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-   -   Toyota Fortuner 2.8L 4x4 MT : Got my first crush home finally (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/201971-toyota-fortuner-2-8l-4x4-mt-got-my-first-crush-home-finally.html)

All the logical explanations that I would give later is just to figure out if there is some other car in the market that equals the fortuner at a lesser price. We ourselves tried to justify the purchase and couldn't. We tried quiet a few cars from Hyundai, Tata, Ford, Skoda, some were very compelling, very close, and I would love to own them at some point in future, but none gave the feeling in my heart that Fortuner gave. This is a purchase purely from heart, and I might give loads of bull$$$ logic in justifying but for me buying a car is an emotional experience and something that fits me may not fit others. So take all that with loads (pinch) of salt

The crush started when our fellow BHPian (@nilanjan) created this immortal thread,
(https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...00-kms-up.html).

The car just grows on you and keeps going on-and-on.

Since 2011 there were instances when we were close to replacing our second car, pondered over Fortuner, but lack of all four disc brakes kept me away. In this big car not having all four discs was a crime in my opinion. Finally in 2016 (or so) Toyota launched the current Fortuner, which had all four disc brakes and other features that make it feel like a premium car.

What were we looking for?
Preferably a seven seater (but a 5 seater would be fine too), Preferably diesel (Maybe petrol if cost was too high), Premium car above Civic segment, No fuss car (I just cannot imagine owning a "nakhare wali" car), "No fuss" implies not only the product needs to be reliable also the A.S.S needs to be peace of mind. City vs Highway usage would be roughly 70/30 and hence a highway friendly car with more space to offer were preferred over others. My drive would be ~50Kms a day two way from Home to Work and back (~ 2-3 times a week), rest of the drive would be on weekends on highways and free roads.

So what all did we try.

1. The Skoda - Like the Fortuner rings my heart, every time I drive a Skoda (In fact any Skoda) it rings something in my heart. We tried from Octavia, Superb, and Looked at Kodiaq. Loved all the cars, the test drives just felt very good, they came clean (spic and span), all the equipment would work like its meant to, all were ~5K on the odometer (Don't know how Skoda manages that), car would pull butter smooth when you put the accelerator down, but for some reason I was a bit scared with Skoda. There is no logic to it, I can see the number of instance of bad experiences have gone down considerably. Im at a moment in my life were I just cannot afford a "nakhare wali" car, and with europeans you can never be too sure about that (My opinion BTW). It absolutely needs to be "Fill it, shut it, and forget it" car. Hence after much deliberation Skoda Superb was out, Ocatavia had a waiting of 2 months, and Kodiaq was way too expensive.

2. The Hyundai - The Elantra, and the Tucson, never really rings anything in my heart. I am sure all of them would be painless to own. Elantra seemed small when compared to its competition (Octavia), Tucson felt like a compromise after paying approximately the same amount as the Fortuner.

3. Tata Hexa - This one was very very close, gives you most of the things and roughly half the price. We wanted all wheel drive and test drive the manual and the Automatic as well (With no AWD). The car did feel better put together than earlier Tatas that I remember, but that spic and span feeling that you get when you test drive a Skoda is missing. The gear lever in manual is all over the place, looking at the gear shift in manual my wife refused to drive the car. Hence we looked at the Automatic, came very-very close in buying one, but skipped it. Somewhere the car did not appeal to both of us. Although it did looked like no-nonsense and no-fuss car. Thanks to Vidyut (@Vid6639) for getting me connected in Prerna Motors, we at least saw a much better car then what KHT guys brought for test drive.

4. Ford Endeavour - The 3.2L which we liked was more expensive than the Fortuner, although it had Sun roof which we loved. Anything more expensive than the Fortuner tilted us back to the TFort, the logic goes why pay more?

5. Other cars that we did not consider were Mahindra and Jeep. Don't like anything that Mahindra has to offer, XUV's overdone dhink-chak designing is not my taste. We did looked at Jeep Compass and liked it, but the rear seat did not look very spacious.

6. Toyota Fortuner - The test drive was so-and-so, nothing earth shattering, the car came reasonably clean and had done 30+K on the odometer. Neither gave too much pleasure to drive, nor was a disappointment. 2.8 Diesel MT 4x4 was the only option that was considered. Through some of the video reviews (Autocar) it looked like Manual had a better pull and engine response than the AT, hence the choice of manual.

Buying experience at Nandi

3 months back, I met Sanjeev at Nandi Toyota (Whitefield) since then he was persisting and following up (Not in a painful way), had wonderful buying experience as he was the man in charge for me. The delivery was done as promised (Within 1 day of completing formalities) and on a specific date (15th Sept), there was no fuss, everything was smooth and as per my liking as if it was Business as usual.

The VIN number was shared as soon i booked, i did a check and it was August manufactured car (Which is good). All the other alternatives that i was considering for immediately available cars had VIN from ~June or July.

The car costed ~38L ones on-road, no extended warranty was taken. Only got some basic accessories from Nandi like floor mats and idol etc. Although its something that needs to get better, i am hoping the core product makes up for lack of these pleasantries.

Initial impressions
Its a massive car, first time I took it out of showroom and Bangalore rains started, with so much rains and bumper to bumper jam on Hosur Road going towards Silk Board, made me jittery. Its difficult to manage it for the first time, understanding car dimensions take some time I guess. So much so that I did not engage the 5th gear at all as I was scared to go faster. It took a couple of days to take the jitteriness out of me, have only driven in the city. The car does drive butter smooth, potholes don't look like one anymore, its awesome to drive it in heavy rains as I can see the road much further than if I were in a Sedan. That gives confidence to drive such a massive car on narrow roads. There are just too many buttons, still learning and understand all of them.

Gives me hair raising time especially while taking a three point U turn, especially on narrow Bangalore roads. On my way to Whitefield Nandi Toyota I was on Borewell road. The narrow road made it tough for me to maneuver the car. Occasionally I do miss the zippiness of Petrol car, also the on road confidence of a low raise car like Civic. Have been driving carefully and slowly, scared that I might run over someone :). I guess with time I will get used to the size of the car and will get more comfortable while driving in narrow lanes that Bangalore has to offer.

I have done roughly 500 Kms on the car and here are my first impressions.

Positives
1. Huge car, loads of space for 5 occupants and occasionally 7 occupants if time arises
2. Amazing A/C, cools the cabin in no time. Although its not summer yet hence need to observe but some of the older cars that i have been into always chill the when the AC is turned on. Toyota in this aspect has done a very good job.
3. Amazing visibility of the road and driving presence.
4. Ride and Handling is much better than what stories that i have been hearing, I was expecting some amount of body roll. Its well contained for such a large and high car, although in no league of a low strung sedan.
5. Powerful engine, pulls great from standstill. Haven't tried other drive modes yet. In all my drive mostly within the city and some occasional empty roads the third gear is very tall, makes it a breeze to overtake in City speed conditions.
6. LED/DRL's and headlamps are powerful. Night drive visibility is great. Also as i sit high the visibility is far and wide this is comparing it to being a sedan driver all my life.
7. Braking is much-much improved as compared to old gen Fortuner. I have driven older one around and the brakes on the current one inspire almost similar level of confidence as my Civic.
8. Automatic boot opener is a welcome feature. Lifting that heavy boot with bare hands would have been a weight lifting exercise.

Negatives
1. Gear shift not as smooth as its on petrol cars (e.g. Civic), Its minimal but still shudders when you start the engine. Comparing it with last gen fortuner its sporty and easy to slot into any gear.
2. Missing Sun roof. At this price point all cars have it. This was not a must have for us hence not a deal breaker but should have been addressed.
3. Auto dimming rear view mirror. Again its a crime not to have this in such an expensive car, when cars half the price have it.
4. Window blinds like on Hexa would have been nice, as legally we cannot put sun-film hence this is something that should be default at this price point.
5. Similar to automatic boot opening, there should have been automatic hood opener, i had to open it only once and it isn't easy. Fortunately its not everyday you have to open it.

Appearance,build quality
The car is huge, has mostly clean lines and huge road presence. Compared to the last version of Fortuner the styling is little future-ish but not overdone. Car looks best from the front. The headlamps and fog have chrome finish around which looks amazing on black and Pearl white colour. Get into the car and you are welcomed with enormous space in the driver seat with loads of buttons all around. The 4H/4L shifter, and the drive mode shifter depending on what kind of driving you prefer (Eco Mode, Power mode, and iMT). I haven't had the opportunity to play around with these buttons yet as most of the driving has been in the city. The soft touch dashboard and the brown colour leather seats give you a premium feel.

The electronically adjustment on the driver and passenger seat helps with getting to the right driving position. My family who have been on the rear seat have commented on the ride and have not had any problems with bouncy. All row's get AC vents and 12V charging points for occupants. The rear seat can be moved forward and back giving more leg room for rear seat passengers.

Fit and finish of the car is spot on, haven't noticed any irregular panel gaps. The doors open wide and close with a convincing thud. Paint quality is awesome. Darker colours look better, but pearl white looks great too.

Apart from that the Sales guy is pushing me to do a 3M under body coating, and Teflon coating, PU coating, on the car. Have avoided it for now, did not do it on Civic and it has been fine for the last eight years. If anyone has done it and has suggestions please advise.

Fuel Efficiency
I have been consistently getting around 9.7Lt/100Kms (As per MID). There is a Eco indicator and Eco score to keep a check on your driving (If you wish). I always make an attempt to keep the score around 70 as far as possible, sometimes it gets tougher with stop and go traffic. Will update on the final fuel efficiency as it evolves over next few months of ownership. For now the numbers look in the normal range and nothing i should be alarmed about.

Update Did measurement Tank-Full to Tank-Full and the car gave 11.11 Kms per Lt of Diesel, for such a large car i think this is a decent number.

Audio and Navigation
The touch screen looks right size and is easy to reach from drivers seat. The Audio (Have only played FM so far) sounds decent, haven't tried playing music through my phone. Still need to discover how good is navigation outside the city on highways. Within the city didn't need it.

Quiet Cabin
I have always owned Petrol cars and they are silent, occasionally i have either sat or driven Diesel cars and all of them invariably have some sort of shudder in the body and much higher NVH levels inside the cabin. In Fortuner too NVH levels are higher than when i compare with my Civic, but i think thats nor a fair comparison. When i compared with all the other Diesel cars including Skoda, Fortuner was neither the worse of the lot, nor the best. At certain crawling speeds i can hear the engine grunt, but once i pick up the pace its reasonably silent and not a bother inside the cabin.

Safety
From only 2 airbags, ABS (In Civic). Fortuner has seven airbags, ABS + EBD, ISOFIX, traction control, brake assist, hill assist. I guess this is sufficient level of safety that one could ask for.

Road Manners (within city limits)
Fortunately Bangalore offers a variety of terrains Nice roads, Off roading terrain with Mars like potholes, crawling traffic where you wish you were a pedestrian. Earlier my impression of large size SUV's was most of them would struggle in city crawling speeds, would be difficult to manage them in narrow space that you usually get while on busy city street. Have been driving this large size car around all the mix of roads that Bangalore has to offer and over time i have grown in confidence. Its much easier than it looks from outside to negotiate city traffic, there is enough low end grunt in the engine and gear ratios are very well sorted such that its a breeze to negotiate the crawling traffic and get the punch when you need it to quickly overtake when such an opportunity arises. On most of the potholes that i was very cautious when driving a sedan, while in Fortuner i can afford to be slightly careless as most small potholes don't even register inside the cabin.

Road Manners (On Highway)
Took her out for a spin over the weekend on a National highway for few hours in the morning. The space inside is very well designed to keep everyone comfortable. Did only sedate speeds on highway and no one had any problems with the ride quality, we weren't tossed around or felt bouncy over small undulations on the road. The breaking from higher speeds to crawling speeds had no drama and was well under control.

Overall (City and Highway) the peppy engine with enough low end pull, and enough top end makes it a fun to drive car both within city and on Highway. There is no sluggishness whatsoever that i usually associate with a Diesel motor. The ugly Diesel chatter is also very well contained inside the cabin, you only get to hear it at fairly low speeds when starting from stop thereafter the cabin is as quiet as i can remember in my petrol sedan.

Whats Missing
I would have loved to see a Sun roof that all other cars in this price range and much lower have these days. Also Auto dimming rear view mirror would be another. Apart from that i dont think there's anything that i am missing.

What colour to choose?

We were ok with any colour, the beast looks good in all colours. Pearl White was readily available, hence went with that. Although if i had a choice would have preferred a darker colour but i am not into habit of waiting for my purchase to arrive for weeks after i have paid up.

Data sheet:
1.Colour: Pearl White
2.Engine Displacement: 2.8L
3. Varient : 2.8 MT 4x4
4.Tires: Bridgestones (Alloys)
5.Ground Clearance: 184mm
6.Fuel tank capacity: 80L
7.Engine output: 177 PS @ 3400 rpm
8.Max Torque: 420 NM

Nice clean lines on the front and back of the car. Just the right styling, not too overdone.









A/C vents, lights and knick-knack holder space for rear passengers.







Enough leg room for rear seat passengers, can accommodate 3 comfortably over long drives.



The MID console shows temperature, real time & average fuel economy (Lt/100Kms). Not in this picture but it does show distance to empty.




For some reason the navigation in the pics below, keeps going in circles when i enter a destination. Not sure if something is wrong. Anyone has suggestions on what i might be doing wrong.



The H4/L4 switching knob, this was with a small lever in the old gen Fortuner, I was waiting for Toyota to move to something like this. Looks more upmarket than the previous gen.



Short gear lever, another improvement from the previous gen Fortuner. Feels nice to hold and shift through. Gear shifts are smooth and accurate. Except for reverse (Which takes a bit of arm strength to engage) all other shifts are smooth. Next to the gear lever there are driving modes iMT, Eco, and Power mode. I have been driving only on Eco mode, haven't tried any other mode.



I love this feature, the eco score tells you how your driving has been. Its one way one could stretch miles out of each litre of diesel. Always make an attempt to get a score of 70+ consistently.

Mod note: Moving out from Assembly Live section.


Congrats on the Fortuner Mayank. I know you were looking at other options like Hexa but it was clear from our discussion that your heart was set on the Toyota.

Good choice and fast purchase once you decided.

Happy motoring.

Congratulations Mayank on the Fortuner. Wish you many happy miles with the beast. :)

Please do keep updating the thread as you clock miles.

Is there an error in the data sheet pertaining to the two figures in the above quote?

Congratulations from a fellow 2.8 4x4 M/T owner.
Have already clocked closed to 47,000km on mine and it doesn't disappoint.

There is an option to change l/100 to kmpl if you want. Go to the setting menu on the MID by using the scroller on the right hand side of the steering wheel.

Use the iMT feature. The downshifts become smoother and the sound it makes will become addictive after a while.

38 L for a Fortuner seems like robbery. You can buy an X1 for the same amount in Delhi. My 320d costed me less than that. Strange country we live in.

Nevertheless congratulations on your new car. Just like you, I have always admired the Fortuner from the time of it's launch. In fact the official review thread of the Fortuner (1st generation) was what prompted me to join the forum at that time. I regret not buying it back then, it would have hardly lost any money in resale going by the current prices. :D

Strangely, that too seems like robbery to me!
Or, maybe I have weird tastes, but will buy a Fortuner (or such a type of vehicle) over X1 (or such a type of vehicle) for the same money.

Taxes in Delhi have also increased quite a lot since you bought your 320d and I bought the fortuner in 2013. At that time I paid 25.5 lakhs for the 4*4 MT and if I remember correctly you paid ~30L for your car. The ex showroom cost of the top model Fortuner is now above 31 lakhs. With the increased taxes in Delhi it costs over 36L in Delhi on road along with the insurance. Sure buying cars down south is more expensive but Delhi is now not as cheap as it used to be especially for expensive cars. For 36L I too feel it's a bit too expensive hence resisting the urge of upgrading. A few friends picked up LR discovery sport for ~43-44L on road last year which to me seems to be a better deal at this price point. Though with the recent rupee depreciation I doubt we will see many new deals on these cars though.

Offtopic but just to clarify I didn't mean to suggest that Fortuner is any less of a vehicle than an X1. Rather I clearly mentioned that I love the Fortuner since day 1. It was infact the car I almost booked before buying the 320d. What I wanted to say was that in India one never thought that BMW and Toyota would be competing at the same price point, barring the LC and Prado.

Congrats for the new buy. It will serve you for many many years to come. I like the new styling and it looks the best from the front and sideways too. Just out of curiosity, does the 4x4 have the ability to be used on tarmac? I remember reading somewhere that the new Fortuner no longer has a center differential and so you cannot use 4x4 on paved roads. Then the other day I met a Toyota sales guy and he said you can definitely engage 4x4 on tarmac. So i was wondering what is it actually now..

Understand where you are coming from. But last I checked, some variants of Fortuner were priced higher than the X1 even in Australia.

Congratulations on your new Fortuner. I know the feeling of a peculiar satisfaction vs money spent. I splurged 42 Lakh (with choice number, ceramic coating, two cameras, Yokos AT, Fridge with compressor etc etc, everything except electric footsteps).

And after 18 months i still feel enthralled.

Hi,
If you don't mind, could you let me know whether the second camera is for the front?
If yes, then where did you source it from and what was the cost ? Have been looking for one since some time.

Oh! Its not for parking assist in front.
its dual camera dash cam Lukas-9370WD.
https://www.lukasdashcam.com/