A refined contemporary driving experience. To show what all those numbers and all that tech means in the real world, we were sent over a bunch of seemingly impossible ramps, up (and down) a mountain, and across a river.The Range Rover Velar Interior - Take A Look Inside Immerse yourself in Range Rover Velar Interior, touches include the split armrest and crafted materials throughout.
If you want, you can go one step further with the optional All Terrain Progress Control (think of it as an off-road cruise control) and Terrain Response 2 systems.
It has class-leading approach, departure and breakover angles (24.3, 26.5 and 20.1 degrees respectively, compared to 34.7, 29.6, and 26.3 for a ‘proper’ Range Rover), can wade in up to 650mm of water, and has a bunch of clever off-road systems including Low Traction Launch, Hill Descent Control and Gradient Release Control fitted as standard. Even the little Range Rover Evoque is a long way ahead of its competitors in the off-roadiness stakes, and it’s the same with the Velar. You know that, I know that, but Land Rover wouldn’t dream of letting something leave the factory that isn’t capable of dominating almost every kind of terrain known to man.
Over the course of a two day test drive I was rarely sure what was going to come up before prodding the dials, but I suspect this is a system you’d become au fait with before too long, after a bit of use and some hardcore user manual digestion.įew Velar owners will ever come close to exploring the limits of the car’s off-road capabilities. Pressing them brings up a different function - for instance the heated/cooled seat control - although exactly what comes up depends on what page the lower screen is set to.
There are a pair of multi function dials that generally operate the driver and passenger side climate zone temperatures, and they feel weirdly satisfying to twiddle (at least they do to me. It’s based around a pair of 10-inch touch screens located on the centre console, with the upper one dealing with things like navigation, entertainment and exterior cameras, and the lower one looking after vehicle controls like climate and terrain response settings.īoth touch screens are nicely responsive, crisp and - for the most part - logical to navigate.
This time however, I won’t be complaining, as the new Touch Pro Duo unit that’s debuted in the Velar is really rather good. While they have slowly been getting better, JLR’s interfaces have a habit of being unintuitive, slow to respond and hampered with naff-looking colour schemes and visuals. Usually when writing about a Jaguar Land Rover product, this is the point at which I’d have a bit of a moan about the infotainment system. And if it’s a go-faster Velar you really want, you’ll be pleased to know a supercharged V8 version has been spotted hammering around the Nurburgring. But that’s fine: if you want something harder, get a Range Rover Sport.
It’s more competent on a windy road than something like a Land Rover Discovery or a full fat Range Rover, but if you want something to chuck around, you’ll find the Velar runs out of ideas pretty quickly.
When it comes to corners the Velar gets on with the job confidently, with the air suspension keeping body roll to a relative minimum. It’s eerily quiet, and rides smoothly even on the gargantuan 22-inch wheel option (and ever smoother on the 21s, predictably). Land Rover is keen to point out that its character is closer to the Range Rover than it is the Range Rover Sport, and that plays out pretty much how you’d expect it to in the way it drives. Other than the disappointing noise and the lack of mid-range guts, the other reason we’re not too fussed by the petrol V6 is because the Velar is a sports utility vehicle that doesn’t place a huge amount of importance on the ‘sports’ bit.