Harmonizing Luxury and Performance: The 2024 Range Rover Velar Unveiled

When it first debuted in 2017, the Range Rover Velar encapsulated everything that you’d expect from a luxury SUV. It balanced the contradictory goals of luxury and utility to create one of the most desirable cars of its kind. The new 2024 Range Rover Velar continues that lineage. Here we peel back some of the layers that make this new Velar stand out.

Quick Out of the Gate: The Power Beneath

Slotting above the diminutive Evoque but below the robust Range Rover Sport, Velar’s starting price is $61,500. The vehicle competes with the likes of the BMW X5 and Mercedes GLE against its gargantuan rivals. Under the bonnet is a 3-litre turbocharged six-cylinder engine that serves as a mild hybrid which, on the P400, makes 395 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque, accelerating zero to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds. Fuel economy is comparatively tepid at a combined 21 miles per gallon.

A Sanctuary of Silence

If you have reservations about stepping inside an SUV – because it will place you physically higher than other people who might share the road with you – just look up. The Velar’s cabin provides sanctuary. It isn’t just a bubble, but a cocoon. It’s beautifully engineered, built with an array of exotic and luxurious components, including leather, wood veneer panels and, best of all, one of the finest car sound systems you can buy: a 400-watt Meridian product that delivers sound with such clarity and depth that every ride feels like a mini audio masterclass. It is this one feature that, better than any other, illustrates how luxury vehicles designed in the 21st century embody the rule that the sensuality of progress always comes with an acoustic component.

No Frills, Just Elegance

Photo courtesy of Land RoverThe Velar’s unadorned innards are perhaps its greatest feature. In contrast to some competing models, the Velar doesn’t go for showy ostentation; it goes for comfortable understatement instead. The dashboard, the seating – everything in the vehicle is subtly beautiful, and designed for ease of use rather than for show. It’s a lesson to us all: less is more, and ‘less’ is still less when ‘less’ is done just right.

Everyday Luxury: The Velar Experience

Rather, you need only know that driving the Velar requires no plan beyond how you fill the hours before and after. Nor does it require a special destination or the willingness to abandon all sense of purpose. From errands to interstates, the Velar is game. It is built for the everyday; it is the everyday. One reason is that it’s easy to drive. And when a vehicle is easy to pilot, it invariably flies. The elegant heft of the Velar’s steering wheel transmits road cues like a masseuse delivering a deep-tissue massage, while the elegantly composed suspension glides over bumps and scoots around corners. These dynamics bring new heady meanings to the phrase ‘the road less travelled’. The car’s branded plates, aplastic grating over the exhaust, and fender vents are not merely accessories but structural elements of the Velar, which exiles conspicuous consumption to the corners of its CAD files. If you’ve never had the privilege of driving an elegant automobile, you’ll notice the effect. If you already know the perks involved, the ‘everyday’ qualities of the Velar reaffirm a design mantra: you can have it all, not just on special occasions.

Overcoming the Stigma

In a way, the Range Rover brand has become so heavily freighted with issues of reliability that, however unfair that is to the company, it’s beyond the brand’s reach. Shoppers who write off Range Rover products as not-made-to-last might not even check the size of the dead-nuts warranty on a new vehicle or lease. That said, the Velar’s performance and luxury offerings are so convincing that I hope to see a change in the trend.

The Verdict: A Pricy Proposition

Steep pricing reflects the Velar’s luxury lineage, so even the base model starts at $61,500 and, by the time you add options and packages, you’re likely to head into the $81,000 range. But for those who appreciate a luxury SUV with uncompromising comfort, performance and sonic elegance, the 2024 Range Rover Velar is a benchmark of what a luxury SUV ought to be.

THE SOUND OF VELAR

At the heart of the Velar’s aural appeal is its sound system, which could sustain its own essay. The speakers included in the Velar are not merely end points for an audio stream, they are a core part of the luxury experience of the vehicle. The fact that the Velar includes a 400-watt Meridian audio system is an additional testament to Land Rover’s intention to not merely deliver visual luxury or even tactile luxury, but aural luxury as well. For the car enthusiast and the audiophile alike, the speakers included in the Velar provide a rich listening experience that complements the visual aesthetics and the dynamic performance of the vehicle. The Velar reminds us that the luxury SUV world is concerned not only with how you perceive the journey through seeing and touching, but also how you hear it.

In the 2022 Range Rover Velar, Land Rover has created a car that is not simply remarkable, but remarkable in ways that leave us rethinking what, exactly, we are looking for in a car. It’s a car that doesn’t simply succeed in a narrow task. It suggests a world in which each drive is an occasion, each run a statement.