[Karan_n8]

I was in the market for an SUV before the lockdown. Took a TD of the Fortuner and man was I majorly disappointed. For me, the experience of sitting inside a car and driving it is primary and when I learnt we would have to shell about 43 big ones, I couldn't help but ask the SA why aren't you guys adding the bells and whistles one should get when spending this amount. I enquired if I could get the head unit upgraded from them, but to no avail. In fact on enquiring about why is Toyota refraining from a sunroof, the SA gave me the weirdest answer about how he 'd gone for a pilgrimage there was an apparent landslide with rocks falling on the highway. A sunroof would have been very dangerous in that scenario, I told him to please calculate the odds of that happening. The buttons used in the cabin look so dated, the cabin light is still that old age yellow bulb, I mean this vehicle is as bad on the inside as good it is on the outside. Overall very disappointed, was never a fan of the Endy, hence just postponed the purchase for now. Will prob be in the market for a pre owned GL.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by Carpainter

The thing is even before the price hike, Fortuner was costlier than Endeavour BS6 and now with this hike the difference will be nearly 1.5-2L until Ford decide to increase their profit margin. That too with less creature comfort like no android auto, less impressive audio, sunroof etc. While the facelifted Fortuner will probably address these, another round of price hike is inevitable when it will come. So much for the Toyota brand value and reliability. Endeavour looks some much value for money now. Only if Ford was more committed to India never thought of leaving its operations to relatively unreliable M&M.

Totally agree, the Endeavour sounds very value for money now. It will be interesting to hear from prospective buyers if that 1.5-2L difference would make anyone change their mind at that price point.

[aghate]

Slightly OT:
All this price hike has a cascading effect in the used car market. As pointed out by @Kishen.padiyar, the used car prices are very high for 12+ year old cars. There is just no way that a Fortuner that was around 19 lac on-road in 2008/09 would cost close to 9 lac today. That is 50% depreciation in 12 years which is not justifiable. I like the car no doubt, it is these prices that drive me away from buying them.

A quick look on used car websites will give you an impression on these prices. Compared to other brands I have observed Toyota's to be priced higher than the competition just stating about the quality of the engine (which everyone agrees but that is not the only selling point for me).

[Carpainter]

Originally Posted by Kishen.padiyar

Lastly, to the best of my knowledge, maintaining a Innova or Fortuner is no where near 'hatchback' levels unless it is Mercedez Benz A class A simple example I can think of is an Innova's (pre-crysta) plain ORVM mirror lens alone (not heated) costs 2000/- plus labor and taxes.

You're spot on here. Innova may be cheap to service but spares are not cheap by any means. Infact, spares are expensive than say Honda City. So it's not hatchback level. Also, since Toyota provide very less electronics, there is less chance of things going bad. You can't lose a game if don't play one.

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by Kishen.padiyar

Lastly, to the best of my knowledge, maintaining a Innova or Fortuner is no where near 'hatchback' levels unless it is Mercedez Benz A class A simple example I can think of is an Innova's (pre-crysta) plain ORVM mirror lens alone (not heated) costs 2000/- plus labor and taxes.

A mirror is repair and no brand is cheap these days, scheduled maintenance is at hatchback levels or lower than an i10 if I specify the actual car in question.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Kishen.padiyar

There is only one medicine for Toyota to get back on their feet. It is called consumer resistance. Someone earlier in the thread mentioned about resale and how the Fortuner and Innova do not depreciate much. Even this can be attributed to consumer resistance. As long as there are buyers who blindly pay whatever is asked - be it new or used; this will continue.

Coming to the reliability part; I definitely agree that Toyota is a synonym for quality. The reason for that is preventive maintenance. A good percentage of Toyota owners be it private or commercial; get their vehicles serviced at Toyota ASS. Get any vehicle checked up or serviced once in 6 months and adhere to the service schedule and I would say the chances of breakdown or any such reliability issue will seldom occur.

If what you said was completely true, then long timer cab drivers would not have ditched Tata and moved to Toyota or Maruti, even though I believe there are far more competent mechanics who can service Indicas outside of the ASC and there is no shortage of parts. Preventive maintenance will definitely increase the life of any car. But then the quality of parts also matter. There is a difference in how different brands age over time and this is exactly why some brands have lived through times while the others have not. Compare the state of a Ten year old Innova to a ten year old Tata or Mahindra - There will be some differences no matter how well either brands are maintained or bashed. A fortuner at 1L kms is still considered as a good buy. Can you tell the same thing for an XUV, or a Safari? That is the exact reason why a car commands a resale value.

Consumer resistance will work only when there is a demand v/s supply mismatch. Forget Toyota, when we sold out ten year Omni in 2012, three buyers competed for the price and forget negotiation, they bid for the car. When a car like the Innova is a proven workhorse in the Taxi segment, you will find buyers who will be willing to buy the car at the price you quote. If not, then resale value will naturally come down if the owners are not finding buyers.

Toyota's price rise has no doubt been atrocious over the past few years. That is just because they have been riding on years of proven track record. When you consider the features of an Innova or Crysta, it is nowhere close to the price tag. Another reason is that, there is no competition for these cars. The Innova is more than a decade old brand name and so is the fortuner. Though products like the Endeavor have been competent enough in terms of the product, I think there is something else that is letting down customers in the longrun.

[PrideRed]

Just checked on road price of Fortuner and here in Karnataka it will retail at 43.5lacs for top spec, which is full 1.5lacs more than top spec Endeavour. Car to car I am sure Toyota cannot justify the premium but brand Fortuner was built with lot of effort. I can easily say the extra 1.5L will be salvaged during resale. However going by inflation, prices are inline with other models. Fortuner always competed against D2 sedans while Innova against D1 sedans, I don't see much difference there.

[Reinhard]

The Fortuner has always been a flagship example of how "aspiration drives economy". And the trend continues. Will continue.

[armaan_singh]

Was really hoping the price hike would in the very least add in the "much awaited" feature of android auto/apple car play to this already over priced car.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by armaan_singh

Was really hoping the price hike would in the very least add in the "much awaited" feature of android auto/apple car play to this already over priced car.

Very true. These should be standard feature of any touch screen system. Can't believe that Toyota still doesn't offer this.

Frankly, manufacturers should do away with their proprietary music system/interfaces and just go with Android based systems.

[armaan_singh]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Frankly, manufacturers should do away with their proprietary music system/interfaces and just go with Android based systems.

The reason given to me by one SA when I went to see the Yaris a little while back was that, "Sir People buy Toyota for reliability not features, so no need for android auto or sunroof" Well honesty appreciated but still such a downer given that 4.5L cars like the kwid and spresso offer it too.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by karan0009

Well we bought this mighty elephant in 2011 for around 22.5 Lac on road. Prices of car in general have touched the sky. Heck for 20 big ones we get a car from Creta/Seltos territory today. With new Fortuneraround, top end will easily cross 42 lac on road

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