After all the talk and all the hype, after the parties and the grand unveiling in New York, and the book with which this magazine documented its genesis, our first encounter with a Land Rover Discovery 3 we could actually drive was simple to the point of starkness.

We arrived at Land Rover’s Gaydon headquarters at midnight. Our silver test car was parked alone by the gatehouse under a single sodium light. The security guard gave us the keys; there were no engineers or public relations men explaining it all, saying the right things. No talk now. Just answers.

We know that you’re desperate to read about how the thing drives. But it’s worth waiting a paragraph to recall why that judgment is so important, and why the launch of the Discovery 3 is generating the talk it is. This one car encapsulates the history and future of Ford’s relationship with Land Rover.

Within a month of Ford buying the firm from BMW, work started on the T5 platform on which this car is built and which will give foundation to four cars: this one, the new Range Rover Sport, the new Defender and probably the next Range Rover, too. The car will tell us if Ford has understood Land Rover; its sales will tell Ford if the $2.7bn (£1.5bn) it paid for Land Rover was a wise investment.