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Russians Show Range Rover Velar Door Handle Doesn't Work When Covered in Ice

A couple of days ago, the pop-out washers from the front bumper of my car froze open. This is nothing that strange or bothersome, but what if your door handles also popped out like that?
Russians Show Range Rover Velar Door Handle Doesn't Work When Covered in Ice 5 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
Russians Show Range Rover Velar Door Handle Doesn't Work When Covered in IceRussians Show Range Rover Velar Door Handle Doesn't Work When Covered in IceRussians Show Range Rover Velar Door Handle Doesn't Work When Covered in IceRussians Show Range Rover Velar Door Handle Doesn't Work When Covered in Ice
The Range Rover Velar is, in our book, way sexier than the BMW X6 and GLE Coupe. However, it veers away from what a Range Rover is and what it's supposed to do. The brand started out offering comfort in combination with unbeatable ruggedness and off-road capabilities. But the company stripped more and more of that away because its customers just wanted cool SUVs.

So we now have Range Rovers with carbon fiber hoods, all-digital dashboards and flush-fitting door handles, just like on a Tesla. You know how much trouble Model S owners had in the cold, so we're not surprised the Velar's armor has a few holes too.

Naturally, it's the Russians that put technology like this to the test because their extreme conditions merit having an SUV, unlike Hollywood celebs. In any case, this reviewer says that during the Velar's early launch, he asked an engineer if the door handles would work in the winter.

He assured the man that tests have been carried out where it was shown the mechanism was strong enough to bust through 4mm of ice. I don't live in Russia, but even I know 4mm can easily be exceeded at least a couple of times a year.

So here's a crude but effective test involving water being sprayed onto the handles. They fail to pop out at about 8mm of ice. Normal ones might still work, but here, there's nothing to grab and pull, so the man taps the ice to crack it.

Now, we aren't saying this is a bad car or anything, but we'd imagine many owners will have this problem over the lifestyle of the model, and this pop-out handle has already been adopted by the Evoque. Will the big Range Rover do the same?

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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