09 May 07
'This is pure product design, rather than fancy automotive styling' considers Land Rover design director Geoff Upex. 'You won't confuse this vehicle with anything else.'
Well, I beg to differ. At first glance, our Discovery 3 TDV6 HSE might easily be mistaken for the box it came in.
And hoorah for that. Because, for reasons I still can't quite put my finger on, I absolutely love the styling of the third generation Disco& The bows, complete with trademark clamshell bonnet, are gloriously pugnacious and every inch as imposing as the business end of an Amtrak diesel engine.
The slab-sided architecture of the car's flanks is a masterpiece of understatement; an acreage the envy of any agricultural smallholder reinforced through the artful interruption of the waistline crease as it passes through the door panels. The seamless flow of the rearmost side window glazing up onto the roof is a perfectly judged doffing of cap to the two-step roofline design of the Discovery 3's predecessor. And I even enjoy the whiff of whimsy which went into interrupting the horizontal split of the tailgate with an unexpected and precipitous hillclimb two thirds of the way across.
Perched on 19" alloys, the HSE is a massive car. Though over 12" shorter than the Mercedes R-Class it replaces, the Disco' is wider and taller and, thanks to that blocky, Jenga architecture, seems to occupy even more space on our diminutive drive.
And I mention the R-Class because, in terms of accommodation, the two do bear comparison: Though marginally more expensive than the V6 diesel Mercedes at £43,715, the standard HSE specification already equips the Disco with most of the toys that bumped the total price of the R-Class up to a substantial £49,530. Whereas this HSE comes with just £1,500 worth of extras.
