Velar

[silverspeed]

Would appreciate any thoughts from owners on a new Velar . I'm tempted to move from a 3L Diesel Sport to 3L Diesel Velar . I appreciate it is much lower headroom but interior legroom space seems comparable and there seems to be better deals on Velar than Sport .

[Big Al.]

Drove a Velar as a courtesy car for a couple of days and TBH I just can't see the appeal. Has as much rear view as an Evoke and no interior pleasantries I couldn't find in a cheaper marque. In fact I even asked the sales guy what is the point of the Velar in the range, all he could say is we get them in and we have to try and sell them.

Sorry and AIMHO of course.

[Triple7]

Stick with the better LR product which is the Sport. The Velar has better deals for a reason.

[Fat Wolfie]

One of the current fleet is a D300 Velar (First Edition). I came into that car after several Land Rover products over the years, the most recent of which was a 4.4 Full Fat RR Autobiography.

Unfortunately the Full Fat was a nightmare, bought with 25 miles on the clock as a dealer pre reg vehicle. All was well for the first 700 miles but after that it was plagued with electronic gremlins which after 9 trips to the dealer in 3 months were unfixed. So the dealer agreed to take the car back, offering either another 2017 car or I could pay a bit more and get a 2018 car.

I opted for the latter but after promises of delivery in Jan, then Feb, then in March the build day MAY have been week 3 of May 2018 (but no guarantees) I started to look at the Velar. So I organised an extended unaccompanied test, car being a D240 with air suspension and 22” wheels (I was more interested in how it drove on 22s and air than the engine, having experienced the D300 engine in a previous RR Sport I owned)

When I got into the car after the Full Fat, I was very disappointed and nearly didn’t bother to drive the car off the forecourt. It felt low and claustrophobic after the FF. however after about 10 miles I’d got used to the lower cabin roof line, and after another 50 miles had really started to understand the ethos behind the car being more road biased. It handled far better than the FF, or Sport that I’d previously owned.

In terms of how the ride comfort was, it reminded me of an E class estate whereas the FF was more like the S class. The Sport imho is nowhere near as nice to drive.

In terms of cabin fit and finish, I think it’s exemplary, and a great design.

I’ve just today completed a 240 mile trip down from Scotland to home, absolutely effortless .

There is however a major but to take into account....

So far (6000 miles) my car has behaved itself. But there are many reports of owners who have the same issues with electronics as I “enjoyed” with my FF, head over to Velar forums.co.uk to get the idea.

The only way to really know if it’s for you is to get one on an decent unaccompanied test. If you like it, have your eyes open regarding potential issues...

[Crumpet]

I had a D240 for a couple of days as a loan car so had a little bit of time to see what it was like.

First of all, that engine! It’s horrible in all the guises I’ve tried it - Disco sport, proper Disco, Evoque and the Velar. It just doesn’t suit a heavy, ‘premium’ car. Don’t get me wrong, it pulls well enough and the cars certainly shift but noise, vibration and pickup is that of a four cylinder diesel and I personally can’t stand it! Fine for a £25k car but not £50k!

The rest of the car I actually enjoyed. I thought it was comfortable, well made, good to drive but because it’s a lot lower down and less ‘airy’ inside it left me wondering why you’d bother with it over a decent four-wheel-drive estate car. You’d get a lot more for your money with an estate, even one of the performance models from the Germans, plus probably more space!

So basically even though I thought it was a nice car, it’s waaaay overpriced and left me wondering what’s the point of it!

[silverspeed]

Thanks for your replies. Like all LR products I'm struggling to justify the cost of a new Sport - would end up paying a lot more for a lot less than my current car. I have driven the Velar and it was a bit of a shock when I got in - the ride height was so much lower than the Sport however I soon got used to it . The engine was great D300 and it did handle better than my Sport - I assume because of the lower ride height . Interior and exterior are possibly the best of any car in the LR range ( IMO) BUT it is interesting that electrical gremlins are mentioned as the Sat Nav screen froze on our test drive - it did come back eventually but ..........................Having said all that I remember had similar issues when I had my Sport - battery drain due to components not switching off followed by screen re booting all the time . Classic LR ! BIG decision to make .

[300bhp/ton]

Crumpet said:

The rest of the car I actually enjoyed. I thought it was comfortable, well made, good to drive but because it’s a lot lower down and less ‘airy’ inside it left me wondering why you’d bother with it over a decent four-wheel-drive estate car. You’d get a lot more for your money with an estate, even one of the performance models from the Germans, plus probably more space!

So basically even though I thought it was a nice car, it’s waaaay overpriced and left me wondering what’s the point of it!

The why is easy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_F-Pace

It's a Jaguar F-Pace. so cheap to redress as a Land Rover as an additional model.

As for buying an estate car, well yes I guess LR are trying to take some of that market.

[Fat Wolfie]

Crumpet said:

You’d get a lot more for your money with an estate, even one of the performance models from the Germans, plus probably more space!

So basically even though I thought it was a nice car, it’s waaaay overpriced and left me wondering what’s the point of it!

This is a very fair point re Estate cars. I ended up basically locked into a JLR product as part of the agreed “rejection” of the Full Fat RR.

Had I not been, I’d have been back into an E class estate of some sort, or possibly a V90.

Re the price, I thought the Velar was pretty reasonable after discounts were given. The Full Fat I had on order was some £30k dearer than the Velar, and the PCP payments due to horrendous residuals were almost 3 times as dear (I left the deposit the same so was financing less on a cheaper car).

Then again, I tend to buy cars with my heart and not head which is why I’ve got a Morgan on order, which when you look at what you could spend that amount of money on makes no sense whatsoever. Looking at the Velar in a similar way, you sure can choose a lot of different cars for the money involved, the real question is how many of them would you really want/would float your boat? For me, there wasn’t much...