The sort of interior that makes you breathe a sigh of relief when you step inside.

It's just a really nice place to spend time. Our tester had the Interior Premium Textile Pack ($2500), which brings soft suede-look seat trim and dappled grey textile highlights for the armrests, headrests and seat bolsters, along with blonde wood inlays for the doors.Īdd a pinch of gloss black, stir in a few chrome highlights, and you're left with one of the best-presented cabins on the market today. The parking sensors can be frustrating, too, failing to automatically activate as you edge towards an obstacle at low speeds.Īway from the technology, the Velar has a stunning interior. The graphics on the main infotainment screen are a bit low-rent compared to what's offered in the latest Mercedes and BMW systems, and the fact you have to pay $520 for smartphone mirroring and $940 for DAB radio is criminal in 2019.Īlthough parking sensors and a 360-degree camera are standard on the SE, the camera lags behind the best for clarity. With that said, it's slow to start up and attracts fingerprints at a terrifying rate.

It's built around an infotainment and climate-control system relying on two 10.0-inch touchscreens, which takes a bit of getting used to, but offers snappy responses and supports the Velar's pared-back aesthetic once you're used to it. The cabin is well executed, just like the exterior, although there are a few technology gripes. That's just $7000 short of a top-spec Range Rover Sport with a diesel V6, and almost identical to the base Sport PHEV. With all of that (and more, stay tuned) added, the optioned P380 SE you see here is worth $128,787 before on-road costs.

Velar SE spec brings standard equipment like matrix LED headlights, flush-fitting door handles, navigation, a 17-speaker surround-sound system, and powered gesture tailgate.Īs with essentially any Range Rover, our tester came loaded with optional extras, starting with 20-way adjustable, heated and cooled massage seats ($8150), the driver-assist package with blind-spot monitoring, a surround-view camera, adaptive cruise control and high-speed AEB ($3965), the premium black pack ($2310), and the on/off-road pack with configurable drive modes ($1700). White wouldn't necessarily be our first choice, but the Velar does a great job blending classic Range Rover cues with a more modern, sporting shape. As an SE, our tester rode on 20-inch alloy wheels as standard, but there wasn't too much bling adorning its flanks, allowing Gerry McGovern's original design to really speak for itself. The P380 badge brings a supercharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine making 280kW and 450Nm, mated with an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission, while the SE moniker means it ranks as mid-spec on the equipment front.įinally, the fact it isn't an R-Dynamic means it misses a smattering of sporty add-ons, some R-Dynamic badging in the instrument binnacle, and bigger wheels. The car we have here is an interesting blend of high and medium spec. Provided you're well-heeled, there really is a Velar for everybody. There are 40 model grades, each of which can be customised to within an inch of its life.

Adding to the confusion is the dizzying array of variants on offer.

2019 range rover velar