When most people think of Land Rover, they picture a rugged SUV with a wheel clamped to the hood, emerging from a mud pit in some tropical locale. But hold on, didn’t I just see King Charles getting out of one last week? Ah, yes, the Range Rover, which first hit dealer lots 54 years ago this month and is still the chariot-of-choice for the rich, the famous, and the royal.
Jaguar Land Rover’s Range Rover Sport is actually the company’s best-selling car in the U.S., and one of four vehicles in the Range Rover line. All these models are off-road ready and vary widely in price. You’re looking at $107k for just a base model Range Rover, which possibly explains the appeal of the Range Rover Sport, which goes for around $84k. Then there’s the Velar at around $61k, and the compact Evoque for about $50k.
I have always been curious about the Range Rover Velar, perhaps the most beautiful car in the line up. Over the last few days, I finally got a chance to drive a 2024 Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic SE down the coast from Maine to New York City.
When I first got in, I immediately noticed the luxury features of the cabin, such as the leather detailing, and ebony-accented steering wheel. There was a plethora of comfort options too, such as heated and cooled seats, and a heated steering wheel. It felt like a standard Range Rover—just smaller.
In actual fact, the Velar is about 7 inches shorter than the standard Range Rover and 8 inches lower. There’s only a half inch of difference when it comes to width. As you probably guessed, it’s really the back seat where you notice the difference, and so this might not be the car for anyone who plays semi-pro basketball. Just for comparison, the Evoque seems tiny—though both vehicles share standard features such as rearview camera, Rear Parking Aid, Hill Descent Control, Start/Stop technology, and Cruise Control with Speed Limiter. Optional features on both vehicles include Head-Up Display, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Monitor with Reverse Traffic Detection, and Traffic Sign Recognition.
For people whose kids have grown up and now just have the dog to bombard with affection, the Range Rover Velar may be the perfect blend of luxury and practicality—especially for urbanites who wish to leave city foe weekends in the country during all seasons. The demographic for the Velar will most likely be people who know and appreciate the brand, have a preference for luxury, but also want something that can squeeze past double-parked Amazon delivery vans in SoHo.
Driving through New England, I saw one other Velar on the highway, but once I hit the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, headed for Manhattan, they were ubiquitous.
Of course, there’s no shortage of small luxury SUVs on the market today. We’ve got the Volvo XC60, the Audi Q5, the Mercedes GLC…just to name a few.
And while all of these models start around $10k less than the Velar, they are smaller and don’t have the off-road capability of the Velar.
And let’s face it, they don’t ooze luxury, style, and beauty.
After all, the Velar is a Range Rover—just the one with low cholesterol, an Equinox membership, and a subscription to Vogue Magazine.
The closest rival in terms of design and prestige to the Velar is probably the Porsche Macan—which comes in at around the same price for a base model. What the Macan lacks in off-road capability, it makes up for in performance—though the Velar is no slouch in ‘Dynamic’ mode.
To be honest the Velar drives very much like a Macan, and the beefed-up Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio (around $86k). On the highway at speed, the Velar was nimble and smooth—with solid braking capability, and excellent visibility—despite the crushed look of the rear window.
I especially liked the Head-Up Display, and the way Land Rover allows the driver to customize the screens. The car has road presence too, but my favorite thing about the Velar was the feeling of awe I had when walking up to it. It truly is one of the most-beautifully designed SUVs on the road, with its flush, pop-out door handles, 22” wheels, continuous waistline, floating grill, sculpted taillights, my god! Even the way the back rises slightly to meet the sloping roof, it’s just all so stunning.
That said, the Velar has a few quirks that took some getting used to, and each one is somehow connected to the cursed center console.
Firstly, the wireless phone charge works, but it heats up your phone so much that the phone may go into high-temp mode and switch off. Not great in a luxury car.
Secondly, there are no buttons anymore (apart from the warning lights and start/stop button). This is problematic because it’s hard to adjust the AC from a screen at 60 miles an hour. Bring back the buttons!
Thirdly, the gear shifter is too small and fiddly for anyone with a large hand, and it won’t shift into reverse/drive unless you squeeze the button and push at the exact same time. I’m not the only person who’s flagged this, and if you’re not paying attention during a quick three-point-turn, you may go forward when you expect to go back. For people who love the look of the Velar, this would be something they would have to get the knack of—and quickly.
So again, who would buy this? In my experience, people who could afford the standard Range Rover, but who don’t need the extra space, and who don’t care about their car doubling as a status symbol.
My guess is that people are buying this for the same reason they bought the fabled Jaguar E-Type sixty years ago—for its beauty. Land Rover seems to agree, based ads for the Velar of the past 18 months, which feature the clever dictum, “Desirable by Design.”
If you feel like this smaller Range Rover is the car for you, regardless of the dreaded center console, then you may want to wait until 2025, when the Velar is relaunched as an EV, or pick up a 2024 and keep it in the garage for a few decades.
