The New Range Rover Velar

The Range Rover Velar is right in the middle of where it should be. Well, what do you mean by that, you might ask? It’s smaller than the flagship Defender, but larger than the too-small Evoque. Being the middle child, the Velar gets pushed around by its larger and smaller siblings. But is that what really happens here? Napleton News wanted to find out. Let’s take a look.

It’s loaded with luxury and still manages to provide what Rangers are known for: Their innate off-road abilities. At least they feel innate.

What’s under the hood of the Range Rover Velar?

The base Range Rover Velar is powered by a 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder making a regular 247 horsepower. We never like regular so ours came with the P400-spec 3.0-liter turbocharged inline 6-cylinder engine that makes 395 horsepower and 405 lb-ft of torque. It packs quite a wallop and sends that wallop to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Our Velar is equipped with the optional Electronic Air Suspension system which firms up or softens the ride as needed. Although the Velar is primarily a road machine, its off-road performance is excellent, nonetheless. Still, Range Rover has seen fit to include the Terrain Response 2 System with varying drive modes for different conditions.

How does the Velar look?

Already a good-looking Sport Utility Vehicle, the Range Rover Velar maintains much of its existing look. It has been updated to bring it more in line with others in the range (Not Range-pun intended). These updates include new headlights, an update in the rear, and a new, revised grille. Our Dynamic HSE model included a new, swoopier look with different bumpers and wheels.

What about indoors?

New features help update the Range Rover’s interior. These include a cleaned up center console, and an 11.4-inch curved display. While others are bringing back buttons and controls to their consoles, it seems Range Rover is pulling them off once again. That’s too bad because we always prefer buttons and dials to searching through various menus.

The seats were very comfortable in the first row, offering heating and ventilation and massage functions. The one problem we noted was once we found our proper position we noticed there was not a lot of rear seat leg room. That’s quite disappointing when you consider this is technically a five-seater SUV. Chalk that up to the Velar’s shorter-than-midsize wheelbase.

The sound is provided by a stellar Meridian premium audio system. Cargo space in the “way back” is typical for the class.

Behind the wheel of the Ranger Velar

Unlike a typical off-road vehicle like a Jeep or the Land Rover Discovery (Disco) the Range Rover Velar is more like a sports car with some guts. Those guts can take you off-road when needed but we wouldn’t recommend it for a run in the Paris to Dakar Rally. Still, it manages to get up and go when called upon.

The electronic air suspension impressed us in that it always managed to take the right steps when cutting corners and following other challenging road conditions. The six-cylinder’s power was plentiful and did quite the job getting out of its own way, not to mention putting down the torque when needed.

Saying all of this, the Velar is a stout SUV from the Land Rover / Range Rover brand. If you want, or need a large Ranger with more legroom, check out one of the larger models in the lineup.

Range Rover Velar Specifications