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I've had my First Edition Velar for 2 months now, and have done about 1500 miles. I thought I'd share my opinions which is all they are…. Take it or leave it! There is a bit of twist ending…
For context, my previous vehicles:
Audi TT (01)
Audi S4 (05)
Audi S5 (08)
Range Rover Sport HSE V8 (2010)
I'll start with the good.
Design - no doubt, this is a beautifully designed vehicle inside and out. Upward sloping shapes in the exterior and interior, materials that feel great to the touch, and interior and exterior lighting that is very elegant and modern. It's all the small details, the sum of the parts if you will. The steering wheel feels great, the touchscreens are simple shapes and give it that clean uncluttered look. Mine has the oyster/ebony combo and the contrasting colors and shapes in the dash and leather seats work so well. I love the 22 inch wheels and how they fill the wheel arches and leave very little gap when parked. The large wheels and low roofline give it that coupe look and add to the illusion of the vehicle looking long when it really isn't. From the driver's perspective, you sort of feel like you're sitting in a sports car as the height of the door (where the window starts) is a bit high, and the roofline is low. Windows are small. Reminds me subtly of my old TT back in the day. Those impressions were all erased from the vehicles I bought afterwards, but I remember how different it felt at the time. I've had an Evoque as a loaner a few times and I hated it… Thankfully the Velar is not too bad regarding the window sizes. Regardless you get used to in no time at all and is not a detriment whatsoever in my opinion. At nighttime, this vehicle looks so cool and I catch myself looking at reflections in glass storefronts and I just think "wow".
Driving - I love the differences between Comfort mode and Dynamic. I have to drive down a slightly bumpy and hilly road each day and I can feel the difference. It's smooth and takes the bumps with ease in Comfort mode and reminds of my old Range Rover Sport in that regard. When I get on the highway I always use Dynamic and S mode and love how it all tightens up, especially the steering over 65 mph. I love the paddle shifters. With a 0-60 time of 5.3 seconds it's not too bad considering the weight. I get that it's not a sports car, and is not meant to be Macan like - but it is satisfying to drive fast in, and I like to drive fast. I'm a courteous considerate driver but when there are open lanes and roads I'm heavy footed. What's the point in having some performance and never using it? I don't really care about gas mileage either as I don't do a ton of miles and here in N. California at least the gas prices have been decent for several years now. Now that the engine has broken in I've take the RPM's higher and it's a decent engine. At times it actually sounds good, but other times it sounds like it's working hard to deliver. My wife's SQ5 was much cheaper, has less horsepower, but is slightly faster to 60 and has a lovely throaty growl to it. It just sounds awesome. Still, I can forgive the Velar as it's a comfortable Range Rover and like I said, was never promising sports car characteristics - that is what the SVR will be for. In summary, it's a pleasure to drive. Comfortable when you want that, crisp handling and quickness when you want that too.
Now the negatives.
The upper touch screen portion of the touch control duo thing has awful performance. Far too slow and laggy. I discovered from looking at one of the subscreens that it's actually running Android (it had the tattle tale end of scrollable View gradient). I'm not bashing Android but I know from experience (I'm a mobile app designer and developer) that Android devices need powerful hardware and processors for the UI to be fast and responsive. I think LR should have done something better here. The UI design is not that bad (apart from a few usability issues) but performance sucks. The lower screen is fine and design wise everything looks good and is easy to use. It's just that the bar has been set so high with touch device interactivity with iPhones and good Android devices. I'm skeptical software updates will really help that much.
This will annoy some people reading this… But I think it's generous to call this an "SUV". It's so car like -- but that is not a bad thing. It means hardly any body roll, great handling, and overall more engagement on twisty roads or when just driving aggressively. To me this is the Range Rover of cars. Great design and craftsmanship coupled with some impressive off road ability, air suspension, etc. This is more like an avant (in audi speak) or a slightly raised wagon. There isn't much room in the backseat or cargo area and the windows are so small. That gives it less of the "utility" in SUV. Plus the lower driving position which I didn't think would bother me that much. I got used to my 2010 Sport which was roughly 5 inches higher. Doesn't sound like much but it really makes a difference. Which is the confusing thing - the Velar is 2 inches shorter, 2 inches narrower and 5 inches lower than the current Sport which isn't much on paper but it feels small to me. I took a photo of my Velar next to a Sport and you can see the difference. But you can also see how dated the L494 Sport is looking although the 2018 facelift will help a little until the next model is ready.
This isn't the right vehicle for me.
As great as it is, I like two things - V8 engines (I had 3 in a row) with lots of torque and I prefer the "command view" driving position of larger Range Rovers. My problem is that what I really want doesn't exist! The current generation Sport never got me excited except for the SVR version and I'm not sure it will fit in my garage. I can barely get out of my Velar as it is and I'm not leaving my cars on the street. This might sound ridiculous but there really isn't a single car or SUV under the price of the Sport SVR that I actually love and can get excited about. The Velar is the closest thing.
Maybe the Velar SVR would make me happy and I'm pretty sure the next Sport will be amazing (2020?) and take more of the Velar exterior language (more horizontal tail lights, sloping body lines, retractable door handles) and hopefully I'll have a proper garage for it.
In the meantime, I'll enjoy the Velar. I signed a 2 year lease and will probably keep it for the two years or get out of it early if circumstances change. Again, the Velar IS A FANTASTIC VEHICLE. I just have different needs. Who knows, I might even change my mind after having it for 6 months, 1 year, etc.
For context, my previous vehicles:
Audi TT (01)
Audi S4 (05)
Audi S5 (08)
Range Rover Sport HSE V8 (2010)
I'll start with the good.
Design - no doubt, this is a beautifully designed vehicle inside and out. Upward sloping shapes in the exterior and interior, materials that feel great to the touch, and interior and exterior lighting that is very elegant and modern. It's all the small details, the sum of the parts if you will. The steering wheel feels great, the touchscreens are simple shapes and give it that clean uncluttered look. Mine has the oyster/ebony combo and the contrasting colors and shapes in the dash and leather seats work so well. I love the 22 inch wheels and how they fill the wheel arches and leave very little gap when parked. The large wheels and low roofline give it that coupe look and add to the illusion of the vehicle looking long when it really isn't. From the driver's perspective, you sort of feel like you're sitting in a sports car as the height of the door (where the window starts) is a bit high, and the roofline is low. Windows are small. Reminds me subtly of my old TT back in the day. Those impressions were all erased from the vehicles I bought afterwards, but I remember how different it felt at the time. I've had an Evoque as a loaner a few times and I hated it… Thankfully the Velar is not too bad regarding the window sizes. Regardless you get used to in no time at all and is not a detriment whatsoever in my opinion. At nighttime, this vehicle looks so cool and I catch myself looking at reflections in glass storefronts and I just think "wow".
Driving - I love the differences between Comfort mode and Dynamic. I have to drive down a slightly bumpy and hilly road each day and I can feel the difference. It's smooth and takes the bumps with ease in Comfort mode and reminds of my old Range Rover Sport in that regard. When I get on the highway I always use Dynamic and S mode and love how it all tightens up, especially the steering over 65 mph. I love the paddle shifters. With a 0-60 time of 5.3 seconds it's not too bad considering the weight. I get that it's not a sports car, and is not meant to be Macan like - but it is satisfying to drive fast in, and I like to drive fast. I'm a courteous considerate driver but when there are open lanes and roads I'm heavy footed. What's the point in having some performance and never using it? I don't really care about gas mileage either as I don't do a ton of miles and here in N. California at least the gas prices have been decent for several years now. Now that the engine has broken in I've take the RPM's higher and it's a decent engine. At times it actually sounds good, but other times it sounds like it's working hard to deliver. My wife's SQ5 was much cheaper, has less horsepower, but is slightly faster to 60 and has a lovely throaty growl to it. It just sounds awesome. Still, I can forgive the Velar as it's a comfortable Range Rover and like I said, was never promising sports car characteristics - that is what the SVR will be for. In summary, it's a pleasure to drive. Comfortable when you want that, crisp handling and quickness when you want that too.
Now the negatives.
The upper touch screen portion of the touch control duo thing has awful performance. Far too slow and laggy. I discovered from looking at one of the subscreens that it's actually running Android (it had the tattle tale end of scrollable View gradient). I'm not bashing Android but I know from experience (I'm a mobile app designer and developer) that Android devices need powerful hardware and processors for the UI to be fast and responsive. I think LR should have done something better here. The UI design is not that bad (apart from a few usability issues) but performance sucks. The lower screen is fine and design wise everything looks good and is easy to use. It's just that the bar has been set so high with touch device interactivity with iPhones and good Android devices. I'm skeptical software updates will really help that much.
This will annoy some people reading this… But I think it's generous to call this an "SUV". It's so car like -- but that is not a bad thing. It means hardly any body roll, great handling, and overall more engagement on twisty roads or when just driving aggressively. To me this is the Range Rover of cars. Great design and craftsmanship coupled with some impressive off road ability, air suspension, etc. This is more like an avant (in audi speak) or a slightly raised wagon. There isn't much room in the backseat or cargo area and the windows are so small. That gives it less of the "utility" in SUV. Plus the lower driving position which I didn't think would bother me that much. I got used to my 2010 Sport which was roughly 5 inches higher. Doesn't sound like much but it really makes a difference. Which is the confusing thing - the Velar is 2 inches shorter, 2 inches narrower and 5 inches lower than the current Sport which isn't much on paper but it feels small to me. I took a photo of my Velar next to a Sport and you can see the difference. But you can also see how dated the L494 Sport is looking although the 2018 facelift will help a little until the next model is ready.
This isn't the right vehicle for me.
As great as it is, I like two things - V8 engines (I had 3 in a row) with lots of torque and I prefer the "command view" driving position of larger Range Rovers. My problem is that what I really want doesn't exist! The current generation Sport never got me excited except for the SVR version and I'm not sure it will fit in my garage. I can barely get out of my Velar as it is and I'm not leaving my cars on the street. This might sound ridiculous but there really isn't a single car or SUV under the price of the Sport SVR that I actually love and can get excited about. The Velar is the closest thing.
Maybe the Velar SVR would make me happy and I'm pretty sure the next Sport will be amazing (2020?) and take more of the Velar exterior language (more horizontal tail lights, sloping body lines, retractable door handles) and hopefully I'll have a proper garage for it.
In the meantime, I'll enjoy the Velar. I signed a 2 year lease and will probably keep it for the two years or get out of it early if circumstances change. Again, the Velar IS A FANTASTIC VEHICLE. I just have different needs. Who knows, I might even change my mind after having it for 6 months, 1 year, etc.
