When I first started writing about cars more than 10 years ago, the idea of spending a week in a Range Rover seemed about as unattainable as spending a week on a yacht; it was an almost unimaginable luxury. But a decade ago, there was barely such a thing as a “compact” SUV; big cars were either bland suburban people-movers or, like the Range Rover, luxury picnic machines that could also drive up a mountain. Now, you have a lot of choices.

The flagship Range Rover has long been a standard vehicle for a posh family weekend. Somewhere along the way, Land Rover introduced the Evoque, which was kind of zippy and an early contender in the small SUV segment. In 2017, the Velar appeared, a kind of middle ground between the Range Rover Sport, which is just one notch down from the Range Rover, and the Evoque. Earlier this month, I finally got a chance to drive a Velar for a week. And it definitely is middling.

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The driving........

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