2005 Land Rover LR3 Preview

On the Road Past Discovery

Land Rover's new LR3, the replacement for the long-running Discovery, intrigues me more than most other new vehicle

Land Rover's new LR3, intrigues me more than most other new vehicle entries. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

entries. Why so, you say? It's actually one I would seriously consider purchasing. I don't mean a, "That wouldn't that be nice if..." consideration, but rather an "If they get this one right I'll lay down some real money..." kind of thought process.

So when it was introduced in New York in April of this year I spent a great deal of time snooping around the Land Rover stand. Fortunately for me the place was buzzing with heavy hitters, like the designer manager Andy Wheel, chief program engineer Steven Haywood and manager of vehicle engineering Doug Hervey.

I had nothing but accolades to give Andy Wheel, as I particularly love the new sheetmetal. It takes all that was good about the old Discover and melds it together with the new Range Rover, which is plenty good already. To me, there's no better looking sport utility vehicle, and the fact that this one can be used to take on the wild unknown, something I thoroughly enjoy to do, makes its utilitarian exterior design all the more intriguing.

I parked myself inside with Andy in tow, and continued to express my enthusiasm for the general layout and styling

To me, there's no better looking sport utility vehicle than the very capable Land Rover LR3. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

details. It's a great looking cabin, once again carrying forward an almost military-like starkness, but of course finished in much higher grade materials than olive drab clad ground forces could ever hope to enjoy.

But I'm not military issue, nowhere near tough enough, and unfortunately after living large for much too long, I've developed a rather snobbish penchant for perfection in everything that I buy. Tap, tap tapping the plastic surfaces inside the cabin, in my usual highly annoying way, I sighed in obvious disgust, Andy looking on in horror. I looked at him and said, "All this work to make it look fabulous and the beancounters wasted your efforts with cheap, sub-grade plastics?"