syl wrote:

RRSman wrote:

The ride feels like it's a smaller more agile version of the RRS!

I'll see when I drive them all back to back, but this is the biggest downside for me. The thing I really liked about the RRS when I had a loaner for a few days was the size and stability of it.

TDV8HST wrote:

Great reveiw RRSman. Bet you can't wait until Tuesday!
Any way good luck and get plenty of pictures up for us all.

Thanks I sure will add ore pics and a more thorough review next week

One of the Park Royal Velars should have a FAST number plate........... 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

RRSTDV8 wrote:

RRSman wrote:

The Velar is what the RRS should have been! It's bloody rapid, feels solid, sticks to the road like glue and especially through bends. The car has plenty of settings to get a personalised set up including Dynamic or comfort settings for the suspension, steering, throttle response and Gearbox.

The Velar is a pure road LR. Sure it's got LR DNA but it's not really intended to be going anywhere remotely dirty. The RRS is intended to be a sporty version of the FFRR and so has all of the ability away from tarmac. That brings compromises on road. I don't doubt that the RRS's interior will look and feel old after the Velar's modern systems. Presumably these will be cascaded through the range in one form or other over the next few years.

It sounds like the Velar is what the Evoque should have been from the start, to be honest - a stylish, fast, road-LR.

From your brief summary, it sounds like the Velar will sell like hot cakes. It does sound like an exciting addition to the LR range.

Damon White wrote:

Hi RRSman,

Just noticed the plate. Is that your private plate?

The car looks fantastic. Really looking forward to hearing your first impressions and some nice photos.

Damon

Thanks Damon - yes it is my private plate - funny enough the plate VEL 4R was in yesterdays auction with a starting bid of £350 - I bidded £3000 and lost as it ended up selling for a hammer price of £7k which is £9250 after taxes

In comparison I think I did really well with mine for £399 I bought it as soon as the car was announced and the next day most VExxLAR plates on the DVLA website were sold! Wonder who bought that plate for £10k though - has to be a RR dealer as I know the guys from Park Royal were bidding on it too!

Tim in Scotland wrote:

One of the Park Royal Velars should have a FAST number plate...........

RRSman wrote:

RRSTDV8 wrote:

RRSman wrote:

The Velar is what the RRS should have been! It's bloody rapid, feels solid, sticks to the road like glue and especially through bends. The car has plenty of settings to get a personalised set up including Dynamic or comfort settings for the suspension, steering, throttle response and Gearbox.

The Velar is a pure road LR. Sure it's got LR DNA but it's not really intended to be going anywhere remotely dirty. The RRS is intended to be a sporty version of the FFRR and so has all of the ability away from tarmac. That brings compromises on road. I don't doubt that the RRS's interior will look and feel old after the Velar's modern systems. Presumably these will be cascaded through the range in one form or other over the next few years.

It sounds like the Velar is what the Evoque should have been from the start, to be honest - a stylish, fast, road-LR.

From your brief summary, it sounds like the Velar will sell like hot cakes. It does sound like an exciting addition to the LR range.

I suggest you take a drive and decide yourself. The Velar can't be compared to an Evoque I have both cars and have had a RRS too as you know. The Velar is much more a RRS than an Evoque - it's a more agile RRS IMHO. It should have been called the Velar sport lol....oh and it can go off road they are now using these at the off road experience centres too. I agree it can't do a lot of things that the RRS can do off road too but how many people actually do go off road - 5% of RRS owners?

RRSman wrote:

The Velar can't be compared to an Evoque I have both cars and have had a RRS too as you know. The Velar is much more a RRS than an Evoque - it's a more agile RRS IMHO. It should have been called the Velar sport lol....oh and it can go off road they are now using these at the off road experience centres too. I agree it can't do a lot of things that the RRS can do off road too but how many people actually do go off road - 5% of RRS owners?

As I said, it's how the Evoque should have been from the start, not how it is. The Evoque should have been a truly road-focused RR rather than a re-bodied FL2. I guess the Evoque's success, in spite of its obvious failings, has put LR in the position to produce the Velar. So it's a good result in the end.

As with all vehicles, there are compromises to be made and the Velar compromises a bit of off road to major on road. This is undoubtedly a good thing if they are aiming to take on the likes of Porsche on the road.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the Velar does in real world testing against the likes of Porsche and BMW.  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

I have Evoque sales training material and the Evoque was intended as a smaller Range Rover aimed at women drivers as a less "intimidating" car to drive than the Sport or FFRR! Well it failed spectacularly to hit the aimed market and has appealed much more to a wider market which has been a good thing for JLR. Another thing - JLR expected the Coupe (originally the LRX) to take 75% of sales........ well LR, never listen to the marketing people as around 10% of sales are coupes! Maybe the slow motors on the front seats killed the sales but it might also have been the alleged (and totally untrue) involvement of Victoria Beckham in the design of the car. VB's only involvement was to kit out a special edition of 200 cars (mostly sold in Russia and China) only 2 of which were sold in the UK at £80,000 a pop in 2012! One was VB's own car, I wonder who the other buyer was! 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Hi RRSman glad your new Velar arrived well. Looks nice from what I can see so far from your teaser shot I like the reg plate as well. Good buy

I finally got to see two in the flesh at my local dealer and have a play around with the one in the showroom with the controls etc. Today drove past one on the road in red which must have been their red demo model with black roof. I did ask if I could take one out for a drive but got told there was waiting list longer than Lake Windermere.....

Will have to wait for your full review, images and a cheeky video upload of one of the first editions to hit the road. Hopefully you got sorted with the Gtechniq treatment.

RRSman wrote:

fkarim wrote:

Glad you like it and it didn't disappoint you

Hopefully if I can make it, I will get to try it out today myself. Will only be a short drive for me so my focus will just be drive and ride rather than the tech.

I am sure you will enjoy the car - make sure it's the 3.0d Dynamic you try out - the one in Park Royal is Firenze Red

Yes, I had asked to arrange the test drive in a 3 litre So I managed to squeeze it in despite a very busy day and here are my detailed thoughts:

Drive:
Knowing that it is based on the same platform as Jaguar F-Pace, I was expecting a similar experience to it. I really liked driving the F-Pace when I had it as a loan car. However, comparing these 2 cars will be a gross injustice to the Velar! IMHO RRV is an excellent car to drive. I only drove it for 20-25 minutes but luckily the dealer has a couple of country-ish lanes nearby which are perfect for testing the ride, handling and performance. Same engine as my Sport and it sounds the same too in both normal and Sport/Dynamic modes. As you would imagine, the same power in a lower, lighter car produces amazing results. So responsive and agile, you can actually feel the car is much much lighter (I don't know the weight difference, just saying how it felt). It is a quick car! Didn't notice any turbo lag like older models. The ability to adjust suspension and steering settings to your liking is a very welcome feature, although I didn't have the time to try it and used the presets only. RRS has a light steering and RRV steering felt even lighter but can't be sure. Strangely, steering didn't feel any heavier in Dyanmic mode like it becomes in RRS. I like it heavier in Dyanmic mode. Handling is on a different level when compared to RRS for obvious reasons. It feels sooo 'planted' which gives you a lot of confidence in throwing it around sharp bends, and I did quite a bit of that The salesman went very quiet during some sections of the route The gearbox is probably the same as RRS and equally smooth.

Ride/Suspension:
The ride quality, despite air suspension in Velar, was certainly not as good as my RRS (regardless of attempts to make me believe otherwise). This is not surprising because it rides lower to make it sportier so comfort is compromised a little bit. Having said that, it is still a very smooth riding car that lives up to the Range Rover brand, unlike the Evoque. I was expecting the ride to be more like F-Pace which is slightly harsh. I was wrong - Velar ride is way smoother than F-Pace. No comparison.

Infotainment:
The tech is light years ahead of my MY16 RRS and they better introduce it all in MY18 RRS otherwise it will be the biggest factor in driving RRS customers that don't need the extra space and off-road capability, away from RRS and towards the Velar IMHO. Like I have said before, the infotainment is lag-free and using it in real life I found it very intuitive. There is a great deal of customisation available for both the centre console screen and the dash screen. I am the kind of person that heads straight to the settings to configure the newly acquired gadget/computer exactly to my liking and can resist using it no matter how long it takes. So naturally I loved the customisability but it is a subjective thing. The context-sensitive or 'soft' dials on the bottom centre screen and the soft button on the steering wheel are also a very modern touch that helps with decluttering.

Practicality/Interior/Ergonomics:
Boot has negligibly more depth than RRS but due to the shape and height, the capacity will be significantly less IMHO. Even if it is close in terms of number of litres, the practicality and usability of that space is compromised due to the shape. Rear seats leg room looked the same as RRS. The cabin could feel a bit cramped, especially vertically, unless pano roof is fitted. Driving position is not as great as RRS as you sit lower but not as bad as an estate. I raised the seat base to its heighest position to try and achieve a position close to my RRS but it wasn't enough and my head got dangerously close to the ceiling. I'm only 5'11". I took a mental note of the angle my knees were bent at and compared when I was back in my car. There was a significant difference which could cause discomfort over long journeys. I have done 1000km in a single day several times in my RRSs very comfortably so this is a consideration for someone like me. The interior is a nice place to be but lack of leather dash still bothers me a lot for a car that expensive. Extended leather is optional extra on even higher spec models as mentioned by others before

My Conclusion:
I must admit that I was very skeptical about Velar. The car exceeded my expectations by a great margin. If you forget the price tag (which I sadly can't), don't need the off road excellence and space that RRS offers then you must seriously consider this car. There may not be anything else quite like it on the market. Certainly not in LR range. My recent terrible dealership experiences will force me to consider other marques more seriously than ever before when I'm ready to change. It will then be interesting to see how Velar's tech compares to other leading manufacturers' offerings. I am conscious that I may have been highly impressed by Velar infotainment because I'm used to the that LR puts in other cars.

I know most of us bought RRSs because we like them and they make sense for us but Velar should not be discounted without trying it first. Many RRS owners could find Velar suits them more if approached with an open mind. I will surely configure it on the website to remind myself of price and features but I still doubt I will get one, due to reasons I've already mentioned.

Congratulations RRSman. Sounds like Velar suits your needs and I can say from my short experience today that it is an exhilarating, proper driver's car  Current: Volvo XC90 T8 Inscription Pro PHEV with some optionals on top
Gone: MY16 RRS2 3.0 SDV6 Autobiography Dynamic, Carpathian Grey & Santorini Black Sliding Pano/Ebony & Ivory 2 Tone
Gone: MY13 RRS 3.0 SDV6 HSE Black Edition, Orkney Grey/Ivory
Gone: MY09 RRS 2.7 TDV6 HSE, Santorini Black/Almond

Excellent weite up Fkarim much better than my mini review !

Glad you liked it!

The press embrago was lifted at 12am on 23/07/17 and the reviews are rolling in. Will add more to this thread as you find them:

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/car ... rice-specs

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/la ... 017-review

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/land-ro ... itish-suv/

http://www.evo.co.uk/land-rover/range-r ... suv-driven

I don't know if it is the embargo or that you have not got the links fully copied but all I get when clicking the links to the newspaper items is 'sorry page not found' 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Not the embargo, you can link all the right-ups from the 'i' click at the top right of each video.

Did I hear correctly in the first video, that the front wheels are driven by a chain??