Land Rover LR3 dimensions

The Discovery (now known in North America as the Land Rover LR3) is a convenient 4x4 car (SUV in American-english) from Land Rover which is now owned by Ford. There have been three generations of the car, which is somewhat less expensive than the company's top Range Rover model. The Discovery was presented in the late 1980s and is the most well-known model of Land Rover. It is not as utilitarian as the Defender, but it is very competent off road.

On 2 April 2004, owners Ford Motor Company presented a new Discovery 3 (or Land Rover LR3 in the US) for the 2005 model year.

The Series II Discovery was long over-due for replacement. Although still a capable and well-known car, its chassis, coil-spring suspension and beam-axle design had changed very little since the release of the original Discovery in 1989. In turn, that car used essentially the same underpinnings as the original Range Rover, launched in 1970. The Discovery II was beginning to lose sales to more sophisticated 'working' 4x4 cars from Japan (such as the Toyota Land Cruiser and Mitsubishi Shogun) and 'sports' 4x4s from Europe (such as the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz M-class). A replacement car had been planned for many years, but the project had been delayed many times thanks to the break up of the Rover Group in 2000 and the need to replace the Range Rover in 2001.