrated xDrive badges afford. The reality is that all three offer similar levels of traction with advanced electronic torque transfer doing the kind of calculations and corrections that only computers can instantly manage to keep you pointed in the right direction. When it comes to unexpected braking though, only the Evoque has an off-road ABS function built into its Terrain Response. Evoque also wins at ground clearance with a figure of 215mm, beating the X1 by 21mm and way ahead of the Q3’s 185mm.

PERFORMANCE

Trundling around Lambert’s Bay reminded us of the X1’s painful top section of throttle-pedal travel. As unresponsive as an inebriated hobo passed out on a park bench, you have to push through a sizeable chunk of it before anything happens at all. The void is accentuated by the BM’s brilliant eight-speed transmission that exists primarily to keep the engine off the boil. Blame the EU combined cycle fuel consumption test. It’s an affliction the Audi suffers from too, though increased driver enjoyment is just a left tap on the gear selector for manual mode, and a tug on the standard steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters away. No such issues in the Rangie, which has a more progressive throttle feel. Its six-speed auto seems better matched to spirited driving even when not in Sport mode. The trade-off? Fuel consumption. Land Rover claims 8.7, BMW 7.9 and Audi 7.7l/100km – a comparative difference similar to figures achieved on our fuel consumption test route where the Evoque returned 10.2, the BMW 8.3 and the 30kg lighter, stop/start-equipped Q3 recorded 8.2l/100km.

Stopping briefly in Clanwilliam for a late lunch, we rejoined the N7 and headed for Cape Town. Overtaking the many trucks that use this route allowed ample opportunity for an impromptu powertrain mettle test. In the aural quality category, it’s the bellowing exhaust note of the 177kW/340Nm Evoque that wins. Booting the four-cylinder’s throttle is met by a baby V8 roar reminiscent of the larger Rangies. The Audi’s 2.0-litre has remarkably linear power delivery, but gives up 25kW to the X1. Work it through the rev range and it sounds just like a slightly muffled GTI complete with the familiar seven-speed dual-clutch woofle between changes. Bizarrely, the BM’s acoustics range from sick diesel at idle to an angry hornet buzz at higher revs.

But noise appreciation is the only battle the X1 loses when it comes to powertrain performance. Summon all 180kW and the X1 takes a moment or two to settle on which of the eight cogs is the more appropriate and then, like a jet-powered mechanical hippo, charges off leaving the others for lost. At 6.82 seconds, it was a full two seconds quicker than the Evoque during our 0-100kph tests, neatly sandwiching the Audi’s time of 7.79 seconds. On the road it feels faster too, again underlined by shorter tractability times from 60kph to the national limit.

CONCLUSION

Ending the trip near Muizenburg, we again parked them up alongside each other in final contemplation. For me, the Range Rover feels the most like a luxury sports car, the BMW like a heavy estate and the Q3 like a hot hatch – a kind of GTI on stilts. First to fall by the wayside is the BMW X1. Yes it has arguably the best transmission and is the fastest and most powerful, but a woeful exhaust note quickly dulls the euphoria. It’s also the only vehiclehere with hydraulic steering and yet that is one of its weakest aspects. Patchy cabin quality also fails to convince. The X1 is also hamstrung by a visual package that is interesting from only one or two views and just plain ugly from all others.

The Audi Q3 feels exactly as expected – light and nimble with a great quality interior. More standard spec than the BM means it’s better value and just undercuts the Evoque when similarly specced. The thing is, you never lose the notion that it needed to make much more of a design statement inside and out to really compete. The bottom line is it’s simply not cool enough.

So it’s victory to the Range Rover Evoque that makes its rivals look both conservative and achingly dull. Stratospheric desirability and genuine all-round capability means the Evoque thoroughly deserves all the plaudits it has received. Where the Germans do have a bit of a foothold is on lower pricing that makes X or Q ownership that much easier, provided you’re prepared to live with a more spartan equipment list. However, if Land Rover SA finally get around to bringing in cheaper, less ostentatiously-specced front-drive versions, it’ll be Good Night Germania.