A vehicle control apparatus includes a learning control portion configured to execute a learning control operation, and to limit a learning value obtained through the learning control operation, by a guard value, and an update control portion configured to obtain a new guard value from an external device, and to update the guard value to the new guard value. The update control portion limits the learning value by the new guard value, prior to execution of the learning control operation, such that the learning value is rewritten, by the update control portion, to a value within a new guard-value range defined by the new guard value in a case in which the learning value is deviated from the new guard-value range, and such that the learning value is kept unchanged by the update control portion in a case in which the learning value is within the new guard-value range.