Land Rover adds extra choice to Range Rover Velar range

The Range Rover Velar range has been broadened with a new diesel engine and there's a new steering assist option to take the effort out of motorway driving.

Awarded the World Car Design of the Year crown at the World Car Awards earlier this year, the Velar fits between the compact Evoque and full-size Range Rover in the booming SUV class.

The new addition to the line-up – a 271bhp D275 3.0-litre diesel engine – means you can now buy a V6 diesel Velar for under £50,000 for the first time. At the same time, value is enhanced by a number of new standard features, such as a rear parking camera and parking sensors all round, as well as emergency braking and lane-keeping assistance.

There's an expanded range of optional driver-assistance systems, too, chief among which is adaptive cruise control with steering assistance. Operating up to 112mph, steering assistance helps you to stay in your lane on the move, while the adaptive cruise control is able to bring the car to a complete halt and then move off again in stop-start traffic. At the other end of the speed scale, high-speed emergency braking operates at up to 99mph, can detect an imminent collision before alerting you and will automatically applying the brakes if you don't intervene in response.

Adaptive Dynamics – a system that constantly monitors wheel and body movements and makes suspension adjustments accordingly – can be added to several models. Land Rover promises that the system "optimises" suspension stiffness for the prevailing driving conditions to the benefit of ride comfort and handling, as well as off-road prowess. Meanwhile, air suspension is now available on all V6 models, as well as the four-cylinder 296bhp P300 petrol and 237bhp D240 diesel, bringing increased comfort and all-terrain agility over the conventional suspension fitted as standard.

There's also a wider choice of interior finishes across the range and four-cylinder petrol models now have a larger 82-litre fuel tank, compared to the 63-litre tank fitted previously. Petrol engines also now have particulate filters to remove fine particles from exhaust emissions.

The Velar starts at £44,735 for the 178bhp D180 diesel, rising to £50,990 for the 296bhp P300 petrol.