Back when Ford still owned Land Rover and Jaguar, there always seemed to be rumors that Jaguar was going to add an SUV to its lineup of sedans and GT coupes. The assumption was Jaguar would create a badge-engineered version of a Range Rover. This never seemed like a good fit with the sporting and luxurious nature of the Jaguar brand. It wasn’t until Jaguar Land Rover became a part of the Tata Group that the big cat brand finally got its own SUV, the F-Pace. Now it’s the Land Rover side of the house that is leveraging Jaguar to expand its lineup with the Range Rover Velar.
Unlike the bad old days of badge engineering often consisted of little more than slapping on a grille, lights and perhaps a nicer grade of leather inside, modern platform sharing has become much more sophisticated. The Velar shares its basic footprint and the hardware that customers never see with the F-Pace. But if you parked the two side by side, you’d never guess how much they share.
The Velar combines modern Range Rover design language with proportions that give it a much more athletic stance. Unlike the tall classic Range Rovers including the Sport, the Velar doesn’t have the tall, airy greenhouse. Instead, it’s much more chopped down and sleek. The whole thing looks like it has been cleaved from single hunk of metal and glass and then polished smooth like soapstone. The door handles normally sit flush with the surrounding sheet metal as does the all of the glass.
As you walk up to the Velar with the key fob in your pocket, the handles automatically emerge, ready to be grabbed to pull the door open. The combination of blacked out glass, trim and wheels with the bright red metal work on my tester gave it a cool blend of sinister and athleticism that was nonetheless still recognizable as a Range Rover product.
As different as the exteriors are, so too are the cabins of the Velar and F-Pace. There is a melding of sleek and modern with the white leather coverings and piano black glass surfaces. While it all looks very sophisticated, I was somewhat less enamored with the physical interface of the Velar. Fortunately, there are three rotary knobs, one for volume in the center with a larger one on either side that actually provides multi-function input. I’ll come back to those in a moment.
There are also two separate touchscreen displays in the center. The lower portion is fixed in place at about a 45 degree angle and when everything is off and the cupholder covers are closed, there appears to be a single continuous surface from the center armrest until it hits the dashboard. Just above the fixed touchscreen is a second one with a wider aspect ratio. Again, when the vehicle is turned off, it sits at the same angle as the lower screen.
Once you press the engine start button, this one tilts up to what should be a more viewable and accessible angle for tapping. The angle of the upper screen can be adjusted in the display settings which helps with reachability. Unfortunately, if you happen to wear polarized sunglasses, no matter what angle this display is at, there is visual distortion and darkening of the screen. There are many displays on the market that have this problem, but there are also many that don’t. I wish interior designers and engineers would try out these displays on sunny days with sunglasses before making their sourcing decisions because it has a serious negative impact on usability.
Once you get past the sunglass issue, the interface itself is attractive and relatively intuitive. Maps, audio controls and other features appear on the upper screen. The lower screen lets you select between climate controls, vehicle settings for the terrain management systems and seating. The two larger rotary knobs I mentioned actually have their own small circular displays embedded in them that are context sensitive. For example if you switch to the climate control, each knob displays the individual zone temperatures. Tap on the seating tab and you can use the knobs to adjust heating or cooling temperature or massage intensity. Yes the Velar I drove had massaging seats that while not as configurable or aggressive as those offered in various Mercedes-Benz vehicles, was nonetheless welcome.
The back seat isn’t as cavernous as a classic Range Rover, but it is nonetheless very usable making this a full five seater. If you need three row capability, you’ll probably want to step up to the Discovery. With the back seats folded down, the total cargo area was nearly long enough to hold a pair of new storm doors I picked up from the local big box hardware store. As it was the 80-inch tall doors overhung the latch by less than 2-inches, requiring bungie cord to keep the hatch down.
For the US market, Land Rover is currently offering three powertrain options. The standard setup is the Ingenium 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder gas engine that is showing up in most new JLR products. A 2.0-liter diesel is also available as is the lovely supercharged 3.0-liter V6. All three powerplants are paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission.
My tester was powered by the 2.0-liter gas engine which provides adequate if not mind-blowing performance with its 247-hp and 267 lb-ft of torque. Land Rover claims a 0-60 sprint of 6.4-seconds which is believable in sport mode. It’s strange that in 2018, a mid-six second 0-60 time would be considered merely adequate when 20 years ago, that would have been sports car territory. If you’re after a truly sporting Range Rover, you’ll definitely want to opt for the blown V6 and its 380-hp
While the Velar shares its basic platform with the F-Pace, it has clearly been tuned to meet the expectations of a Range Rover more than an F-Type. That means everything in the suspension and the driving dynamics feels a bit softer and more compliant, making it more suitable for uneven terrain. While sport mode tightens things up, the Velar never feels quite as buttoned down as its Nurburgring-tuned Jaguar sibling. In most respects, that’s not actually a bad thing when driving in a real world littered with post-winter potholes. The steering doesn’t feel quite as precise but it also absorbs the impacts more.
For driver assists, the Velar offers adaptive cruise control, blindspot monitoring and lane departure warning, but not lane centering feature so you will have to keep your hands on the wheel. The alert vibration in the wheel and the accompanying sound when drifting out of a lane were more obtrusive than in most cars and I soon turned it off as I suspect most people will.
Like much of what Jaguar Land Rover has done in the years since Tata acquired the brands from Ford, the Range Rover Velar shows some smart product planning. Starting with a common platform, JLR has crafted two SUVs with distinct designs that don’t look badge engineered. Each also has unique driving dynamics with the Jaguar clearly being directed at its core audience that wants performance and luxury while the Velar goes after those that want off-road capability even if they will probably never use it. As tested, the Velar I drove came to a total of $74,885 with delivery. If you’re looking for a very stylish, midsize luxury SUV that doesn’t need to challenge the performance of a Porsche Cayenne, The Velar R-Dynamic in Firenza Red is absolutely worthy of consideration.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samabuelsamid/2018/05/20/2018-range-rover-velar-the-f-paces-off-road-cousin/
2018-05-20T15:19:00+00:00