The Telegram (St. John's)

Velar: What’s all the hype about?

- BY SYLVAIN RAYMOND WWW.GUIDEAUTOW­EB.COM

Gabriel Gélinas of The Car Guide recently had the chance to attend the world debut of the 2018 Range Rover Velar at a private function in London. And to be honest, we were surprised by how much interest the article generated on our site.

But there’s no denying that the automaker’s efforts are starting to pay off. Not only are there more products, but reliabilit­y and—importantl­y—affordabil­ity are better too.

The Velar is Range Rover’s fourth model. It’s positioned just over the Evoque for size and price. The Range Rover Sport and Range Rover classic still crown the line of Land Rover luxury SUVS. The Velar starts at $62,000, but expect to fork out $95,000 for the First Edition, an exclusive model built in celebratio­n of the vehicle’s arrival and only available this year. It comes with nearly all the available equipment and there are three exclusive colours for the vehicle body.

The Jaguar F-PACE’S kissing cousin

Land Rover was one of the first manufactur­ers to make widespread use of aluminum for their vehicle bodies, a strategy that was applied to the Velar. In fact, it has the same structure as the Jaguar F-PACE. Its style elements are drawn from other models—especially at the rear—but it features a unique floating roof and rounded edges. They wanted to give it a coupe-like look, but the effect is not as extreme as on the BMW X4 or Mercedes-benz GLC Coupe.

Two drivetrain­s are available, including a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbodiese­l that generates 180 horsepower and a noteworthy 317 lb.-ft. of torque. For extra juice, there’s the supercharg­ed 3.0-litre V6 with 380 horsepower. Good news: Allwheel drive isn’t optional, but included on all versions.

The most spectacula­r aspect of the Velar is its cabin. The dashboard is sleek, simple and ultra-modern thanks to two fully integrated screens to control all onboard systems. The interior exudes luxury beyond anything offered by the competitio­n.

If you’ve never considered buying a Range Rover, maybe you should stop in a showroom and just have a peek.

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