That's OK, nobody is force feeding this one down our throat the minute it launches.
To be perfectly honest, it took me a while - a long while - to warm to the design of the LR3 when it first came out in 2004. It definitely wasn't love at first sight, quite the opposite. At first I thought it looked weird with that funky ass and way too chunky and boxy all around, didn't like it one bit. I loved - lusted after would be more appropriate I guess - the 1st gen RRS when it came out the following year, so much so that I purchased the fully blinged-out model on display at my local dealership's showroom, chrome rims and all.
It was only after I started wheeling and seeing beefed up LR3s off road a few years later that a light bulb went off in my tiny little brain and I saw the beauty and uniqueness of this design. I would venture to say that the LR3/4 design managed to age even better than the original Sport I so loved (and still do.) But it's time to let go and realize the auto industry - Land Rover included - has moved on. I see what they are doing. They need a sleeker model with more mainstream appeal that doesn't just scream "utility and children / cargo room inside!" like to LR3 did, and I can't really see anything objectionable in the test mule above. Love it or hate it, it looks like a modern Land Rover. The LR4 looks like a relic - by comparison, that is.