The strongest Range Rover Velar doesn't wear an SVR-badge, only an "SVAutobiography Dynamic"-badge. The well-known supercharged 5.0-liter V8 in the crazy beautiful shell of the Velar, seems legit.

One day at a meeting of the big boys at Range Rover, a proposal to drop one of the greatest engines in the world -the supercharged 5.0-liter V8- in the beautiful Velar was approved. God, thank you for that day! Should you sell your home for this awesome piece of British class?

Need to convince the wife? (or husband)

You can't race a house, but you can sleep in the Velar.
You can live everywhere you want, you just drive to the place. A house in one place only.
There's enough space in the boot to do Yoga.
If the engine is hot enough, you can boil an egg on it and even more!
The front seats got massage, heating and cooling. Also, they are of a higher quality than the one in your living.
I don't have a radio at home, but I do have one in the Velar.
...

Supercharged 5.0-liter V8

We can't promise this was the last time we mentioned that engine. It also deserves to be mentioned more than one, two, three times and even more than that. In the Range Rover Velar SVAD, the supercharged 5.0-liter V8 produces 550 hp and 680 Nm of torque and catapults the "2-ton weighing" Velar in 4,5 seconds to a speed of 100 km/h with a lot of eargasm-noise. But then you notice, the burble can get even louder with the push of a "button".

Putting that in perspective. The Range Rover Sport SVR gets the same engine, but with 25 hp and 20 Nm more. It also hits 100 km/h in 4,5 seconds with even more noise -according to Ward. The Sport SVR tops-out at 280 km/h, being 6 km/h faster than the Velar. The Jaguar F-Type R also uses the same engine with the same power output as the Sport SVR and needs 3.9 seconds to fly past 100 km/h up to a speed of 300 km/h. In a zero to 100 km/h sprint, the Velar would keep up with an Alfa Romeo 4C, an Alpine A110 and Porsche Cayman S. Pretty impressive if you tell me.

And then we hit a corner and the three little sports cars shoot away. What did you expect from a 2-ton Velar?! We have to admit the fact that the chassis went around the corner in a better way then we expected. In the most dynamic setting, the car really stays flat in the corner (for the size). Thank you awesome suspension! The brakes could have given us some more STOP!-power and confidence, but it's okay after your first seizure when the tree came pretty close. But let's be honest, you don't buy a Velar SVAD to hit your local racetrack. You take it to the autobahn, go really fast and really comfortable for a long time and destroy the ego of a few Porsche-drivers. You didn't expect that Mister Porsche 997 GTS, did you?!

The cruising around on a sea of torque makes the car your ideal companion for long trips. Combine that with the luxurious seats and the silky sweet -but still fast enough- 8-speed automatic gearbox, you have a winner on your hands. Then the painful part, we averaged 15,7L/100km. We can be blamed for a part of that. But in the most "ECO"-setting (a really bad name for that "button") with cruise control -an adaptive one- on the freeway at 120 km/h, the Range Rover Velar SVAD will average 10,2L/100km.

Classic beauty

Some cars need a lot of "Bling Bling" to make your heart beat faster. The Range Rover Velar makes your heart skip a beat just by looking at it. The Velar SVAD isn't inferior, the classic beauty gets a more powerful addition. Think Scarlett Johansson and quite a few squats, get the picture?

If you dip that bodywork in an "SVO Premium Palette Grey"-paint, you will get this awesome exterior! The disappearing door handles, the black details, the gloss dark grey 21-inch rims, the subtle lines, the blinded windows and the cool daytime running lights from the matrix/laser headlights with intelligent high beam! IT JUST WORKS! ALWAYS DO IT!

Do we like everything about the Range Rover Velar SVAD? No, those square ornamental exhausts are a no-go. Why don't they do it like the Jaguar F-Pace SVR? Ow, that's another car with the same engine.

Luxury with an extra portion luxury

Opening the lovely door and inhaling that pure British class. Leather, some more leather and … wrong!!!! Alcantara and that on the roof, pretty fancy. The perforated Ebony/Vintage Tan Windsor leather wraps the electric, heated, cooled and massaged seats. A pleasure to leave your butt and take in the solid steer, head-up display and one, two, three digital screens. It's a beautiful place to be in, both as a driver and passenger.

Passengers can enjoy a sea of space, you really don't need anymore. That means enough space for the car seat for the smallest member of the family. Could it be? The perfect family car? With a trunk of 558 liters, you can move the travel bed and pram to your second home in the south of France.

But not all is well on the inside of the Velar. A good stereo system and digital screens that react instantly -still no problem- but the navigation system doesn't always do the job. Searching for a location, in particular, can cause problems and what is the one thing a navigation system has to do? Yes, enough said.

Conclusion

"There's no replacement for displacement", the perfect summary of the car. If you want to buy the car, you will need to sell your house cause it's more then 130.000 euros in Belgium. Let's be honest, it's a lot of money! We would definitely buy one if we could and this car will have a spot in our ultimate "five-car garage".

Fun-facts

Engine

5.0 L Supercharged V8

Power

550 hp

Torque

680 Nm

Tested highway consumption

10,5l/100km

Overall tested consumption

15,2l/100km (my fault)

Base price (BE)

112.950 €

Price as tested (BE)

131.000 €

Range Rover Velar SVAD, sell your house!