Land Rover Discovery

A quarter of a century ago, the Land Rover Discovery defined at a stroke how traditional 4 x 4 all-terrain ability could co-exist with family-estate practicality at an affordable price. Since 1989, the Discovery has gone through several iterations, but its essential qualities have remained unchanged. Practical, capable, and above all completely distinctive - the stepped roof seemed odd at first but now defines the Discovery shape - the Discovery has gone on to become one of Land Rover's best-loved products. Land Rover Discovery - 25 Years of the Family 4 x 4 looks in detail at the four generations of Discovery, including full specification details and production histories. Topics covered include the design and development of the original Discovery in the late 1980s, and the move into North America; the new 300Tdi engine and R380 gearbox of 1994, and the BMW takeover; Series II models of 1998-2004, and Land Rover's move from BMW to Ford; Discovery 3/'LR3' - 2004-2009, and the new TDV6 engine, developed by Jaguar; Discovery 4/'LR4' - the all-purpose family luxury car; special editions and derivatives of all four generations of Discovery, including Discoverys for the emergency services and the Camel Trophy and G4 Challenge competition vehicles. Superbly illustrated with 351 colour photographs.

James Taylor has been writing professionally about cars since the late 1970s, but his specialism has always been the products of the old Rover company and of the Land Rover company that grew out of it. He has written for specialist Land Rover magazines both at home and abroad, and was the editor of one of them for ten years. He has acted as a consultant to Land Rover itself and is widely acknowledged as the pre-eminent historian of the marque. James has written more than one hundred books in all, and among them have been several definitive one-make or one-model titles for Crowood. He has also written for classic vehicle magazines in several countries, has translated from foreign languages, and delivers effective writing training in both the public and private sectors.