In 2023 Jaguar Land Rover unveiled its new corporate identity, as part of its move to a House of Brands organisation. The new brand identity aspires to remove ambiguity and bring to the fore the unique DNA of each of JLR’s brands ‑ Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar.
Obviously, the distinctive identity of Range Rover is refined luxury, something that this Range Rover Velar Autobiography P400 epitomises. Even more so with this Ostuni Pearl White finish contrasted by the optional Black exterior pack ($1,680) and black roof rails ($940). Chefs kiss!
The P400 Velar is powered by a 3.0 litre, 6-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with mild hybrid technology and develops a maximum of 294kW of power and 550Nm of torque. The All-Wheel Drive powertrain is paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission and is capable of doing 0-100km/h in just 5.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 250km/h. The official combined fuel consumption is 9.1L/100km and for my week of exploring the beautiful Southern Highlands in the Velar I used 10.2L/100km.
The drive modes are now selected by using a side swipe menu on the infotainment screen and the modes available include Configurable Dynamic ($940 option), Comfort, Eco and Auto Terrain Response, which was my mode of choice for the week, and very comfortable thanks to the air suspension. The Velar also has Grass/Gravel/Snow, Sand, Mud Ruts modes and is even capable of wading to a depth of 580mm.
Step over the Illuminated metal front treadplates with R-Dynamic branding ($640 option) and you are greeted by the breathtaking Deep Garnet/Ebony interior with Deep Garnet/Ebony perforated Windsor leather seats ($700 option). One thing I did note though was this Range Rover didn’t have the exquisite aroma like previous Range Rovers I have driven.
Both front seats have 20-way powered adjustment with controls for recline, forward/back, head rest up and down, front leg extension and 4-way lumbar adjustment, with the toggles located on the side of the seats and the driver’s seat also has three memory positions. The front seats are heated and cooled, the heated thankfully worked very well considering I was in the freezing Southern Highlands. Likewise I was also happy that my Velar had the optional Cold Climate pack ($1,820), which adds heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, and a heated windscreen.
Under one of the many menus in the infotainment system you will locate the Seat menu where you will find the controls for the massage feature on the front seats that allows you to adjust the intensity and massage type, which is very luxurious indeed! Less pleasant was the temperature setting on the climate controls, which I found hard to balance and that I had to fiddle with it too much to find a comfortable temperature.
Standard technology features that are included on the Velar are a 11.4-inch touchscreen that gets bad fingermarks on it, PiviPro multimedia system, 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, head-up display, wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay, and wired Android Auto. There’s a wireless phone charger located under the front flip up cover with one USB-C port also here and under the arm rest there is another USB-C port and one USB-A port.
Located in the centre console are two deep cup holders with grippy sides and no removable mat in base for easy cleaning, which could pose a problem for smaller coffee cups. The drink bottle storage in front door cubby does fit larger sized bottles, but they need to be laid on their side to fit.
I found that the rear seats had ample head and leg room for me and I liked that they also had powered recline adjustment. For younger passengers there are two ISOfix/three rear tether child seat restraint points, however like other Range Rovers I have reviewed, the central tether point is not marked as such making this a bit ambiguous. The centre seat folds down as an arm rest with two shallow cup holders that thankfully they have grippy sides to reduce the risk of drinks falling out of them if bumped. The rear door cubbies also have good-sized drink bottle storage, but their design makes it difficult to get a drink bottle in and out.
Rear passengers get dual zone digital temp controls with single zone mode and air speed controls. Annoyingly the air speed control in the rear of the Velar also adjusts the front air speed and I do not like this at all as my children insist on having hurricane force set as their air speed and I like a soft breeze. There are two central air vents with separate on/off and direction controls, this may sound like an unimportant feature, but children will fight over anything. So having separate controls means less of “but I want the air to be on!” arguments that you may face. Further re-enforcing this point there is only one 12V socket below the climate controls, let the sibling battles commence!
The Velar does not have a gesture/handsfree boot, but it does have powered open/close using the button on tailgate, in the cabin and on the key fob. Thanks to the air suspension you can raise and lower the rear of the vehicle using buttons in the boot. Which could be handy when trying to hitch a trailer on the Tow hitch receiver ($1,000 option). The Velar has a 750 kgs unbraked/2,500 kgs braked towing capacity with a maximum tow ball weight of 100kg.
The boot space is quite large and would easily fit the weekly shop and has four substantial tie down points, four hooks, two lights and one 12V socket. If more space is required the rear seats can be folded down using the seat remote release levers ($300 option) or you can separately fold down the centre seat only for storing long items. Under the boot floor there’s a reduced section spare wheel ($530 option).
A five-star ANCAP safety rating applies to Range Rover Velar vehicles built prior to 1 January 2024 and vehicles built after this date are unrated by ANCAP. The Velar does come with six airbags and active safety features including adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, emergency braking, lane keep assist detects, and rear collision monitor among others. The Velar also has a standard rear view camera, a 360-degree camera and the option to make this a 3D view and front and rear parking sensors. For convenience you also get auto lights and auto wipers.
The Range Rover Velar comes with a 5 years/Unlimited kilometres warranty with 5 years Roadside Assistance. A 5 years/102,000kms (whichever occurs first) service plan can be purchased up front for $2,450.
The Range Rover Velar Autobiography P400 is priced from $156,370 excluding on-road costs and as tested my Range Rover Velar Autobiography P400 was priced at $165,810. You can build your Range Rover Velar online or visit your preferred Land Rover retailer for more information.
| Pros | Cons |
| Luxurious interior features | Hard to balance air temperature controls |
| Very comfortable ride | There are too many menus on the infotainment screen |
| Excellent heated seats | No current ANCAP safety rating |
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.