We’ve spent just over two months with our long-term Land Rover Discovery 5. Is it the perfect workhorse for Chasing the Cult of Machine?
The Land Rover Discovery 5 isn’t trying to be overly glamorous. It’s not trying to break Nürburgring lap records or rearrange the occupants’ insides with its handling and acceleration figures that are nowhere near usable on the road.
It doesn’t attempt to make any grandiose statements with loud exhausts or lurid colours, and unlike its German rivals, its classlessness means it looks as at home covered in dirt on a farm as it does outside an alpine lodge.
What the Discovery 5 does most of all is graft. We’ve had ours for just over two months so far, and it’s been an endlessly pleasant companion with which to chase the #cultofmachine. We’ve had some horrendously early starts ahead of long drives through wintry weather and the Disco has been ready and waiting to be loaded up with people, gear, coffees and the occasional enthusiastic dog.
On a long motorway haul, the turbodiesel V6 chunters away quietly and relatively frugally as heated seats provide a refuge from the conditions at this time of year. The Meridian sound system has proven a real treat, especially for photographer Jack and his penchant for extremely bass-heavy music, much to everyone else’s delight.
Out in the field, it’s functioned as a base of operations, a mobile office, an occasional changing room and then, of course, as a sealed-off cocoon of comfort to look forward to at the end of the day as the temperature drops and the darkness draws in.
Then, of course, there’s the reason these cars are such popular workhorses amongst filming and photography crews. Big windows, a smooth ride and two rows of rear seats that can be flattened to allow a harnessed-up photographer to lie prone in the boot have allowed us to get some of the tracking shots you might have seen popping up across our social media and website.
Everyone at C&M that’s spent any time with the Disco has come away enamoured with the way it combines luxury and utility into one deeply appealing package. It’ll never blow anyone away with performance figures, or move the automotive industry into its next chapter, but very few cars can offer the warm glow of respite and relaxation that it does. We’ll be very sad indeed when it goes home to Land Rover next month.
