Team-BHP > Team-BHP Reviews > Long-Term Ownership Reviews


Reply
  Search this Thread
285,978 views
Old 23rd May 2016, 09:16   #16
Senior - BHPian
 
extreme_torque's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 4,359
Thanked: 5,039 Times
re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Congrats on the car. I see a lot of them as Hilux utes here in Australia everyday with the same metal bumpers upfront. These things are bulletproof.

I do not think you can buy another car with more than a 1.3 lakh kilometer on the odo and yet be sure about its overall reliability. Only a Toyota.
extreme_torque is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 13:37   #17
GTO
Team-BHP Support
 
GTO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Bombay
Posts: 70,237
Thanked: 298,108 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Congratulations on a great looking truck! Whenever I see the term pre-worshipped / pre-owned in a thread title, I smile because I know someone got a good deal .

The mileage is higher than what I'd personally be comfortable with on a used car (although I don't mind using my own cars to 2+ lakh kms). That said, if someone put a gun to my head and made me buy a used car with 6 figures on the odometer, it would be a Toyota body-on-frame diesel. If cared for, they will easily go beyond 3 lakh, even 4 lakh kms.

Wish you thousands of happy kms with the beast. Congrats again .
GTO is offline   (8) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 14:54   #18
Senior - BHPian
 
Ace F355's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Delhi NCR
Posts: 1,279
Thanked: 2,982 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Quote:
Originally Posted by arvi86 View Post
Congratulations Rohit! Wishing you several thousand miles of happy ownership in the ever-lasting Toyota!

Moving on from a Civic to a Fortuner is like chalk and cheese, quite literally. Enjoy the new-found freedom to explore places that you wouldn't have dared in your darling Civic.
Thank you for the wishes arvi! Long time, mate. Guess that's a fault on my part. You are absolutely right on saying so. Fellow BHPian Rachit.K.Dogra said the same thing to me after hearing my final choice of vehicle, "Replacing a low slung Civic running on 17" alloys with a hardcore off-roader like a Fortuner is equivalent to a complete religion change! ". *thumbs up*

A vehicle like this gives you sort of freedom to travel that is hard to imagine otherwise. Rhandle himself told me the same thing, he was like "if someonce comes to me in midnight and asks me to drive to Timbuktu, my hands will go blindly pick the keys of this car every single time!"

Quote:
Originally Posted by dean5545 View Post
Congratulations on your new ride. Your Fortuner has my dream setup of a bull bar and lift kit.
Out of India the Fortuner is used mostly for its off-road capability but sadly in India many buy it just for the looks.
Hats off the previous owner for the wonderful setup.
The only thing I don't like about the ARB bullbar is the fact that it's chin protrudes a lot and doesn't gel with the bumper. That's why I like the Viper bumper made for the South American Fortuner.
Attachment 1509681Attachment 1509682
Source:Instagram

Someday I hope to own a Fortuner on the lines of the below pic:
Attachment 1509683
Ooooh, We had discussed this new gen Fortuner pics a couple of days back only. It looks manacing to say the least. Means total business and doesn't look soft from any angle. Trust me, my car has been taking to every nook & corner of India by Rhandle and has done all what one can imagine with it! And I plan to do the same. BTW you are one of the guys on forum who have been driving Toyotas well into 6 digit odo reading, so you'd know how reliable and boring these things can be. lol.

Viper bumper looks swell! BTW mine is Ironman, not ARB. Both of them are pretty similar though. Best part of Ironman (& ARB) front bumper is, it is fully tested to be compatible with crumple zones and airbag deployment in Fortuner. So, no compromise on safety there! *thumbs up*

Thank a lot of your wishes. Cheers mate!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheel View Post
Loved your thread as well as the Fortuner. I have been up, close and personal with this when it was bone stock and despite bringing Rahul here, he was still all praise for his Gurkha Wish he spends some more time here and here [both]

Go and explore, this is what is meant for, off-roading will be a part of exploration which this will handle with ease. Must say, in stock form too, the Fortuner is quite competent to do most of the exploration part, this is a bonus.

+1 dean5545, loved the bumpers on the Fortuners and the new one doesn't look that soft with these bumpers and other off-road mods.
Thanks Sheel! Gurkha is hard to take out of his mind even now! And so is the case with Roy_Libran too! Hehe. Rhandle is getting is Gurkha even more serious off-road prepared again and it is currently a WIP, should be back on road soon!

BTW I said Hi to him from your side!

Quote:
Originally Posted by extreme_torque View Post
Congrats on the car. I see a lot of them as Hilux utes here in Australia everyday with the same metal bumpers upfront. These things are bulletproof.

I do not think you can buy another car with more than a 1.3 lakh kilometer on the odo and yet be sure about its overall reliability. Only a Toyota.
Thanks extreme_torque. Ironman & ARB being Australian brands, would obviously be much more popular there. Completely agree with you on reliability part!

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Congratulations on a great looking truck! Whenever I see the term pre-worshipped / pre-owned in a thread title, I smile because I know someone got a good deal .

The mileage is higher than what I'd personally be comfortable with on a used car (although I don't mind using my own cars to 2+ lakh kms). That said, if someone put a gun to my head and made me buy a used car with 6 figures on the odometer, it would be a Toyota body-on-frame diesel. If cared for, they will easily go beyond 3 lakh, even 4 lakh kms.

Wish you thousands of happy kms with the beast. Congrats again .
Thanks a lot for the wishes, Rush! I indeed got an excellent deal here.

And on topic of smiling; I smiled today only, seeing your post in your BMW thread suggesting a 50,000 kms Euro car would make you nervous in used car market! And here I am, having bought a car with 138,000 on the odo!!!

You see, trouble is, more than 80% of Fortuner (or most of diesel SUVs) sold in India are bought for long distance running in mind. A lot of Toyotas and others I checked in market were having much higher mileage than my car and were clocked back to 60-80k kms.

This is India and we are known to be a nation of Jugaads. IIRC, there was one case where the previously owner was so smart that he got one service done from Toyota every 10k kms and one from outside, clocked back the odo by 10k everytime he got it done aftermarket (it only costs INR 500 to get a new chip for odometer!)! So, essentially his car had covered twice the kms than what odo showed and this odo was backed with service history from Toyota! Can you imagine?

Come and think of it, Rhandle used the car for 75 months and put on 138k kms, meaning an average of >1850 km/month. Not too far from my monthly average than Civic (I had put on 108k kms in 62 months, averaging 1735 kms/month). But I do agree with you, I had my own conversations about high mileage on my vehicle too! Then I looked into service history of the car and it has been to Toyota every 5000 kms like a clockwork. And it is so detailed that suppose Toyota recommended to replace a set of screws, rhandle got it done without having a second thought! It is that well taken care of! The end result is, despite going through innumerable on-off road expeditions, the car feels tight from every angle and drive like one.

I am lucky to find such a well maintained vehicle and jumped on it as soon as I got all the details right!
Ace F355 is offline   (14) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 15:45   #19
BHPian
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: New Delhi
Posts: 89
Thanked: 223 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace F355 View Post
[*] Aftermarket Suspension = Transformed ride quality. Ironman’s suspension upgrade is THE best mod here! No back breaking ride anymore! Higher load the better![/list]
Congratulations. The vehicle looks fantastic. We have a Fortuner in the family. It has done 1.8L kms. Still runs like a charm.

One question, could you elaborate on the Ironman Suspension. The bumpy road/bumpy highway/high speed highway runs are not suited for the rear suspension. Which one do you have? Off road suspension or comfort?

Last edited by shivs2003 : 23rd May 2016 at 15:47.
shivs2003 is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 16:09   #20
ZMG
BHPian
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 104
Thanked: 142 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Hey ACE,
Read your review all at once.

What a car you have got. Congrats.
Absolutely loved the Ironman bumper and the seat color.

I wish when I am 28, I get to own this.

Keep the posts and pics ( which are drool worthy) coming.

Cheers,
ZMG
ZMG is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 16:26   #21
Senior - BHPian
 
asr245's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Gurgaon
Posts: 1,162
Thanked: 389 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Congratulations on the purchase. Looks good. It will be very hard for me to purchase a vehicle with 6 digits on the clock. Even harder for me to convince my family about it. But optimism here is making me open to it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace F355 View Post
You see, trouble is, more than 80% of Fortuner (or most of diesel SUVs) sold in India are bought for long distance running in mind. A lot of Toyotas and others I checked in market were having much higher mileage than my car and were clocked back to 60-80k kms.
A simple question. How do you figure out that a vehicle has been clocked back?
asr245 is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 17:02   #22
Senior - BHPian
 
Ace F355's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Delhi NCR
Posts: 1,279
Thanked: 2,982 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Quote:
Originally Posted by shivs2003 View Post
Congratulations. The vehicle looks fantastic. We have a Fortuner in the family. It has done 1.8L kms. Still runs like a charm.

One question, could you elaborate on the Ironman Suspension. The bumpy road/bumpy highway/high speed highway runs are not suited for the rear suspension. Which one do you have? Off road suspension or comfort?
Thanks, our 4x2 AT is May 2013 and already above 2.4L kms! It is quite literally on the road all the time, but that is why this one was bought in the first place!

Coming to Ironman Suspension, it comes in 3 variants with two choices of shocks in each. A standard kit comes with no lift, just change in shocks/springs. Then there is comfort oriented kit and 3rd one is off-road performance oriented kit. Each kit comes with choice of shocks, options include gas filled shocks and foam cell based shocks. Also, you can specify the type of front shocks you want in case you want to mix-n-match.

Mine is fitted with gas filled shocks, performance in the front and comfort in the rear. Performance in the front was suggested by Ironman themselves since it has to take the additional weight of front bullbar as well which is good 50+ kgs. Choosen kit also has provided a lift of 45 mm (approx. 1.8").

More details can be found here.
http://www.ironman4x4.com/category-p...uspension-kits

Quote:
Originally Posted by ZMG View Post
Hey ACE,
Read your review all at once.

What a car you have got. Congrats.
Absolutely loved the Ironman bumper and the seat color.

I wish when I am 28, I get to own this.

Keep the posts and pics ( which are drool worthy) coming.

Cheers,
ZMG
Thanks ZMG! Keep at it my friend. You surely can own something like this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by asr245 View Post
Congratulations on the purchase. Looks good. It will be very hard for me to purchase a vehicle with 6 digits on the clock. Even harder for me to convince my family about it. But optimism here is making me open to it.

A simple question. How do you figure out that a vehicle has been clocked back?
Quoting from TBHP's official Used Car Buying Guide.

Quote:
Originally Posted by adya33 View Post
Odometer tampering: Artificially lowering a car’s odometer is a common malpractice in the used market. Most cars sold by dealers from the unorganized segment have had their odometers clocked back. Audit the service records for inconsistencies. Call the dealer / workshop (where the car was maintained) to procure historical data on the car's odometer readings at each visit (dealers always maintain these records). The date of tyre manufacture may also indicate the actual mileage traveled.
Full guide here.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...tml#post323439

Other than this, common sense at play here. Look for regular wear-n-tear items. Their condition should give you an idea. I give you an example. Below is a car from olx. Car looks clean and advert says 80k kms on the odo. But the steering, gearknob and rest of the interior indicates either abuse or actual mileage higher than 80k. It was a tempered odo, how do I know? I had checked the car in my search!

My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT - 225,000 km crunched. EDIT: Sold!-img_1228.jpg

My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT - 225,000 km crunched. EDIT: Sold!-img_1227.jpg

What I mean to say is, ask obvious questions like if seat leather was changed, then why? Look into service history for items which are replaced at generally higher mileage, e.g. Timing Belt, Clutch set, Suspension parts. Ask whether any such change was done and if yes, then why? How many sets of tires car has been through? Offer the owner to get the car inspected by manufacturer at your own cost. If he is clean, he will generally agree to it, if not then you know there is something suspicious going on.

This practice takes a toll on your time initially, however long term gains are worth it!
Ace F355 is offline   (11) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 17:14   #23
BHPian
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 385
Thanked: 582 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Congratulations! An awesome thread it is!

I was, once upon a time, looking for a pre-worshipped Fortuner, finally landed on a XUV. The well integrated bullbar gives it that super look. With 1.4 lac kilometres the Fortuner still looks pristine.

Loved your pictures, not to forget your signature is super cool!

Last edited by LoneRidder : 23rd May 2016 at 17:16.
LoneRidder is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 17:21   #24
BHPian
 
forester's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: New Delhi
Posts: 116
Thanked: 640 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Brilliant buy Ace! rhandle did keep it immaculately and that shows by how flawlessly the vehicle is running even at the mileage that you're at now!

A fully sorted out ride and such prowess. Enjoy it to the core and take it almost everywhere you can!

It looks fantastic in black with the Ironman & the Snorkel!
forester is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 17:59   #25
BHPian
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Bhopal
Posts: 300
Thanked: 478 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Congratulations ACE. You now own perhaps the best modded Fortuner on T-Bhp .
My Fortuner is touching 90K and still looks, drives as good as new. I am not into hard core offroading but it has seen fair share of offroads during my many trips deep inside the Himalayas.
My Fortuner had one brake upgrade when Toyota voluntarily upgraded the rotors. The second one when Guderian pointed about the brake booster upgrade. The brake booster upgrade does help to the tune of 20-30% improvement in brake performance. I believe its worthwile to go for it.
I am using Continental cross contact A/T since last 25K kms and have been very satisfied both on road and offroad.

congrats once again.
columbus is offline   (3) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 18:03   #26
BHPian
 
biggrin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Haryana
Posts: 152
Thanked: 204 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Congratulations Ace F355! So finally a sedan guy goes for something which scares all sedans on the road, more so with the rugged front end and lift kit!

The write-up was amazing, I loved reading the review. The Fortuner looks butch with the modifications done by the previous owner. Looking forward to timely updates on this thread. Wish you a long and happy ownership with this one.

And 140k kms is nothing for a Toyota. Our Etios is nearing the 1 Lac km mark and has held up really well, unlike any other brand we have owned in the past. In fact, when I ask my relatives to make a guess on the kms covered by the Etios, the answers are always under 50k kms. The reliability and built-to-last factor certainly does improve the brand name and customer's trust.

PS. If possible, try a photoshoot with a stock Fortuner and an XUV5OO for better comparison of the size!

Last edited by biggrin : 23rd May 2016 at 18:03. Reason: Added more
biggrin is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 19:30   #27
Senior - BHPian
 
Ace F355's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Delhi NCR
Posts: 1,279
Thanked: 2,982 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Quote:
Originally Posted by LoneRidder View Post
Congratulations! An awesome thread it is!

I was, once upon a time, looking for a pre-worshipped Fortuner, finally landed on a XUV. The well integrated bullbar gives it that super look. With 1.4 lac kilometres the Fortuner still looks pristine.
Thanks LoneRidder for you wishes! I have driven XUV for significant number of kilometers and I am a big fan of what super VFM it is. Had I been buying a new one, it would have been an XUV W10 AWD in Black! However, I tend to extract the most value for every rupee I spend while spending on car, another way of saying that I am a Pre-Owned Car convert for life!

Quote:
Originally Posted by LoneRidder View Post
your signature is super cool!
Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by forester View Post
Brilliant buy Ace! rhandle did keep it immaculately and that shows by how flawlessly the vehicle is running even at the mileage that you're at now!

A fully sorted out ride and such prowess. Enjoy it to the core and take it almost everywhere you can!

It looks fantastic in black with the Ironman & the Snorkel!
Thank you for wishes, forester!

Quote:
Originally Posted by columbus View Post
Congratulations ACE. You now own perhaps the best modded Fortuner on T-Bhp .
My Fortuner is touching 90K and still looks, drives as good as new. I am not into hard core offroading but it has seen fair share of offroads during my many trips deep inside the Himalayas.
My Fortuner had one brake upgrade when Toyota voluntarily upgraded the rotors. The second one when Guderian pointed about the brake booster upgrade. The brake booster upgrade does help to the tune of 20-30% improvement in brake performance. I believe its worthwile to go for it.
I am using Continental cross contact A/T since last 25K kms and have been very satisfied both on road and offroad.

congrats once again.
Hi columbus

Appreciate your words for my ride! So, another vouch for Contis here! Let me reach that point where I am ready to upgrade my tires and we will discuss in details.

About brakes, my car was also upgraded with Prado brake kit, back in 2010 sometime. Here is the entry in the service history.
My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT - 225,000 km crunched. EDIT: Sold!-img_1339.jpg

Problem is, I still don't appreciate the overall braking at all! I have read about Guderian's and Karan's upgrades and will see and talk to my SA about it during next service.

Quote:
Originally Posted by biggrin View Post
Congratulations Ace F355! So finally a sedan guy goes for something which scares all sedans on the road, more so with the rugged front end and lift kit!

The write-up was amazing, I loved reading the review. The Fortuner looks butch with the modifications done by the previous owner. Looking forward to timely updates on this thread. Wish you a long and happy ownership with this one.

And 140k kms is nothing for a Toyota. Our Etios is nearing the 1 Lac km mark and has held up really well, unlike any other brand we have owned in the past. In fact, when I ask my relatives to make a guess on the kms covered by the Etios, the answers are always under 50k kms. The reliability and built-to-last factor certainly does improve the brand name and customer's trust.

PS. If possible, try a photoshoot with a stock Fortuner and an XUV5OO for better comparison of the size!
Thanks biggrin! Agree with you about longevity of Toyotas. IMO, this reliability image has been built over period of time by Toyota meticulously and they go extra mile to fulfill their quality promise.

People complain about Toyota's service interval being too early at every 5000 kms, however they tend to forget that it is just a preventive check-up and major oil/filter changes are made at 10,000 kms interval only. However, this 5k preventive maintainence goes a long way to detect the potential issues early and solve them at the earliest!

Ergo Better Reliability!

Hope you have gone through thread below.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/intern...placement.html
Ace F355 is offline   (3) Thanks
Old 23rd May 2016, 20:35   #28
BHPian
 
adi_sun's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Delhi NCR
Posts: 136
Thanked: 261 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Firstly congratulation, your story of life till you met this monster has been exactly like mine. With me contemplating my next car (that has been all over the place from a GT TSI to safari 4x4) one voice that has been running in my head is a used fortuner or a pajero.
I am sure the search engines will be doing an overtime as every one reading this is bound to check for some pages on olx and equivalents (can we have the mods help setup a direct link right here to help save time?)

I quite like the suspension and all the good words being said about it kindof takes care of the family discomfort I am sure, would you be aware of the cost by any chance?

This brings me to the matter at hand while you have been lucky to have friends in circles and an obsessively maintained vehicle availability for sale where should people like me head to in search of a safe deal.
Used car is kindof a big no-no from my girl and the peace of mind from something at olx is a no-no for me. Any pointers?
adi_sun is offline  
Old 23rd May 2016, 21:19   #29
BHPian
 
DrivingNirvana's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Bhubaneswar
Posts: 70
Thanked: 79 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Hello Ace,

Congratulations! You have bought a macho looking Fortuner, which is a totally drool material. Fitted with Ironman suspension, snorkel and other modifications, I can guarantee that yours is the best looking Fortuner around.

I would like to see this beast full of mud after a treacherous off-road trail.

Wishing you a hassle free ownership.

Regards

Saubhik
DrivingNirvana is offline  
Old 24th May 2016, 08:24   #30
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 46
Thanked: 37 Times
Re: Trucking in my Atlantis! My Pre-Worshipped Toyota Fortuner 3.0L 4x4 MT

Can you tell me how much the original owner spent on the ironman setup along with the snorkel? Also Anybody in India who do this kind of tasteful work in India on T-Forts? This is an excellent sample of making an already good SUV great.
cUjO is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks