Is the Range Rover Velar As Good As It’s F-Pace Sibling?
Range Rover created the luxury SUV segment, and the Velar pushes the breed further.
If you need another sign that the automotive world is rapidly changing, we have the Range Rover Velar. While a luxury SUV from Land Rover is nothing special, the fact that it is built on a platform that was first a Jaguar is. Imagine a time when you would ever believe that Jaguar could build an SUV. Then, from there, that Range Rover would co-opt the bones for their own car.
Along with the platform, the Velar shares much of its running gear with the F-Pace. That means you get to choose between a variety engines that range from a 2.0-liter turbodiesel up to a supercharged 3.0-liter V6 that makes 380 horsepower. Regardless of your engine choice you get the ZF-sourced 8-speed automatic transmission that all Jaguar and Land Rover fans should be familiar with by now.
The new Velar is much more than a reskinned F-Pace however. The Velar is in many ways a clean slate for Land Rover as a whole. It brings to the brand a new style of exterior design, new interior technology, and an overall lean that is slightly more towards road manners than off-road excellence. Range Rovers have always been a great blend of ability regardless of the surface under the tires, it’s just that the Velar moves the needle ever so slightly towards the road side.
To hear it from Drew at Carfection though, all the subtle changes and moves towards the future have made the Velar an outstanding product that will redefine what the Range Rover badge means going forward. Imagine that, a machine built on the intelligent, performance-focused engineering of a Jaguar is worth buying and driving.
Who would have guessed.
