Yahoo Autos 2024 Range Rover Velar revealed with tweaked styling, no-button minimalist interior
The 2024 Land Rover Range Rover Velar is getting a thorough refresh, and while it may not look totally different on the outside, that’s not the whole story.
Starting with the mechanicals, the revised Velar pairs a new eight-speed automatic transmission with its base 2.0-liter turbocharged four cylinder engine that Land Rover says is smoother shifting than the outgoing eight-speed. This P250 model produces 247 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque. The 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six mild-hybrid powertrain introduced a couple of years ago carries forward with the same 395 horsepower and 405 pound-feet of torque. The lower-power version (335 horses) of this same powertrain is dropped from the lineup.
Where the real change occurs is on the Velar’s interior. Everything, for better or worse, revolves around the new 11.4-inch curved glass infotainment system that sits proudly in the waterfall center stack. Look around, and you won’t find any buttons, knobs or dials — Land Rover even did away with its funky push/pull climate controls. All of the vehicle’s controls are now found within the infotainment screen, which runs a new version of Land Rover’s Pivi Pro software — it supports wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, over-the-air software updates and Amazon Alexa-based voice command intelligence. New sidebars in the screen keep quick controls for often-used settings like climate, heated seats and audio volume within permanent reach. Land Rover says there’s a start-up screen that will prompt you to turn on the defrosters or heated seats every time you hop in the car, too. We’ll need to spend time testing this new system to see if it works well, but in general, we’ve found an over-reliance on touchscreen controls to be a big step backwards for ease of use.
