Mountain Wheels: Middle-child Range Rover Velar offers simplified tech

Andy Stonehouse/Courtesy photo
Judging by a bottle of Land Rover-branded Biltmore Estates sparkling wine – vintage Dec. 2017 – which I keep in my “Pile of Stuff From the Past,” my first interaction with the Range Rover Velar goes back a long, long time.
I was lucky, back then, to be invited to a small program at the Land Rover Driving School in Asheville, N.C., long before last year’s hurricane devastation, where we got to drive the then-new Velar in hills, mud and circumstances befitting its full capabilities.
Flash forward to a few months ago and a much-updated Velar reappeared on my doorstep. No sparkling wine, this time, as Land Rover/Range Rover are in the midst of a new era, and sister company Jaguar practically disappeared, but is apparently reinventing itself with a wildly bold electric vehicle.
So I made do with a comfortable, non-destructive series of outings in a 2025 Range Rover Velar Dynamic SE model, a mid-level trim with a $63,000 base price that hopped up to $76,000 with options and delivery charges, riding on oversized 21-inch wheels. A range of 2026 models are now available, as well, now starting at $61,500.
Life changes very, very quickly, as we’ve seen in the last two months, and it may be somewhat ironic that the current Velar models were introduced not to journalists at an event but instead on Tik-Tok, back in February of 2023.
Perhaps that spoke to the Velar’s position in the Range Rover food chain. It’s a bigger and more family friendly vehicle than the $50,000 Evoque, a much different automobile than the flashier, $84,000 Range Rover Sport and almost half the price of the full-blown Range Rover, whose most basic model is now $108,000. While each offers a different range of luxurious details, all of them now look vaguely the same, style-wise, with very similar faces and varying degrees and sizes of swept-roof bodies.
These new 2023-into-2026 Velar models come with two turbocharged powertrain choices, my SE model’s 247-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder and an optional and much feistier 394-horsepower 3.0-liter six-cylinder. Velar includes a standard S model, this Dynamic SE and the higher-output Dynamic HSE model, which debuted in 2023.
The smaller engine sometimes feels a tad underwhelming given the considerably speedier results of that 3.0-liter, but the tradeoff is a 26 highway mpg rating, provided you are not trying to overcompensate with a flattened pedal, all of the time. The 2.0-liter will do 0-60 in 7.1 seconds and is limited to a reasonable 135 mph, while the 3.0 hits 60 mph in 5.2 seconds and can also top out at 155 mph. You can guess my feeling on that discrepancy.
Besides its overall body morphing changes, new grille and LED lamps, all of which really are serving to create a unified style identity for all Range Rover products (not to be confused with the now-separate Discovery and Defender Land Rover sub-brands), maybe the biggest changes are inside.
True to the peak Tik-Tok era in which it was relaunched, Velar is perhaps the biggest non-EV example of the No Buttons movement, which I think itself has already turned on its head.
There are quite literally no console controls of any kind in a Velar. None whatsoever, minus a curious shift knob, set among a wide and entirely flat console deck. Contrast that with the ridiculously busy console in the 2025 Nissan Armada, review coming soon.
The 2023 thinking seemed to indicate that Range Rover drivers, not unlike Mustang owners, preferred to have virtually all of their vehicle controls summarized in a single, not-gigantic 11.4-inch, slightly curved touchscreen, and an infotainment system they call Pivi Pro. That comes in contrast to the awkward multi-level screens found in in-between Velar models.
Happily, unlike other all-inclusive systems (say, first-generation Volkswagen id.4 touchscreens), the Velar’s system is functional, easy to learn and delightfully comprehensive. It’s also available with Amazon Alexa functions, for those of you who favor technological convergence in their drives.
It’s split into three sections and offers loads of resources, including the legitimate off-road-capability stuff like wading depth, slope assist and speed controls. Those also include access to ride height adjustments, a low-traction launch system and a wide range of trail modes. Maybe more useful in the almost 400-hp variant, you also get a Dynamic Mode screen with lap times and a G-force meter.
These newer Velar models get improved seats with leather-free upholstery available, an aggressive air purification system that might help in modern-day Los Angeles, as well as an active road noise cancellation system.
Compared to the moon buggy styled design overload of its Land Rover cousins, Velar is as laid back as possible. That main screen is surrounded by a padded dash, and … well, that’s about it. Even the starter button is sort of hidden to the left of that control screen.
Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at summitmountainwheels@gmail.com.

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