Range Rover Velar PHEV Review

Practicality and Boot Space

Here’s a car that’s all about style, with a uniquely appointed interior that matches the exterior. Buy into the Velar based on it turning your head with its styling and the dashboard layout won’t disappoint you – here’s a car that does things wilfully differently to its opposition and makes the rest of the class look very safe and boring as a result.

Does it all work as well as it should? Perhaps not, but that’s always the price you pay with goods or devices that prioritise style over substance. And once you’ve figured out the Velar’s twin displays you’ll probably be smitten.

Unlike larger Range Rovers, though, there’s no seven-seat option here. Think of the Velar as a luxury raised saloon rather than an outright SUV and you’re on the money for the space and practicality it offers.

Technology

Jaguar Land Rover products have traditionally lagged behind rivals when it comes to the screens and infotainment, both in terms of software design and sheer reliability. Thankfully the Velar gets the company’s new Pivi and Pivi Pro infotainment systems, which are a very welcome upgrade over the old and laggy systems fitted before, while still not quite up to class standards. An embedded data connection keeps the maps and vehicle software up to date too, with any upgrades available over the air much like Tesla helped pioneer a few years ago. Which means more time at home, less time having to see your dealer.

And just to keep things as serene as possible inside, the Velar gets an active noise cancellation device – working like those big chunky headphones, it combats road noise to keep things quiet inside – as well as a cabin filtration system that ensures you breath in the cleanest air possible, too. “Drivers and passengers can be assured the air they breathe inside the Range Rover Velar is cleaner than the air outside,” is the rather bullish claim…

Safety

The Range Rover Velar launched in 2017 when it was crash tested by Euro NCAP, scoring the full five stars, doing especially well for adult occupant protection with a 93 per cent score. There’s a decent array of active safety features on all Velar PHEVs, too; front and rear parking sensors, lane-keep assist, blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control and a rear traffic monitor are all standard fit, as is ‘Driver Condition Monitor’, which monitors the driver’s inputs to see if they’re feeling drowsy and sounds an alert to warn them to take a break if it senses any slack. JLR has been researching this sort of stuff for years and eventually hopes to fit cars with tech that’ll allow the car to pull itself safely to the side of the road if it senses its driver has taken ill.