2018 range Rover Velar Engine & Performance

Land Rover offers three engine options for the Velar in India. A 180 horsepower 2.0 diesel, 300 horsepower 3.0 V6 diesel and a 250 horsepower 2.0 petrol motor that featured on the test car. The Velar is the first JLR model in India to receive this new Ingenium petrol engine, that has now found place under the hood of Jaguar models here as well. The refinement of the engine is impressive and the Velar picks up pace in a very linear fashion. There is good low end grunt and the motor feels free revving all the way upto the 6500 rpm red line. Transmission duties are handled by an eight speed automatic gearbox and while shifts are smooth, it does tend to get jerky at low city speeds. While overall performance is pretty good and will not give you a reason to complain, it isn’t something that is a ‘kick back into the seat’ experience. The 1.9 tonne weight has a part to play in that.

2018 Range Rover Velar Handling and Ride

The Velar features an all independent suspension comprising of a double wishbone setup at the front and multi link at the rear. It is also interesting to note that only the range topping V6 diesel gets air suspension while the others including our test car come with standard steel springs. While ride quality is fairly compliant, it is not in the league of the bigger Range Rover siblings. Bad patches on the road and expansion joints on flyovers are felt at low and moderate speeds inside the cabin. The Velar does manage to fly over potholes easily though. Handling is what you would expect from an SUV. There is good grip and the Velar is happy to turn into corners. However its not the best out there. It doesn’t feel very sharp and body roll is felt as well. Steering feels light, though things get better in Dynamic mode. The F-Pace definitely feels better than the Rangie when it comes to handling.

If it’s a Range Rover, it has to come with off-road apparatus and the Velar is no different. It gets a rear biased all wheel drive system and Land Rover’s Terrain Response System. All this works for a fair bit of off-roading but lack of a low range gearbox means you cannot really get into the hardcore stuff. However the 600 mm of water wading depth is impressive.

Safety features on the Velar include 6 airbags, ABS with EBD, Emergency Brake Assist, Cornering Brake Control and Roll Stability Control.

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