As you walk up to the Rover, the first impression is of heft. I think that is a better word than 'bulk' because it does not feel overblown and vast, just that it is a car of substance. You approach it with the roof at chin level and anyone close to five feet tall would struggle to see over the top. It gives you a very different impression to something like a Jaguar XJ6 or a Ford MkIV Zodiac which can both also be described with considerable justification as substantial cars, but they are all about acreage with huge nearhorizontal panels whereas the Rover majors on height.
This is not just a quirk of styling, because the figures bear out that initial impression – the Rover is shorter and narrower than either the Ford or the Jaguar, but 10cm taller than the Zodiac and a whopping 24cm higher than the XJ6. Of course, both the Ford and the Jaguar were of a later generation and showed the way that car design was going. Compare the Rover's proportions to something like the Austin A70 (1948-1954) and you'll find the Austin was considerably shorter and very slightly wider than the Rover, but a full 10cm taller. Other offerings had similar proportions to the Rover, the Mk2 Zodiacs for example (1956-1962) being just 1cm lower in Highline form.
Yet that is not what your eyes are telling your brain – the shape of the Rover can easily fool you into thinking it is narrow and tall, while the long 111in/281.9cm wheelbase seems to stretch its length. The overarching impression is of high sides and shallow windows
