[Frank27r1]

Tryst with Toyota

Hello BHPians,

After an arduous wait of 6 months post-booking my car, I received the Toyota Fortuner 4X4 AT in Sparkling Black Crystal Shine color with Chamois interior.

The car looks stunning to look at (of course when all clean) plus when it's dirty too (personally, for me).

Sharing a few photographs to feast your eyes.


P.S.: Can someone please recommend to me where to get the PPF & rust protection coating done in Bengaluru and what price to expect for these works. It will be very helpful for me. Thanks.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by Frank27r1

Tryst with Toyota

After an arduous wait of 6 months post-booking my car, I received the Toyota Fortuner 4X4 AT in Sparkling Black Crystal Shine color with Chamois interior.
Sharing a few photographs to feast your eyes.
P.S.: Can someone please recommend to me where to get the PPF & rust protection coating done in Bengaluru and what price to expect for these works. It will be very helpful for me. Thanks.

Congratulations on Fortuner or rather premature baby . 6 Months in Bangalore is really long, I am assuming this is because of Interior/Exterior color combination! Wishing you happy miles with Fortuner.

Rust coating may not be needed however you can go for 3M or one that is offered at Toyota dealer.

[Srikanth@raj]

Originally Posted by Frank27r1

Tryst with Toyota

P.S.: Can someone please recommend to me where to get the PPF & rust protection coating done in Bengaluru and what price to expect for these works. It will be very helpful for me. Thanks.

3M underbody protection is one of the best, dries quickly and lasts long. I have used 3M for my previous fortuner and as well as my New Legender 4x4. Here in vizag they charged 3500/- with 3 years warranty.

[achyutaghosh]

Originally Posted by Frank27r1

Hello BHPians,

After an arduous wait of 6 months post-booking my car, I received the Toyota Fortuner 4X4 AT in Sparkling Black Crystal Shine color with Chamois interior.

The car looks stunning to look at

Completely agree, absolutely stunning she is. Pity that 75-80% of Fortuner customers go for the two white shades when there are so many nice shades available. This crystal black shine would definitely have had more takers had it been a bit more blue that what it is.

I think more than the color, the chamois interiors might have added to the wait times.

Congratulations and wish yoy safe driving!

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by achyutaghosh

I think more than the color, the chamois interiors might have added to the wait times.

Congratulations and wish yoy safe driving!

It is the exterior colour. My Fortuner reached the dealership under one month from the date of booking. It was black with chamois interiors.

If you order anything other than white or attitude black, expect waiting times in the order of 3 months. White and attitude black are available with black or chamois interiors in about a month.

[getsurya]

Originally Posted by achyutaghosh

Completely agree, absolutely stunning she is. Pity that 75-80% of Fortuner customers go for the two white shades when there are so many nice shades available. This crystal black shine would definitely have had more takers had it been a bit more blue that what it is.

I think more than the color, the chamois interiors might have added to the wait times.

Congratulations and wish yoy safe driving!

Why "pity" for white shades? People who are buying have their reasons sorted out, like me! For both of my Fortuners', I have picked up super white only. As that color is easy to maintain, looks royal, garners respect from police, has great road presence(both on the highway and in city), easy for minor paint touch ups and bruises etc. Resale value is also better for a white Fortuner.

After maintaining dark and metallic shades from last 27 years now, I can confidently say that super white non-metallic color is the easiest to maintain , after silver color.

[achyutaghosh]

Originally Posted by getsurya

Why "pity" for white shades? People who are buying have their reasons sorted out, like me! For both of my Fortuners', I have picked up super white only. As that color is easy to maintain, looks royal, garners respect from police, has great road presence(both on the highway and in city), easy for minor paint touch ups and bruises etc. Resale value is also better for a white Fortuner.

That is a very practical way to choose the color, Surya

While NCR is usually a sea of white cars, i did not meant to demean that when i said pity- what i said is that it is a pity we do not get to see other Fortuner colors because they all look great.

BTW mine is one of the rare shades- grey metallic, and i am always worried when some neighborhood artist will try to use it as a canvas to showcase "art"

[Frank27r1]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Congratulations on Fortuner or rather premature baby . 6 Months in Bangalore is really long, I am assuming this is because of Interior/Exterior color combination! Wishing you happy miles with Fortuner.

Rust coating may not be needed however you can go for 3M or one that is offered at Toyota dealer.

Hahaha..True, this was the baby which was desired right after it was conceived. Your guess is right plus the 1.5-month Bidadi plant shutdown was also the reason. For coating, will go with 3M then. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Srikanth@raj

3M underbody protection is one of the best, dries quickly and lasts long. I have used 3M for my previous fortuner and as well as my New Legender 4x4. Here in vizag they charged 3500/- with 3 years warranty.

Great! Will go with 3m then. Thank you for the info.

Originally Posted by achyutaghosh

Completely agree, absolutely stunning she is. Pity that 75-80% of Fortuner customers go for the two white shades when there are so many nice shades available. This crystal black shine would definitely have had more takers had it been a bit more blue that what it is.

I think more than the color, the chamois interiors might have added to the wait times.

Congratulations and wish yoy safe driving!

Thank you so much. Toyota promoted the Fortuner in this flagship color post-launch and when I saw it in Australia spec model on youtube. It looked too good to us. Of course, maintaining it would be a task on its own.

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

It is the exterior colour. My Fortuner reached the dealership under one month from the date of booking. It was black with chamois interiors.

If you order anything other than white or attitude black, expect waiting times in the order of 3 months. White and attitude black are available with black or chamois interiors in about a month.

Correct. Those are the fastest-selling colors. Mine got delayed due to the 1.5-month Bidadi plant shutdown as well.

Originally Posted by getsurya

Why "pity" for white shades? People who are buying have their reasons sorted out, like me! For both of my Fortuners', I have picked up super white only. As that color is easy to maintain, looks royal, garners respect from police, has great road presence(both on the highway and in city), easy for minor paint touch ups and bruises etc. Resale value is also better for a white Fortuner.

After maintaining dark and metallic shades from last 27 years now, I can confidently say that super white non-metallic color is the easiest to maintain , after silver color.

Truly said.

Originally Posted by achyutaghosh

That is a very practical way to choose the color, Surya

While NCR is usually a sea of white cars, i did not meant to demean that when i said pity- what i said is that it is a pity we do not get to see other Fortuner colors because they all look great.

BTW mine is one of the rare shades- grey metallic, and i am always worried when some neighborhood artist will try to use it as a canvas to showcase "art"

I too am worried about the same. For now, got the Tyvek cover to cover it up. It's of good quality purchased from Toyota. They charged a hefty 4360rs for it.

[asm3899_CHD]

Hye bhpians. One of my friend bought a white Fortuner 4x4 Automatic. He is saying he got it with a great difficulty and from now on only Legender 4X4 will come. I find it hard to digest. I know it is a silly question. Can anyone throw some light on this.

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by asm3899_CHD

Hye bhpians. One of my friend bought a white Fortuner 4x4 Automatic. He is saying he got it with a great difficulty and from now on only Legender 4X4 will come. I find it hard to digest. I know it is a silly question. Can anyone throw some light on this.

This was my biggest fear when Legender 4x4 was launched. Though I think it is unlikely till Legender gets offered in all colors. Once that happens, it is possible that Toyota discontinues the regular 4x4 variants.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

This was my biggest fear when Legender 4x4 was launched. Though I think it is unlikely till Legender gets offered in all colors. Once that happens, it is possible that Toyota discontinues the regular 4x4 variants.

Toyota wants to build brand Legender, this is going to take a while. Majority of the volume comes from 4x2 AT, which is almost 4L cheaper than Legender. There is also the Manual variants which sell in good numbers. Once they build a brand, I guess Toyota will stop 4x4AT regular variant, as this will make buyers look towards Legender. There will be one final iteration/launch of this model Fortuner which is when this change is likely to happen.

[padmrajravi]

Completed 700 kms today. Saw DPF regeration happening three times till now. The running also included a 2 hour traffic jam where I had to idle for at least 45 minutes without any movement. One of the DPF regeration happened during this time. There was a slight increase in engine noise, but the RPM was more or less similar to the idle RPM, may be slightly higher.

Took the car to a nearby beach today morning. It is a drive-in beach that any hatchback or sedan can do. No 4x4 is required. But this is the closest place to home where I can engage 4x4 and diff lock without causing many issues to the transmission.

I had never driven a modern 4x4 in my life till now. All my previous experience with 4x4 was in an MM540. So I faced some issues getting familiarized with the beeps and indicators. Had a hard time disabling diff lock and low range. The Indicators kept blinking and the car still remained in 4Low mode even after I pressed the diff lock button and turned the 4x4 knob back to 2WD. In the end, had to switch off the car and restart to get it back to normal. I think I am doing something wrong in the sequence. Or does it take some time for the car to switch back from 4Low ?

[Axe77]

I recently had the chance to test drive my friend’s Fortuner Legender 4x4 A/T during a planned golf outing at Karjat (he lives in Pune while I’m in Bombay).

Met sort of near ND Studios on the Karjat route and then drove the car towards Matheran. I can’t recall exactly but may have been a 20 - 25 km drive maybe on undivided tar / concrete road (mix) with a smattering of potholes.

This is really not purporting to be a full scale review - just my brief observations.

Some of the observations may simply come from either my automobile preferences or in some cases my primary frame of reference which is a 3GT. That is not to say that I am comparing it per se to the 3GT but just because its my most direct frame of reference. Incidentally, over the last week, I have driven this brand new Legender and also “been driven” for about 400 kms in a 2013 4,00,000 km run in MP. Some interesting Fortuner experience in less than a week.

With that prologue, here goes:

# The car definitely looks more modern and this is most welcome on the interiors. The interiors are much plusher with a lot of soft touch material and definitely a far cry from the older Fortuner. It’s definitely not Kodiaq plush (or even Compass plush) on the interiors but the interiors are a MUCH nicer place to be now. Basically, a welcome step up from the last gen Fortuner but still a clear segment below other monocoque comparables like Tiguan / Compass or for that matter (now moot) even the Endeavour).

# Exterior: Ironically this is where I actually preferred the older Fortuner - for some reason it just looks more butch and I don’t necessarily prefer the more Lexus like face they’ve tried to give the Toyota. I don’t mind it for sure but the old school look of the last gen Fortuner appealed more to me.

# At the wheel: Even though you “climb” into the Fortuner, once inside somehow one doesn’t feel the size of the car and once on the move I got comfortable with the size very quickly. The car has an amazingly commanding view point and I quite enjoyed driving with this position.

However, I am just used to gaining speed much more quickly with the GT and I could feel its lumbering size when it comes to accelerating up to speeds, sort of aware that it would need a bit more margin to brake this beast smoothly.

# Sideways movement can generally be felt but I can imagine this car being comfortable for long journeys. What makes it quite tireless to drive is the way it completely dispatches small potholes that are smattered all across our highways. Not having to brake too much for these itself takes away an element of driving fatigue. These can barely be felt inside.

# The steering is better than earlier maybe but its still not a razor sharp steering with a slight dead centre. Nothing fatal though and perhaps my GT frame of reference is unreasonably causing me to observe this.

# Just yesterday, I was seeing a Kodiaq and a Fortuner driving side by side in front of my car - just intuitively it reaffirmed to me that my general preference would still veer a bit more to the large monocques rather than the full size BOF options.

# While the paddle shifters are a big draw, I didn’t find them as sharp in operation as I expected. Maybe the reason is that the automatic in D mode is running the car in a high gear so maybe it required a couple of downshift taps to really feel the engine braking.

# You can really feel the strength and pull of the engine and once it gathers steam its like a locomotive. Again, my frame of reference is skewed though because the on tap performance of the GT is still completely next level. But I can imagine this Fortuner being completely satisfactory on the power front, specially if you were pulling on uphill ghat roads etc.

All in all, the cars reeks sophistication, has phenomenal presence, and if you want munch several 100k miles in the most predicable and comfortable fashion, the Fortuner will do it - NO QUESTIONS ASKED. I can completely imagine why this vehicle makes so much sense for so many regardless of the steep asking price. I can also understand why this (mostly BOF designs) DO NOT make sense for many others. Ultimately its about driving style preferences I guess.

I would definitely enjoy occasional drives in the Fortuner although I’m not sure I’d want it as a full time flagship vehicle in my house. If I had money for only one 50L car, unlikely I’d pick the Fortuner. If I could own one as a second or third car, yes - it might get closer consideration.

Some pics from our brief drive which included a stopover at the Saltt coffee shop.
.
.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

I had never driven a modern 4x4 in my life till now. All my previous experience with 4x4 was in an MM540. So I faced some issues getting familiarized with the beeps and indicators. Had a hard time disabling diff lock and low range. The Indicators kept blinking and the car still remained in 4Low mode even after I pressed the diff lock button and turned the 4x4 knob back to 2WD. In the end, had to switch off the car and restart to get it back to normal. I think I am doing something wrong in the sequence. Or does it take some time for the car to switch back from 4Low ?

You have to slot to neutral if you are to engage or disengage 4Lo. Systems takes about 3 seconds to engage/disengage. Once engaged, there will be no beep. If indicator is blinking and you hear beeps, 4Lo is not engaged. 4H can be engaged in D mode and again takes about 2 seconds to engage/disengage. Diff Lock works only when in 4Lo.

[dean5545]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

I had never driven a modern 4x4 in my life till now. All my previous experience with 4x4 was in an MM540. So I faced some issues getting familiarized with the beeps and indicators. Had a hard time disabling diff lock and low range. The Indicators kept blinking and the car still remained in 4Low mode even after I pressed the diff lock button and turned the 4x4 knob back to 2WD. In the end, had to switch off the car and restart to get it back to normal. I think I am doing something wrong in the sequence. Or does it take some time for the car to switch back from 4Low ?

Hi,
For 4 low to disengage, firstly you need to be in Neutral and come to a complete halt. You will hear a mechanical Kat sound once the 4wd mode disengages. If it still doesn’t disengage try reversing the car for 5-10 metres, that should do the trick. The mechanical Kat sound is a good indicator.
Hope it helps.