Silver Land Rover Discovery Rental in Los Angeles

Silver suits the Discovery because the car is honest about being a box. The stepped roofline, the tall glass and the squared rear are all functional decisions, and a bright finish presents them as design rather than hiding them — which is what a dark colour does to this shape, turning it into a large anonymous mass.

It is also the sensible finish for a car that will spend a day on a dirt road and an evening at a hotel. Silver carries pale dust without looking neglected, keeps the cabin cool through an afternoon at a trailhead, and looks entirely correct in both settings. This is the fleet's family-and-adventure car, and this is the colour for it.

The Discovery is the Land Rover bought by people who actually use one. It seats seven with a third row an adult fits in, the second and third rows fold electrically from a button in the boot, and air suspension lets the whole car kneel at the kerb so nobody has to climb. On the freeway it is quiet and settled; on a graded dirt road to a trailhead it is in a different league from anything else in this fleet at the price.

The detail that gives it away is the roofline, which steps up over the rear seats — a Land Rover signature since the 1980s and the reason the third row has headroom that most seven-seaters do not.

Honest hook: it is tall and it is not quick. It is bought for space and capability, and it delivers both without pretending to be sporting.