Next to the Defender, the Discovery is Land Rover’s second oldest nameplate with a history that started way back in 1989. To date, there have been five generations, the latest one being the one you see here. Its engineering brief stays true to its origins—it is an uncompromising off-roader with all the terrain conquering tech (and specs) you could think of. But given that the most discovering “Disco” owners do involves searching for space in a muddy car park, other factors start to come into play. And given the intense competition from Germany in the form of the Audi Q7, BMW X7, and Mercedes-Benz GLS, it has a lot to prove.

Looks-wise, there’s no mistaking the Discovery for anything else but a Land Rover. The casual observer may have a hard time telling this apart from a Range Rover (let alone its place in the somewhat convoluted Land Rover naming convention), but the fact of the mater is: it is unashamedly massive. It makes no attempt to hide its bulk; it celebrates it even. The slab sides and massively tall stance make it look like a road-going brick. It is so big that even the optional 22-inch alloys just look right peeking out of those massive wheel wells.

Of course, the Discovery isn’t immune from design controversy, and here, it comes in the form of the offset rear number plate placement. Supposedly, it harks back to the days when a tailgate-mounted spare tire necessitated that design. And while it’s nice and all for Land Rover to wax a bit of nostalgia, the execution makes it look like someone just forgot to hit center on whatever CAD software Land Rover uses.

Climbing aboard the Discovery is an event in itself. Even if the suspension automatically goes down to greet passengers, a 170-cm, slightly pudgy motoring journalist will still require a small hop to get onboard. The doors are quite hefty and this leaves an impression of solidity. Then, there’s the driving position. Land Rover calls it Command Driving Position and that leaves you perched higher up than anything else on the market. Ultimately, this lends unparalleled visibility, though its sheer size means the rear window does seem to be in a different zip code.

The Discovery’s dashboard design is a clear echo of its clean, simplified exterior. For the sake of modern luxury, there’s a deliberate shift away from physical knobs and controls. For the most part, it has worked, but that’s mainly because Land Rover designed the interface to be used when you’re wearing gloves. It must be said that it takes deliberate action to get it to work smoothly (it’s the same with most, if not all, of the Disco’s electronic functions). Climate control aside, everything else—from smartphone integration, navigation, and vehicle settings—is controlled by the Pivi Pro touchscreen. Its generous 11.4-inch size makes jabbing the icons you’re aiming at easier, but it still requires to take your eyes off for a split-second. The OS itself is snappy and the graphics sharp.

Although the minimalist ambience may border on the bleak for some, the use of light-colored leather brightens the atmosphere. It’s a great place to spend countless hours in. It doesn’t matter what size or shape you are, there’s plenty of room to spare. Even better, the interior storage space is unrivaled; you can probably lose children and small dogs somewhere in here. You can fit a one-liter bottle in each door pocket and up to four iPads in the deep pocket between the front seats. Then, there’s an ingenious compartment in the middle of the dashboard. Push a button, and the climate control folds down revealing a hiding place for a phone or wallet. There are even two glove boxes too, probably because you need space for each glove. It’s a bit overkill, but better to have excess storage space than too little of it. The Philippine market gets five seats (the seven-seater option’s been dropped), and in this spec, the cargo hold is just huge. If there’s one complaint is that the rear seats only fold in a 60/40 split (as opposed to a 40/20/40), and the electric mechanism takes its sweet time to move.

When it comes to motivating the Discovery’s 2,223-kilogram frame, you would think that there’s a diesel under the hood, right? As the P300, that’s not the case. Instead, it uses a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine. If that seems like a small heart for such a large, athletic body, don’t worry. On paper alone, it serves up 300 horsepower and 400 Nm of torque, solid figures no matter how you put it. Land Rover quotes a 0 to 100 km/h time of just 7.3 seconds and a top speed in excess of 200 km/h. In reality, it’s even better. With a responsive 8-speed automatic along for the ride, there’s no need to fully uncork the engine because peak pulling power arrives at just 1,500 rpm and stays put until 4,500 rpm. This kind of prod-and-go performance means every single horse has to be accounted for, and for that, it’s best to load it up with the country’s highest octane fuel, Petron Blaze 100.

Of course, this surprisingly good level of performance does have a trade-off, and that’s in the form of fuel economy. Although people would wager that Discovery owners wouldn’t care about fuel bills, the 5.52 km/L (average speed of 16 km/h), can still cause unforeseen bankruptcy. Unfashionable as it may seem, clearly the Discovery could use either diesel or maybe hybrid power.

While the Discovery is fast in a straight line, it doesn’t mean it’s a sporty SUV. Far from it. Yes, you can steer it through corners with confidence, but it is not eager to change direction. The electronic doodads can only work so far to combat the laws of physics so it will feel cumbersome through tight twists and turns. There’s also some noticeable brake dive too. Instead, it’s happiest on expressways where it’s gorgeously stable and refined. A road-going private jet is probably the best way to describe it.

The Defender may be the hottest Land Rover at present, but unless you’re looking for something with better mud-plugging skills, your needs are 99 percent met by the Discovery. The Land Rover Discovery may not turn heads as much as its hipper brother, but it’s just as good and effortless. In the brand hierarchy, the Discovery is the highest positioned Land Rover. In short, it’s just a hop, skip, and a stone’s throw away from a full-fledged Range Rover. With that, it can do almost any job you ask of it (and more) without having to comparatively break the bank.