Range Rover Velar vs Range Rover

What's the difference?

I think the Velar R-Dynamic HSE D300 is the most beautiful Range Rover ever made and one of the most stylish SUVs money can buy. It’s also fast, not too expensive and a proper Range Rover. It’s not big though, and if you’re looking for a seven seater you’ll have to step up to the big daddy Range Rover.

Do the right thing here, don’t skimp on the engine and go for the D300 diesel with its giant torque and the Velar will give you a driving experience as good as it looks.

I don’t think its essential to step up to the HSE grade at all and it’s a no-cost option to go for smaller wheels shod with higher profile tyres – just saying. 

The Range Rover Autobiography long wheelbase is an outstanding SUV that is not just beautiful to drive but makes family practicality a priority, too, 

The price is reasonable relative to the competition, the features list is long and complementary servicing offers peace of mind.

If you don’t need the third row, I’d consider the standard wheelbase Autobiography even if it does reduce legroom, there’s still plenty of space.

My son stopped short of giving the Range Rover Autobiography full marks "because there are no massaging seats in the second row".     

Can you believe there’s actually somebody out there who doesn’t think the Velar is stunning? It’s true, I’ve met him. And for fear of retribution I’ll keep his identity a secret, but let’s just say he’s more of a Suzuki Jimny man. And while I can appreciate the aesthetic ruggedness of the microscopic Jimny, the Velar could not be more different.

The Velar’s design is also vastly different from the traditional giant-brick Range Rover styling with its swept-back profile and smooth, almost line-less surfaces. Look at how those head and tail-lights sit almost completely flush with the panels around them – phwoaar, this is pure car porn.

When the Velar is locked the door handles sit flush against the door panels, like a Tesla’s, and deploy when the car is unlocked - another theatrical hint that the Velar’s designers wanted this SUV to look slipperier than a bar of wet soap.

The images I’ve taken don’t really do the Velar justice. The side shots are with the air suspension at its highest and the front- and rear-three-quarter ones are taken with the Velar on in its lowest setting giving it a tough stance.

The Velar I tested had an HSE badge on the back which means it’s the top grade in the range. If you look closely there’s another plaque, a tiny one, which says R-Dynamic which is a sports pack that adds the air intakes at the front, the vents in the bonnet and gives them 'Burnished Copper' colouring, which looks like a rose gold. Inside the R-Dynamic pack brings bright metal pedal covers and treadplates.

The Velar R-Dynamic HSE’s cabin is beautiful and modern. In Land Rover style the cockpit looks robust with large dials and a clear layout, but the double-decker displays and multi-function switchgear are technologically sophisticated.

The 'Light Oyster' (let’s call it white) 'Windsor' leather seats top off a prestige interior and if you look closely at the perforations a Union Jack will jump out at you. Not literally, that would be very dangerous while driving, but the pattern in the shape of the United Kingdom’s flag will become apparent.

The sliding panoramic roof, the tinted glass and the 'Santorini Black' paint were all options and you can read about how much they cost along with the list price of this Velar below.

This fifth-generation Range Rover debuted in 2021 and despite its smooth, modern styling this SUV retains the familiar traditional Range Rover look with the short squared bonnet, flat roofline and tall windows.  

Let’s talk about the wheelbase, because it has a huge impact on passenger space.

We had the long wheelbase which is 3197mm between the front and rear wheels - that’s 200mm more than the standard wheelbase. 

Just look at those stretched rear doors in the photos - this is a go-anywhere limousine, or go-anywhere daycare centre in my case.

The overall length of the long wheelbase Range Rover is 5252mm. That’s big, but the design of this SUV doesn’t make it appear enormous.

What I don't like are the retractable door handles. They take a while to pop out and they look and feel cheap. Land Rover has used these on its other SUVs and if I had time I’d pen a letter asking the company to please stop. I’m sincerely hoping this review will do the same thing. I await your response JLR.

I think the tail-lights are pure genius. The pencil thin design is such a brave move away from the norm where brands are going over the top with LED lighting, and the simplicity is refreshing.

Inside, a traditional-looking Range Rover cabin awaits you with the flat dashboard, the low window sills contrasted by super modern touches like the displays and fully digital dials.

It’s sumptuous, luxurious, but not over the top. Again some people are looking for bling and gimmicks, but you won’t find them here - and I like that. This interior feels solid and substantial, but plush. 

The Velar looks large, but the dimensions show it to be 4803mm end-to-end, 1903mm across and 1665mm tall. That’s not enormous, and the snug cabin is a cozy reminder that this is a mid-sized SUV.

Space up front is good for the driver and co-pilot, and while things become a bit tighter in the back, even at 191cm tall I still have about 15mm of legroom behind my driving position. Headroom in the second row is excellent, even with the optional sunroof the test Velar sported.

The Velar is a five-seater SUV, but that uncomfortable middle space at the back wouldn’t be my first choice of places to sit.

Boot space is 558 litres, which is 100 litres bigger than the Evoque’s cargo capacity and about 100 litres smaller than the Range Rover Sport’s.

Air suspension is standard on Velars with the D300 engine and not only does this provide a comfortable ride it also allows you to lower the rear of the SUV so that you don’t have to hoist up your bags so high into the boot.

Storage throughout the cabin could be better, but you do have four cupholders (two in the front and two in the second row), four door pockets (small ones), a centre console bin (also little, but containing two USB ports and 12-volt outlet) and an odd square-shaped hole near the shifter. You’ll find another 12-volt power point in the second row and one in cargo area.

At this price point we’d like to see more in the way of power outlets such as USB ports in the rear and wireless charging for phones as standard equipment.

Range Rovers have been a family favourite for decades and they’ve been doing school runs and trips away long before other brands even thought about producing SUVs for families.

So what you’re buying is Land Rover’s decades of knowing how to make a family SUV and you can tell by little things such as, how wide the doors open, how easy it is to get in and out of (even for little kids), the flat floor, the good visibility (thanks to low window sills), and then there’s the space and cabin storage. Stuff other brands seem to be still working out.

The second row seats in the Autobiography have electric sun shades, dual-zone climate control and the window seats are power adjustable and heated.

My eight-year old couldn’t resist playing with his electric sunshade and the seat adjustment, but fortunately the driver has an override switch which let me turn off his 'seat privileges’ as he called it. 

Being the long wheelbase means the rear doors are long and heavy. So while the eight-year old could open them, he had trouble closing them. 

The long wheelbase offers unrivalled legroom in the back and that meant my wife and I could put our own seats back further for our own comfort -even with a baby seat behind us.

Enormous door pockets, a giant centre console storage area, cupholders in all three rows, USB ports, wireless phone charging and in our case an optional domestic power outlet ($130) made this a comfortable, roomy, well equipped cabin.

Sure, the third row isn’t exactly spacious, but I’ve never met one that is. 

The intelligent seat folding system is remarkable. From the boot or side doors you can electronically adjust the second and third rows - either to raise them or lower them so they are flat for storage.

With all seats in place there is 229 litres of cargo space still left in the boot, but with those back seats folded flat you have 713 litres of capacity - and that’s just up to the cargo cover. 

The Range Rover Autobiography has air suspension and this means the SUV can lower itself to an 'Access' height to make it even easier to get in and out.

The Autobiography sits high in the Range Rover line-up and only the SVO (Special Vehicle Operations) models command higher prices.

Our Range Rover Autobiography was the long-wheelbase with the twin-turbo petrol V8 engine and has a list price of $312,193.

The standard features include retractable door handles with a proximity key, the LED headlights and tail-lights, a power tailgate and the panoramic sunroof.

Inside, 'Caraway' perforated semi-aniline leather seats are standard, too. So is a 13.1-inch screen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus sat nav. There’s a fully digital driver display, a head-up display, wireless phone charging, and a Meridian 'Signature' sound system.

Four-zone climate control is standard and will keep the kids comfortable in the back, while the sun shades will project them from that giant fireball in the sky. 

Up front there are heated and cooled seats which also massage, while the outboard rear seats are heated and power adjustable.

Our Autobiography was the seven-seater and it’s only about $1600 more than the five-seat version.

Ours had a few options fitted - there are the 23-inch wheels, the standard alloys are 22-inch, there’s also the black contrasting roof and the privacy glass which is so dark it’s almost impossible to look in. 

All up the total list price for ours came to $318,603.

Land Rover offers a lot of choice when it comes to engines, grades and features… probably too much choice.

The Velar I tested was an HSE grade, but with the D300 engine (the most powerful diesel), a V6 turbo making 221kW/700Nm. You don’t have to step up to the HSE to have this engine, you can have it on the entry level Velar, too.

The D300 is super quiet for a diesel but it’s still clattery, and if you can see this bothering you then there are two petrol engines which make even more power. The thing is no petrol engine in the Velar range comes close to making the same mountainous torque as the D300.

The Velar is an all-wheel drive and it wouldn’t be a proper Range Rover if it didn’t have some sort of off-road capability – which it does. There are several off-road modes from which to choose from mud ruts to sand and snow.

The head-up display will also show axle articulation and the incline angle. Our Velar was fitted with an off-road pack which you can read about below.

The Velar has a braked trailer towing capacity of 2400kg.

An eight-speed automatic shifts beautifully, decisively, smoothly, but a little slowly.

The 4.4-litre twin-turbo petrol V8 is a perfect match for the Range Rover Autobiography.

There’s enormous power at 390kW and a colossal 750Nm of torque, but it’s delivered so smoothly and without sounding like Armageddon is beginning.

You might here the engine referred to as the P530. That signifies it’s petrol and makes about 530 horsepower. 

All that grunt means that despite weighing more than 2.7 tonnes, this SUV can hurl itself from a stand still to 100km/h in 4.8 seconds. 

An eight-speed automatic sends the drive to all four wheels. And making this SUV incredibly capable off-road is an excellent four-wheel drive system with a low range gear, plus a maximum ground clearance (thanks to the adjustable air suspension) of 283mm and a wading depth of up to 900mm.

There is a six-cylinder diesel, but if you decide on that instead of the V8 then it's all over between you and me. That’s how good this V8 is.

Land Rover says the Velar’s fuel consumption over a combination of open and urban roads is 6.6L/100km. I couldn’t match that, but measured 9.4L/100km at the pump. Still pretty good – if this was a petrol V6, that figure would be higher.

Now, you’re going to use a lot of fuel. But that’s okay because this will probably be your last petrol car and the next one will be electric so let’s go out with a bang - last drinks at the petrol bar! Land Rover says you’ll use 11.8L/100km.

After a week of punishing my Range Rover with school drop offs, shopping centre car parks, hilly suburbs, motorways and rural roads the petrol pump told me we’d used 19.8L/100km.

I’m not shocked by that consumption. This is a 2.7 tonne all-wheel drive twin-turbo V8 SUV that was almost always ferrying around four people with a pram, garden supplies and shopping in bumper to bumper traffic. A real world fuel test. 

There is that six-cylinder diesel and a hybrid version of the Range Rover, but this V8 engine suits the character of the SUV perfectly - anything else and it’s like eating reduced fat ice cream.

Plant your foot from a standstill and you’ll see the bonnet heave up and 100km/h rush up to meet you in 6.7 seconds. That was something I never go tired of during my week with the Velar R-Dynamic HSE. I also didn’t become bored with the light and accurate steering nor the great visibility.

But the ride, while comfortable on that air suspension when cruising along smooth motorways, had a sharp edge to it over speed bumps and potholes, which I think was the fault of the 21-inch rims and 45 profile Continental Cross Contact tyres.

The turbo-diesel engine is prone to a bit of lag at times and while that’s not a deal breaker, it sometimes spoiled the moment during a bit of sporty driving when the Velar shifted into a higher gear and I had to wait a moment for the mumbo to return.

That peak torque band is narrow, too (1500-1750rpm) and I found myself taking control of the shifting myself with the paddles to keep within it.

That said the Velar R-Dynamic HSE D300 feels superb and easy to pilot.

If you’re leaving the bitumen the Velar is a lot more capable that its looks may suggest. Our test vehicle was fitted with the optional 'Off-Road Pack' which brings 'Terrain Response 2' and 'All Terrain progress control'. A wading depth of 650mm is not too shabby either.

Driving the V8-powered, long-wheelbase, 2.7-tonne, Range Rover Autobiography is a lot easier than it sounds. Really, it’s the Range Rover’s height above sea level which will strike you first.

You’ll lord it over other cars. The length doesn’t come into it - even for parking because the visibility is so good, the steering is so light and the engine is civilised and smooth.  

This is truly an easy and enjoyable SUV to drive, with power and performance whenever you need it. 

There are several drive modes from a 'Dynamic' sporty one, which makes the engine more responsive and suspension firmer, to off-road settings.

Most of the time I left the Range Rover in 'Comfort' mode for the softest ride, but with 530 horsepower lurking in the background ready to jump out and eat up hills and overtaking.

The front seats are wide, comfortable and supportive even after hours of driving. 

The Range Rover was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2022.

For second-row child occupant protection the Range Rover scored a high 86 per cent in frontal and side impacts.

Standard safety tech includes AEB (junction and forward) with cyclists and pedestrian detection, there’s blind-spot warning, lane keeping assistance and rear cross-traffic alert, but no rear AEB.

For child seats there are ISOFIX mounts in the second row, and top tether anchor points in the second row and third rows.

Along with an entire suite of airbags it’s good to see a centre airbag up front and also head-covering curtain airbags all three rows.

The Velar is covered by Land Rover’s three-year/100,000km warranty with servicing for the 3.0-litre V6 diesel variants recommended annually, or every 26,000km.

Twenty-four hour roadside assistance is also available for the length of the warranty. A five-year/130,000km service plan, capped at $2200, is available for the Velar.

The warranty is good with five-years and unlimited kilometre coverage.

There’s also five years roadside assistance and a complimentary five-year/130,000km service plan.

Yep, that's complimentary, as in free servicing for five years. I didn’t believe it myself and called Land Rover to check and was told that it does indeed mean free-of-charge.