Friyay: A weekend in the Range Rover Velar

Friyay: A weekend in the Range Rover Velar

The opulent Velar strikes us as being more at home making an entrance than mud-plugging

The Range Rover Velar was launched in January at the verdant lawns of the British High Commissioner in New Delhi. It was a beautiful, sunny day with Air Force jets streaking up above in the run-up to Republic Day. I was well-dressed, prepared, slightly hungry and feeling the groove of the rather nice band providing the entertainment.

Then I overheard a more famous member of our community with a penchant for leather, talking about booking a Velar. This immediately made me question my life (and sartorial) choices. I also immediately questioned the staff about the alcoholic drinks, only to be denied.

Fast forward several months, and all the key media outlets have had a go in the Velar. So naturally, it was my turn. We had a somewhat ambitious shoot schedule planned, which would give me a sense of what this vast Velar was like to live with in varying conditions. But before you can even begin to talk about what it’s like to drive, you have to look at it. Do it. Just look at it!

There’s a distinctly nautical theme going for the Velar. Other automobile manufacturers have tried to mimic elegant yachts in the past, but I almost feel like Land Rover should offer a stained wood-finish floor option for this vehicle. It looks like a grand sea-going vessel. If this thing drove up to a beach and proceeded to flip it’s wheels up while sliding into the water, I’d be like “sure, that makes sense.”

The Velar is certain to attract attention from those that would otherwise be looking at the range topping Rover Vogue, and it’s easy to see why. Side by side, the family patriarch looks like just that — the upholder of the Range Rover sanskaar, while the Velar was educated in a foreign B-school, enjoys fine watches and still manages not to be an asshole.

JLR is offering lots of options for the Velar. You can buy a base model and still get the “R line” trim option for some subtle bling in the form of copper-coloured bits on the bonnet and a special front bumper with the same sort of embellishments. Is subtle bling a thing? Sounds about right on this vehicle.

This is a Range Rover more for Sonam Kapoor than for Gul Panag

The interior has a lot of capacitive touch surfaces. I am not a fan of this UI inside cars. The steering wheel controls use an interesting concept of LCD displays below the buttons that change icons based on context and function. It looks confusing at first but works very well. Thankfully, these items have a good, old-fashioned tactile feel. The same concept applies to the AC controls — real knobs, with a screen in the middle, but they change function based on context. This, I would have preferred stay constant. Still, at least it isn’t like the Lamborghini Urus we saw launched in India. 305kmph and I have to look down at a screen to adjust the temperature. The overall impression is of minimalist futurism. It all looks just right, but I think there’s room for improvement in the user experience.

The drama continues on the outside. The door handles are flush with the bodywork, and pop out when one unlocks the car. It looks very cool, and another party trick to attract buyers. It certainly impressed everyone we showed it to. Of course, the drive selector rising up from the centre console remains, which is awesome and still impressive.

The model of the Velar provided to us was a P250 SE, which is one step down from the top model. That considered, there was a lot on offer in terms of features. There’s a powered tailgate with a decent, but not huge boot. The loading bay is flat, and below you get a full-size spare. Which is saying something, since the wheels go between 18 and 20" (ours were 19"). The centrepiece remains the dual-screen, fully touch-based interface in the car. The music system is shared with the range-topper: 17 speakers, 825 watts.

Watching the fuel display drop noticeably as we drove around in the petrol-powered Velar gave us pause, quite literally. Being used to diesel SUVs, the petrol sort are always a surprise for how quickly they run through their tanks. Nevertheless, the Velar did give us a reasonable range on a tank full, and we were able to potter around the city and make a 200km round-trip for our wilderness shoot. Comfort throughout our test was excellent, though there are some peculiarities in terms of space.

The Velar is a very long SUV. Parked next to a Mahindra XUV500, the wheelbase looks half a foot longer, and the body much more so. Despite this, the interior space isn’t cavernous. It appears to carry much of that volume in the boot, while the second row of seats has a decent, but not expansive amount of room. The SUV is also relatively narrow. The combined effect of these dimensions is that getting the Velar in and out of parking spots is a dance, and our passengers were surprised at how compact it felt on the inside.

On the go, the Velar delivers about as expected. The 184hp/365Nm 2.0-litre motor is adequate for the size of the motor, and everything feels soft and comfy. Things liven up slightly when you put it into the sportiest driving mode, but only just. The Velar is clearly tuned for comfort and panache than outright performance. The 8-speed auto is decent and keeps the motor roughly where it is comfortable. Personally, I’d like more torque.

Off the road, I had not heard very good things about the Velar, no doubt contributed to by its nautical wheelbase. You have to be very careful not to scrape the bottom of this very lengthy SUV. Thankfully, we managed despite being properly away from tarmac, over lots of rocks and sediment and the Velar came away unharmed. We’d advise you drive with a very good spotter for these conditions. Of course, the off-road driving mode was engaged and made short work of situations where all wheels were not on mother earth.

We also appreciated the prodigious and bright spread of light provided by the matrix-style LED headlamps. It was pitch-black with no roads where we were, and they certainly saved the day.

The Range Rover Velar is a solid way to arrive. Dare we say better than with pitashree Range Rover Vogue. It attracts attention in exactly the way intended, but the long wheelbase makes it less suitable for when the road ends. This is a Range Rover more for Sonam Kapoor than for Gul Panag, but considering the full variety of options and motors on offer, we think it will certainly find a market. As tested, our P250 SE model goes for roughly Rs 1.15 crore on-road.