Will The Interior Of The New Evoque Be Velar?

I have a D240 HSE 2017. I hate the new centre console and gear shift. My one at least has the drama of the upper screen pivoting and the rising, rotary gear selector. The rotary dials which control various function are good but could be weighted a bit more. The new version is just an example of cost cutting. In terms of reliability I have had to replace the compressor for the air suspension and the rear light units which are prone to leak and then pack up. The D240 is very refined and only feels agricultural under hard acceleration . Overall I have been very pleased with the car.

Been a Land and Range Rover owner since 1996, none has been unreliable but……….. my 2023 Defender 90 has been off the road a month for a self destructing DPF. 2 weeks later and it went in for a security system update and something else that couldn’t be done OTA on Friday morning and it’s been stuck on the dealership computer terminal all weekend because it’s electronic power steering has bricked it’s ECU during the update download/ installation …………. I’m lucky I have another car that is an EV with 90% of controls on a screen and no way will I have another car with no climate controls by switches and knobs and in that brand new car the voice activation cannot understand the I’m too cold or I’m too hot instruction, in fact it doesn’t understand any voice instructions because it tells me that English isn’t supported in the language settings……….. this is a brand new electric Mini Countryman made in Germany – btw it cannot understand German, French, Spanish or Italian either! It also won’t give satnav routing instructions in those languages. When will car designers learn just how inconvenient and dangerous it is to have to take your eyes off the road to see where on a touch screen you have to tap an icon to go into a sub-menu to scroll through a page to adjust a setting.

I owned it from 2018 till 2023. I loved everything about it except the engine. It was a first model edition, so full of extras including air suspension, massage seats led lights etc. I use an suv to drive off road which it did perfectly for me, I never had to go on extreme trails. The 2 liter diesel however was a different story, it was loud, rough and eventually all of them seize. It is so bad that trading it in was a bit of an issue, some dealers won’t take anything in with that engine over here (Ireland) because they have to give a warranty on it, and their experience is so bad.

I don’t understand the “motoring press”. How can you have the brass balls to champion the Velar as a LUXURY SUV when it sits in the UK’s top 5 worse reliable vehicles? When you should be like Clarkson and tell JLR to sort their shit quality out. Kiss their arses is never going to sort out the reliability issues.

Great article, thank you. As much as I like the look I would never buy any model of landrover because of its reliability issues. Why do LR concentrate on building a reliable car rather than messing around with the buttons and stuff. They keep doing the same old things! Nice car let down by reliability… what a shame

You’ve got to be kidding me! Every other manufacturer is reacting to the backlash against everything being on a touchscreen, and re-implementing some functions back on to physical buttons/knobs/etc. Yet RR actually decide to plough on with this ridiculous practice, and make their interior functions WORSE! They were applauded for retaining the functional – and classy looking – knobs, when rivals were alienating customers by insisting they use touchscreens…… RR – WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???

This review neglects to mention insurance costs which takes away from all the theory about ‘good value’. Had a 2021 version from brand new. Not a single issue with it. I love it. But it’s about to cost £3500 to renew the insurance (cheapest quote), up from an equally ridiculous £2500, so it’s time to go 😭

The over reliance on touch screens in modern cars is currently my least favorite trend. Dedicated, physical buttons/dials are an absolute must. Especially for things like climate controls, driver assist features, turn signals, etc. Nobody likes swiping through unresponsive touch screens in the cold just so you can turn on your heated seats.

I honestly like the older versions exterior and infotainment system/ interior layout over the new car!! Just about every aspect of the pre facelifted car looks better in my opinion. It’s pretty crazy that they gave the Velar a facelift and update, yet somehow managed to make almost every aspect of the new car WORSE than the previous version of the car!!!!

I’ve had my Velar P250SE for 4 and a half years now. Drives beautifully, acceleration good. Once one issue with a stained roof lining was fixed at new. I have had absolutely no issues with this car. I was going to sell it at year 5 when the warranty expires but pretty sure I’ll keep it another 5. It’s so trouble free and it’ll be a few more years before the market improves on EVs and Hybrids.

I always liked RRs and still do, but the interior is a serious disappointment to me. The old one was cumbersome and slow (something the new gen does not seem to improve on) but it was way nicer and definitely classier, which let’s face it, RR is all about class. So much so, that had I been able to actually afford one, that could well end up being a dealbreaker for me. Just has that 90s budget car vibe to me.,

If you believe what other websites are spouting – you’ll struggle to get it insured in London. It also depreciates so much you’ll be regretting the purchase. I have a 2010 L322 Range Rover and I love it. But the newer cars are just like every new car, all the controls are on a screen. Please bring back knobs, switches and buttons.

Disappointed with the direction Land Rover has chosen to take with their future models. No rising gear selector, no electronically tilting dual screens, no 3D effect for the LED tail lights, no physical dials, full touchscreen climate controls, car settings buried deep in the touchscreen and more. This is clear and simple cost cutting by Land Rover. In my personal opinion the Velar has lost its “special” feeling which the original 2017 model exudes in abundance. There are no unique touches, no rotary dials which change based on the menu one is in, no Land Rover badge which opens a hidden cupholder, no screen which can be be adjusted for tilt angle. The sense of occasion has been irrevocably lost. Now it’s like any other car, with a huge iPad stuck onto the dash, which apart from being curved is not even integrated properly with the dashboard.

It’s a shame, so many car manufacturers are ruining the driving experience, by replacing the easy accessible controls and putting them into the infotainment screen. I am very pleased, I don’t have that problem with my Nissan Qashqai Tekna +. What I don’t have physical buttons and knobs for, voice activation takes care of. 🙂

I have a 240 D HSE. I hate the new interior which is just cost cutting by JLR. The previous arrangement was much better with the rotary gear selector rising up and the additional cup holder revealed but pressing the Land Rover button. If I have a criticism of my car it would be the weighting of the rotary dials on the lower screen .

Second most stolen car in the UK. Some insurance companies refusing to insure them. People have been quoted £25k to £35k a year to insure one. The luxury SUV’s desirability and high market value have made it a prime target for thieves seeking to make significant profits on the black market. Additionally, older models of the Range Rover are susceptible to keyless theft, a method used by thieves involving the use of devices that intercept and amplify signals from the owner’s key fob allowing them the freedom of entry.

Oh dear. Don’t get me wrong, Matt is right about it being a good looking car. But so is the new Dacia Duster, at £ 20,000! This is almost 3 times the price. That spring loaded gear selector sounded awful when Matt togged it forward and back . If someone is seriously considering one of these, £80,000 buys a veritable assortment of much better machinery . Still ; at least they’re reliable. 😂

Seriously… Why are car designers continually making to difficult just to control the internal temperature? It shouldn’t need you to look away from the road, let alone navigate a screen and repeatedly press up or down. It’s beyond belief that this kind of thing is still happening. Makes absolutely no sense. Just stick dials or physically buttons in.

The BIGGEST drawback with the new Velar is that center Console BS. The previous one was perfect with a good mix of button and screens. AND agree on the gear selector thing. I am in belief ALL automatics should be a dial. what is the point of making it look like a manual you touch the thing 4 times during a normal drive trip.

So all that money for a cheap and crappy, bland looking interior with no physical buttons. Ill stick with my Land Cruiser, way more better looking inside and easy to operate. Why oh why are manufacturers putting everything onto a touch screen, it is the most ridiculous idea ever. Please stop this and bring back the buttons and switches. I will never buy a car with this rubbish in it.

I don’t know why Land Rover keeps making these cars if they are almost all the same. Yes they have different equipments but is more of the same. There used to be a time when the name “Range Rover” meant Off Road-capable lux SUV. But now they all look like a Jaguar F-Pace and the 4×4 (real Off Road) features aren’t even worth to be added to these sport vehicles. Make a “Velar” make an Evoque or whatever… but leave the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport as REAL 4×4 semi Luxury rugged SUV’s, and make the Defender a really rugged country Offroader.

The first thing I thought when I saw the interior of this facelifted car was “Oh no, they ruined it!”. The interior of the old car was gorgeous. Now it just looks like you purchased the lowest spec car, you know, with the empty buttons and empty panels where on the more expensive models the heated seats and drive lane assist would be 😛 (yes, I know this car has all that, but not the buttons for it, right?)

@4:50 I have to agree with the terrible redesign. Apparently RR never ask the most basic question before making an update: How can we make driving easier? That means more efficient and simple to use. Having to go through a long list of options in an infotainment screen rather than a simple dedicated knob or switch makes the driving experience more complicated. Not easier. That design philosophy is exactly why I’d never own a Tesla. To all car manufacturers — please stop following Tesla’s unnatural and illogical design. At least RR is smart enough not to move the driver’s display to the screen as well. @12:30 There are a lot more than just 5 annoying thing about the Velar. This car is just riddled with annoyances and work around. Panel gaps and the need to have to walk around to lower the seats is something you expect to do on the very cheapest entry level SUVs. Not on a RR. So why on earth would somebody want to buy an S Utility V (let alone a luxury SUV) with so many compromises? Full pass. The one good thing that I’d appreciate is the noise cancelling stereo (wonder if it has sound deadening windows?). Since that would come in real handy on road where there’s a constant tire drone or engine sounds. One more thing, thinks for the vertigo.

Utilizing LCDs is not an issue, but having atrocious UI/UX is a major issue. This looks and sounds like a peasant version of “Range Rover”. The shift knob sounds flimsy and plasticky, the door bin sounds plasticky and feels flimsy, same as the glove box, the doors feel light and empty. I call this the “Tesla effect”. Manufacturers saw that people were ok paying ridiculous prices for poor quality materials and lackluster craftsmanship and this is what we get.

It often seems like car manufacturers are deliberately trying to make worse & worse cars, higher, heavier & more bulky, ever more expensive & out of reach of most people, with electric touch sensitive controls, automatic only gearboxes, crazy design features like those front wipers, no spare wheels, and smaller & smaller windows.

As my job was driving VIP’s in Europe my main car was the previous version hybrid. Hybrid range and cost is so much more than diesel but faster. The car air intake sensor failed at 3000km so went into limp mode. At night the interior lighting was awful and couldn’t really see anything. For €100000 I would rather put my money somewhere else unless the only thing you care about are the looks. All in all a good car but not worth the price tag.

All that interior updates are cost-cutting exercises. That dash is now considerably cheaper to manufacture, and to look at. The multi-touch capacitive fat buttons that are finding their way into numerous “upmarket” interiors are another example. It’s just one big button, with the components and mechanism of one big button. They’ve just added capacitive points on it which change the function of the big button depending on which area you touch. It looks and feels cheap because it is. A real shame. My suspicion is that they need to balance the books having poured a shit-ton of money into the development of the new Range Rover and their hybrid power-trains. The Velar in particular is due for a big update, so this is essentially this model’s swan-song. A shame it’s more of a rubber duck squeaking.

I really don’t like this car. The wheels are an ugly design and still look too small at 22’. And things such as the back windows not opening fully, not being able to push the back seats down from the boot, etc, etc. An oversight of poor design too far. As for the wipers, tonneau cover storage, 🚮 🚮 🚮 🚮 just get a Range Rover or Defender

I loved the older Velars. First of all the middle dash up in the front is not only empty but too wide. So wide that a big dude like me cannot fit properly and be comfortable. I am a built 1.96 m dude, not an obese monstrocity. Overall its a huge downgrade in interior design, and cabin space with this new iteration.

It always makes me wonder of car manufacturers do any customer surveys about what they like me don’t like. Obviously they don’t because they are doing away with manual controls and putting them in screens to control. This process must be saving thousands per car but this is never reflected in the car price. I really am unsure how the6 get away with this and why no law has been passed as it has with mobile phones. Surely this is even worse. Shame on Jaguar for doing this and all other manufacturers. Even Volvo have done this with the ex 30. Not even a driver speed screen. Think we all have Tesla to thank for this as they definitely never asked people want they want as they would never have taken away the indicator stalk of they had – or cared.

I wouldn’t want one. These Land Rovers have shocking reliability, dealers don’t want them if you try and trade one in, at the auctions no one wants them and they are getting stolen daily, and are becoming very very expensive to insure because of the thefts. I once owned a Range Rover and don’t get me wrong they look lovely but reliability was absolutely garbage, it spent most of its time in the garage having repairs, the build quality is so bad.