"I'd like to thank Siemens, Ford, PSA, an', of course, Bosch - how ya doin' Bo? - an' all the production staff, an' the designers, an' the cost accountants - don't ya just luvvem? - an' the Lord Jesus, an' my therapist, an' my mom and dad, an' the wife.......of the finance director - only kiddin' Bob!"
Whoever has to make the acceptance speeches on behalf of Land Rover must be sick and tired of the Discovery 3. In the few short years since the Disco 3's launch, it has picked up no less than 96 awards: awards for design, for engineering, for not being cheap.... If there's an automotive Oscar up for grabs, you can bet someone, somewhere has nominated the Disco.
But now, of course, the whole company is up for grabs, and if certain people get their way, two or three months from now the Disco 3 could be sporting a Tata badge and delighting the soccer mums in Delhi and Darjeeling.
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the Discovery remains quintessentially British |
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Meanwhile, the Discovery remains quintessentially British, and quintessentially Land Rover. Built to climb every mountain and ford every stream, it is nonetheless as stately as a galleon and closer than ever to a Range Rover, from which it has inherited more than just its switchgear.
The Discovery began life in the 1980s as 'Project Jay': a hasty response to the rising popularity of Japanese off-roaders such as the Isuzu Trooper and Mitsubishi Shogun, which were beginning to fill the gap between the utilitarian Land Rover 110 (later, Defender) and the ultimate toff's tractor, the V8 Range Rover.
Given the financial constraints of the times, the Disco had to incorporate key elements of the Range Rover's architecture, such as the A-pillars, door openings and windscreen. In the circumstances, it is remarkable that the Disco succeeded in looking quite different from its donor car. And it still looks different - three generations later - although now more than ever it's a case of being the same only different. Anyone downscaling from a Range Rover to a Discovery 3 would hardly be slumming it.
The range-topping TDV6 HSE with seven seats (as tested) tips the scales at £44,535, which just a few years' ago would have bought you a flagship Range Rover. And that price is without extras, which are so numerous that they fill a 36-page catalogue.
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