We drove an all-new $90,000 Range Rover Velar SUV to see if it has what it takes to challenge Mercedes and BMW. Here's the verdict.

The Range Rover Velar debuted during the 2018 model year as the latest addition to Land Rover 's Range Rover family of luxury SUVs .
The Range Rover Velar is available with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a supercharged V6, and a turbo diesel o ur Velar R-Dynamic HSE test car came with a 3.0 liter, 380 horsepower supercharged V6.
In the marketplace, the midsize Velar competes against established rivals like the BMW X5 and the Mercedes-Benz GLE.
The 2019 Range Rover Velar starts at $49,950 while our option laden 2018-model-year test car carried an as-tested price of $90,170.
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For much of its life, Range Rover was about its tall rugged stance and squared off edges.

But what may have started life as a no-nonsense Land Rover with an extra dose of civility, has now spawned into a family of sleek luxury SUVs.

Range Rover is one of three families of vehicles that live under the Land Rover corporate umbrella. The other two are Discovery and the temporarily dormant Defender.

These days, Range Rover is sleek, sexy, and stylish. While it may be perfectly comfortable slogging through the jungles of Borneo, its look is decidedly more Beverly Hills boutique.

The latest addition to the Range Rover clan is the midsize Velar.

Read more : The 10 best cars of 2019 .

The Velar may be a brand new model but its name dates back to the very beginning of Range Rover's existence.

In the late 1960s, Land Rover used to the Velar moniker on its secret Range Rover prototypes to keep prying eyes at bay. Nearly five decades later, it reappears as a standalone model.

Recently, Jaguar Land Rover lent us a top-of-the-line 2018 Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic HSE in Byron Blue. The base Velar starts at $49,900 while our V6-powered R-Dynamic HSE started at $77,100. (The 2019 Velar's base price has increased slightly to $49,950.) Options and fees pushed our test car's as-tested price to a lofty $90,170.

Let's take a closer look:

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