It’s the Velar’s interior that’s had the most attention as part of its mid-life update. Having originally come along before JLR started to roll out its latest Pivi Pro touchscreen infotainment system on cars like the Defender, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, the Velar now becomes the first JLR product with a new-generation Pivi Pro console that takes in even more functionality than previously.
Within its various menu screens, the system integrates the car’s climate control console, audio system controls and its terrain response controls – and that, in turn, has allowed another major paring down and tidying up of the Velar’s transmission tunnel design.
However, the end result, while sleek, looks sparse to the point of bareness. The old car’s physical volume knob and ventilation temperature controls have been junked and the secondary touchscreen panel, of which they used to be part, disposed of entirely, replaced by a storage area and wireless phone charger.
The upshot, rather predictably, is some unwelcome complication of the Velar’s human-machine interface - although a sensible home screen design for the infotainment system, with useful permanent shortcuts along its lateral extremes, mitigates the fallout. You can hop between climate control, navigation, audio system and other menus easily, with one prod of your finger; and 80% of the inputs you’ll need, claims Land Rover, are the work of only two prods.