Happy birthday, Discovery
IN the month that we celebrate 30 years of the incredible Discovery, allow me to take this opportunity to reflect. The first Land Rover story that I covered was the African leg of the inaugural Land Rover G4 Challenge. As journos we were ferried about in Discovery 2s, wild camping our way along the touristy Garden Route. It was an adventure of epic proportions, a week of Land Rover overload. I was hooked and that it is how my Land Rover story began. Thanks to the Discovery 2 it is a story that has gone on for over 15 years now and will hopefully continue for another 15, and then some.
While most of the Land Rovers that I have owned have been Defenders, I did have a Discovery 2 for a while and would love a solid Discovery 1. I think they might be the next big thing and have someone looking out for one for me in South Africa.
I was a guest of Land Rover at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed where we got to drive several historic Discoverys as part of their 30th
birthday celebrations. There was a 2008 G4 Discovery 3 that was supposed to be used on the cancelled Mongolian event. Incredibly it has done less than 10,000 miles and so I took it for a drive, of course. This was followed by a drive of the first off the line Discovery 1. Its 200Tdi engine has only just completed a thousand miles and the D1 was in perfect condition.
There was also a heavily-disguised prototype of the new Defender on the JLR stand. Many say it looks like a D4 and with the latest version of the Discovery looking more Range Rover-like, is that a bad thing? Most people love the D4. I am sure that once we see it without camo on, it will have loads of design cues that pay homage to the old Defender. Time will tell.
So when you are next sitting around the campfire please raise your glass and toast all that is great about the Discovery. It does not matter which one you own or admire as they have all been nothing short of incredible. Patrick Cruywagen Editor