moi ! £80k (with basic extras)



Stuff the price tag: it’s love at first touch

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jeremy-...40f4d1b35f Filters are in fact so good that in certain circumstances, when the ambient air is already polluted, a diesel car will tend to extract more particles from the air than it emits. Emissions Analytics worked with........etc etc

He who dies with the most toys wins...

I looked at getting one when they first came out. The looks on the outside grew on me as I saw a few on my road at home. The interior was nice but small (as is everything after a FFRR) - I then asked how much for the basic model and what that included ....... it was basically just the wheels, body shell and steering wheel by all accounts. By the time I had put a few vital necessities (air suspension, heated seats, steering wheel etc, in fact everything we get as standard in the FFRR) the bill was nearing £70k, and that was without the other nice things!

Lovely looking car but small inside and not sure the small engines would do it for me. Or the price tag.

It’s the best looking car that they’ve released for a while (though it does look a bit odd from square on at the front), but I couldn’t live with a car with such a high waistline and low roof. It may be very “stylish”, but it’s too much like looking out of a WW2 pillbox for my liking.

All glass roof? In Australia? In the sun?

You'd have to be mad. Ron B. VK2OTC
2003 L322 V8 Auto
2007 Yamaha XJR1300
Previous: 1983, 1986 RRC; 1995, 1996 P38A; 1995 Disco1; 1984 V8 County 110; Series IIA

 RR 2005 4.4 petrol
Any spelling mistakes are the fault of spellchecker
Previous MG J2, CITROEN light 15 x 2 gone unfortunately
Present MERC 180e, RANGE ROVER L322, JAGUAR XJS, MERC 280SE, MG F, JAGUAR S-Type 6v 2003, jaguar s-type 8v 2004, Ford Cougar

I first saw the Velar on the JLR stand at Goodwood last year and was very taken in by the interior styling, and to a lesser extent, the outside styling. Then I walked over and had a good look at a FFAB they had on the stand and was completely blown away! I was driving a Defender at the time and was absolutely smitten by the FF.

2 days after we got back, found and bought a dealer pre reg 4.4 AB and the Defender was history.

However I encountered a shed load of well documented/common issues with the FF and after 9 trips for fixes in 3 months, the car was taken back by the dealer and an order for a 2018 4.4 AB placed. (They offered another 2017 car but I’d had a gutfull of the 2017 infotainment issues by then). This was all late October 2017.

By late February 2018 the build date had moved on and on and was then looking at the last week of May. The dealer didn’t have confidence that the date would hold anyway and would be likely to move again.

In a fit of pique I started looking seriously at the Velar, and arranged an extended test drive.

I nearly didn’t take it out of the dealers car park; the low roof line and slitty windows seemed claustrophobic and the seats were not as comfortable as the AB. However I had nothing better to do, so drive off in it. After a few miles it was OK and after many more miles I found myself really enjoying the car. It seemed easier to place on the road, flatter on corners, and easier to park. It did not have the magic carpet ride of the FF (despite having air suspension), and it didn’t give that same feeling of well-being that driving the FF gave.

To cut a long story short I specc’d up a D300 so that it would have a very close spec to my AB on order and found that the First Edition came close as you could get. The list price was £85k!

The dealer and I kicked around some numbers and it transpired if I left the deposit unaltered etc the Velar would come in at over £600 per month less than the FF I had on order. The list price was around £23,000 less than the AB, and the GMV was proportionately higher giving a double saving.

Given how much I ended up enjoying the test drive and that the delivery of the FF was so uncertain (out of curiosity has anyone taken delivery of a 2018 FF 4.4 AB yet?) I decided to go with the Velar. The dealer had a D300 First Edition on call down and I could have it in around 2 weeks.

I am delighted with it overall, and find it particularly easier to drive over the moor roads near us and our place in Scotland. I’ve only taken it off road down forest tracks and it was fine - but I still think in tough going the FF would knock spots off the Velar off road. On road, I find the Velar probably handles better than the FF and I spend most of my time on road.

I would not pretend the Velar is as smooth, comfortable etc as the FF but it’s no shed! Big bonus to me is that town centre navigation and parking, as well as parking in supermarket car park, is much easier in the smaller car.

I think the thing with Velar price points is that although it treads into FF territory, when you compare spec of the FF to the Velar at that price point, the cars are very different. If you want/need a FF then the Velar is not a substitute. But a base FF should more properly be compared with the base Velar and the Velar is definitely cheaper!

So far the Velar has been faultless, but looking at the Velar forum you’d think that’s the exception not the rule!

I’m not writing this in defence of the Velar - I don’t need to - but thought that experience of both cars might be interesting to anyone who is thinking about the change.

Bill wrote:

moi ! £80k (with basic extras)



Stuff the price tag: it’s love at first touch

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jeremy-...40f4d1b35f

Anyone saved the article. It’s behind a paywall now.

Not taking away from your personal choice but it irks me when i see an evoques Range Rover badge. I'm sure it's a very capable car but why dilute the brand . Once apon a time you saw RANGE ROVER on a vehicle and it meant something. Again , each to their own. 2015 4.4 AB
GSXR 1000 K5
R1 1998

I'm throwing the F pace into the mix.
I was looking at the Velar but i'm glad i went for this...............

I bought a Volvo XC 70 for my wife from a dealer in Auckland that also sells JLR.

I flew up from Wellington and the dealer picked me up from the airport in a Velar, the first time I have seen one aside from the TV advert.

It was nice, but seemed as though it was designed to be a Chelsea Tractor from day one, really. Mind you, I do feel that LR are loosing their off road heritage and slewing heavily toward road cars with some off road ability rather than off road cars with some road ability which is what they used to make. The death of the Defender and their failure to date to replace it speaks volumes there.

It's hard to imagine many of the current vehicles being used for something like a reprised Camel Trophy or even the G4 Challenge, let alone an expedition to cross the Darien Gap!

PaulB wrote:

I'm throwing the F pace into the mix.
I was looking at the Velar but i'm glad i went for this...............

So did I

About £20k cheaper than the equivalent velar!

Like most on here i am a car fan. Todays crop of suvs and even saloons are very hard to distinguish from the next. The company next to me has two F paces a Kia and a Hyundai and if any of them pass you its hard to tell the difference ( they are all white , company colour) , it seems , to me, that individuality from car designers has gone.

I'm not detracting from a cars capability , just the looks. After saying that i passed a KIA in traffic and it could have been a GT supercar , quad exhausts and vents all over the place. Again just my humble opinion. 2015 4.4 AB
GSXR 1000 K5
R1 1998