I’d say the V6 is the pick for not just economy but also smoothness at speed. Urban commutes only highlighted its unintuitive infotainment controls and unwieldy dimensions but, outside the city, it’s a fantastically refined cruiser. It took a few long-distance drives for me to gel with the Velar. Above all else, it deserves you keep an open mind about it. Instead, the Velar shows Land Rover at its most creative, forward looking and ambitious – pricing included. Indeed, I’ve never heard a car’s price point laboured so much, which is quite remarkable when the Velar is anything but a box-ticking exercise in the way so many other joyless cookie-cutter cars are ‘created’. At its original presentation, it was quite cynically described as simply filling a huge price gap between the Range Rover Evoque and Range Rover Sport, rather than being an innovative and modern (that word again) product in its own right. I must admit I, too, had my doubts about the Velar at its launch and soon after. The Velar was more a struggle in tighter spaces in town, the low driving position, long bonnet and slim glasshouse making it tricky to place at first. It was a surprisingly involving steer on country lanes, far more so than other Range Rover models. The Velar was at its best on the open road, making motorway journeys pleasures rather than chores, given how comfortable and relaxing it was. Most types of drive were covered during the rapid spinning of the odometer. V6 diesel power it is, then, for the ideal mix of refinement, easily accessible torque, passing ability and real-world economy and range.
I also tried the Velar with eight cylinders, courtesy of the big 5.0-litre supercharged V8 that powers the SVAutobiography model, but you never get over the economy that resides in the teens no matter how supreme the refinement and low-end torque are. It has lost more than £30,000 in its value since new as a trade-in, a huge sum even for a two-year-old car with more than 20,000 miles on it, and it shows what the used market thinks of the Velar’s lofty pricing when new. Yet before we move on from that price, it must also be looked at in the context of the depreciation we have seen on this Velar. And, as we know, Range Rovers have proven that they can command a premium with buyers.
A £10k step up? No, not quite, but this emphatically feels like a true Range Rover, and the most modern interpretation of one yet. That you can drive home from the venue in such comfort is almost implausible, given the things the Velar can do off road.Īrguing in favour of that £70,000 price in the second part of our opening statement becomes trickier, yet the Velar feels a step up from the F-Pace in terms of refinement, comfort and, biggest of all, interior ambience, technology and perceived quality. The absence of a separate low-ratio ’box excludes only rock crawling, so all muddy tracks, river wading, steep ascents and descents and even extraordinary-looking cross-wheel articulation balancing acts are fair game. Range Rover Velar First Edition P380 2017 first driveĪlthough it is the most road-biased Land Rover yet produced, we found on a day trip to Land Rover Experience West Country that the Velar can still do pretty much what any other Land Rover can do.Range Rover Velar P300 2018 first drive.Range Rover Velar D180 2019 UK first drive.Range Rover Velar P400e 2021 UK first drive.
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