2018 Range Rover Velar ~ luxury where it’s needed

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar

Last week my neighbor, BNS ~ best neighbor Sheri, had cataract surgery. Cataract surgery doesn’t take long, and the recovery time is short. But you do need someone to take you to the operation and bring you back. Since we’re next-door neighbors and I was home, I agreed to be the caregiver for the day for Sheri. I arrived at her home promptly at 8 am in the Range Rover Velar. Sheri was preoccupied until she got to the door and put her hand up to open the door, “Oh, this is different. I like it.” Indeed, the fourth version of the Range Rover has woven new designs into a car that has created a DNA that has stood out from the rest of off-road vehicles since 1948.

Range Rover is at the top of luxury off-road sport utility vehicles (SUV), and the British automaker is taking a bit of a gamble producing an SUV that could conquest the Evoque or the Range Rover Sport. If the Velar (MSRP range $49,900-$89,300) is going to cannibalize either Land Rover, it would be the Range Rover Sport (MSRP range $65,670-$111,350) rather than the Evoque (MSRP range $41,800-$65,600). The Range Rover Sport is closer in size, stature, and price to the Velar than the Evoque, though there is some price run-over between the Evoque and Velar. The bigger conquests for the Range Rover Velar could be the very familiar competitors; Porsche Macan, Audi Q5, BMW X5, Mercedes GLE.

Sheri has been in some of the Land Rovers that have been at my house, but perhaps because of the impending surgery, she noticed the “niceties” even more. It wasn’t that the luxury SUV had heated seats, but that there were three settings for heat. I know that when I am not feeling well, there is nothing as nice as laying in my bed with the electric blanket on high. The achy bones go away; the muscles start to relax; I am watching a woman who rarely uses the heated seats rotate the wheel from one to three, sit back and sigh as the heat relaxes her pent up anxiety.

As we drove to the hospital, we chatted about the car, the smell of the leather, the design of the center console, the digital monitor. Sheri noted that the car rode well, I smiled inside as I remembered the time I took my Father home after he had a procedure. I forget the vehicle, but I remember it didn’t have heated seats and the suspension must have been lacking because we couldn’t go over 25 miles per hour without him wincing on every bump. Poor guy ~ sorry Dad.

The Velar continues the smoother lines of the Land Rover, though one friend thought the front looked a “little bullnosed, but better than whatever Lexus did to their front.” She did love the way the side mirrors flowered open and the door handles came out, “that way I don’t break a fingernail.”

The Land Rover Velar is based on the platform of its sister, the Jaguar F-Pace SUV. Launched last year, the F-Pace could pull some sales from the Velar, but it is doubtful. All Land Rovers are set up for a more advanced off-road capability than the sportier driving Jaguar SUV. Velar is nimble with a flexible all-wheel-drive system and a height-adjustable suspension, yet still has the properties of a luxury sedan on the highway.

The Velar may have Jaguar genes, but it’s clearly aimed at delivering a more sedate driving experience which is what Sheri needed. The available 18- or 19-inch wheels would have been just as competent as the 20-inch ten-spoke wheels. The cat-eye headlamps fold gently into the grille giving enough space between the grille and the artistic raison d’etre edging at both bottom front quadrants.

The fastback silhouette includes a panoramic top with a raked roofline. With the touch of a button, you can recline your seat and start humming Willie Nelson’s blue skies shining at you, blue skies all day long.

The Velar has the most digitally controlled touch screen of any Range Rover I have seen yet, and fewer logic problems. The instrument panel and center console are freshly intuitive, putting functionality first.

Three hours after Sheri went into surgery they were wheeling her out to the Velar. After about five minutes of the nurse talking about the vehicle and how she had never seen this SUV, I directed her back to telling me what I needed to know to take care of BNS. In a world full of boxy SUVs the Velar was noticed by so many.

It’s not easy getting older, but having a luxury car with all the needed amenities does ease the pain.

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar Models, Engine, and Pricing:

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar Models:
Range Rover Velar S
Range Rover Velar SE
Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic SE
Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic HSE
Range Rover Velar First Edition

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar
2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four 247 horsepower Gasoline
$49,900

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar S
2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four 247 horsepower Gasoline
$54,700

2.0-liter turbo-charged Td4 180 horsepower Diesel
$56,200

3.0L Supercharged V6 380 horsepower Gasoline
0-60 5.3 seconds
$64,200

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar SE
3.0L Supercharged V6 380 horsepower Gasoline
0-60 5.3 seconds
$67,400

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic SE

2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four 247 horsepower Gasoline
$60,100

2.0-liter turbo-charged Td4 180 horsepower Diesel
$61,600

3.0L Supercharged V6 380 horsepower Gasoline
0-60 5.3 seconds
$69,600

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic HSE

2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four 247 horsepower Gasoline
$67,600

2.0-liter turbo-charged Td4 180 horsepower Diesel
$69,100

3.0L Supercharged V6 380 horsepower Gasoline
0-60 5.3 seconds
$77,100

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar First Edition
3.0L Supercharged V6 380 horsepower Gasoline
0-60 5.3 seconds
$89,300