THE Land Rover Discovery certainly deserves its reputation as the ultimate all-purpose vehicle with over 1,100,000 retail sales and 219 international awards since its launch in 1989.

But it has another string to its bow and that is pure unashamed luxury as proven by a spell at the wheel of its flagship model, the HSE Luxury which is in the front runners of the big boys of 4x4 motoring in terms of pure driving enjoyment.

Its pricetag of £59,965 says that you get an awful lot with this 4x4 but there are extras and one in particular, costing £1,000 is definitely worth the outlay.

This is the Vision assist pack which includes xenon adaptive front headlamps with automatic high beam assist plus cornering lamps, surround camera system with approach lamps and tow hitch assist.

This proves its worth on winding roads when the level of enhanced lighting makes a massive difference and the auto dim headlamps make for some very stress-free driving.

Another option of note is the £750 Exterior Detection Pack which includes blind-spot monitoring, closing vehicle sensors, reverse traffic detection and wade sensing.

On the road the top Discovery is a mean performer with 112mph on tap and a surprisingly quick 0-60mph sprint of 8.8 seconds with the 3.0-litre SDV6 255bhp turbo diesel working full blast via the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission.

You might expect this all-wheel-drive whopper to a guzzler, but in truth it is not with a combined mpg readout of 35.3mpg. In everyday use it was still returning well over the 30mpg mark which is excellent for a vehicle of this type.

In truth, it is not far behind the Range Rover in terms of creature comforts and is certainly impressive in terms of breadth of capability and versatility attributes.

A true seven-seater with stadium seating and the capacity to carry gear in a variety of configurations, the Discovery adapts to suit any occasion and any terrain with ease.

It encompasses the latest Land Rover terrain mode system which endows capability over surfaces including rocks, snow and sand, plus the ability to wade through 700mm of water.

The Discovery is going through a renaissance with the introduction of SE and SE Tech models alongside existing HSE and HSE Luxury derivatives. There is also an increased level of personalisation with new exterior colours.