Style fans will be at home on the Range

Car-like Velar uses Jaguar saloon’s chassis

SIFTING through the Land Rover model range used to be quite simple.

A Defender for farmers or people who live in Chelsea, a Discovery for horsey types, the Range Rover for outright luxury and the Freelander for those of us on a limited budget. Today it is a bit more complicated.

Take, for example, the new Range Rover Velar. Where does it fit in? Good question. The Velar range starts at £44,000, although prices shoot up once you get greedy with the specification. In theory, this car fills the gap between the Evoque and the Range Rover Sport in Land Rover’s ‘style’ range leaving the Discovery and Range Rover for the serious off-road tasks.

First interesting fact about the new Velar is that it’s based on a car platform, using a variation of the aluminium chassis that underpins Jaguar’s XE and XF saloons.

You will also notice the ride height has been reduced, but this car will still perform more than well enough off-road.

And it looks impressive on the road. This is Land Rover design at its finest and that goes for the inside of the Velar as well as the outside. This massive visual appeal is going to be the Land Rover salesperson’s main weapon in getting around the issue of the car’s rather frightening price. Yes, you can buy a Velar for £44k, but it will come with a four-cylinder diesel engine.

I haven’t driven the car with that engine but the consensus is

that not only does a 2.0-litre engine struggle with a twotonne car but it sounds and feels like it’s working very hard.

Our test car is fitted with JLR’S 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 diesel which produces 300bhp. Not only has it the brawn to shift the Velar with ease but it is smooth and sophisticated.

Fitted with this engine and in R-dynamic trim – which will become the flagship model after the First Edition badging is dropped after the first year of sales – our test car costs a whopping £70,530.

And that’s without the three grand of options fitted to it.

The Velar feels and looks every millimetre of its 4,803mm length. Presumably its shape and relative closeness to the ground emphasises this.

Step inside and you are faced with one of Land Rover’s finest interiors. The quality and style of the materials are excellent. The comprehensive multimedia system is new for the Velar and much more straightforward to use than other JLR set-ups.

You get three screens – one for the digital instruments and two on the centre console. The lower of those two deals with basic functions such as heating and ventilation via a couple of rotary knobs that can control multiple functions by simply pushing them to change the task.

The steering wheel-mounted buttons can also be repurposed to control multiple functions. It’s not perfect but it’s convenient to use.

There’s not a huge amount of knee and legroom for rear passengers but there’s enough, and the upside is that the boot is bigger than most rivals’.

The air suspension soaks up most bumps, while the engine and 8-speed automatic gearbox are smooth, going some way to justifying the price you’re paying.

The Range Rover Velar customer will have been seduced by the car’s styling and by its badge, and certainly not by value for money. The rival Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne certainly give you more for your cash, especially lower down the range.