[vigsom]

Introduction

“In this age of extended warranty, there exists a brute that can go on and on without a warranty policy. That’s because its very name stands guarantee.”

“The intent behind these posts is to showcase the virtues of this car, the legendary Toyota quality and also to help readers appreciate how an ageing Toyota Fortuner AT looks like – Hi handsome!”

- quoted from my thread on a 2014 Fortuner AT

Background

This story dates back to Nov-2021, dwelling on the hunt, the purchase experience and how all this culminated in a 2012 Fortuner AT arriving home and lighting up the life of bhpian @RAHS and family in Bengaluru.

[vigsom]

What’s so special about this acquisition?

1. Comes with its dose of daredevilry viz. picking up a one owner owned 2,42,000km done Fortuner 4 speed AT
2. In unbelievably good shape, all along maintained only by Toyota
3. Fulfilled @RAHS' aspiration to own a behemoth

Why I am writing this review

My thread on a 2014 Fortuner AT triggered bhpian @RAHS to reach out to me and clarify queries on his target purchase – a Fortuner automatic. His hunt led him first to a 2014 Fortuner AT and another 2012 Fortuner AT, both of which slipped away, but he ended up with another even better 2012 Fortuner AT that turned out to be the best deal of them all. While the review should have ideally been penned by him, @RAHS was keen that I should set the ball rolling; so here goes. Thank You, @RAHS for letting me set the tone of this review.

[vigsom]

Why Fortuner?

Bhpian @RAHS was extremely happy with his 2016 Renault Duster that has given him trouble-free service over the 45,000km covered this far. Like most of us, he was also bitten by the upgrade bug, and a big bug at that – wanting to move to the mighty muscular Fortuner AT. Top on his wish list was a 2014 Fortuner for a weird reason – the dark grey (almost black) dashboard as against the grey dashboard of the 2012 Fortuner.

Examples evaluated

He decided to look only at examples showcased at Toyota U Trust since he wanted to be absolutely sure of the service history and upkeep. Like most searches, this search also started off with some disappointments with both the following vehicles disappearing in no time of being announced for sale

1. A 2012 Fortuner AT, one owner owned, that had done 1,50,000km
2. A 2016 Fortuner 4x2 AT that had done some 1,25,000km, owned by a TKM employee

After two disappointments, @RAHS reached out but I told him to play the patience game, as the right car would not materialize in the first shot. Although he would be looking at a car via U-Trust and service records, I advised him to perform his own inspection on the engine, engine compression, coolant, tyres, the glass all around, oil leaks, steering, timing belt replacement, overall drive etc. While all this was happening, a two owner 2014 Fortuner AT had just arrived at U-Trust but was awaiting some refurbishment.

[vigsom]

A 2012 Fortuner AT enters the fray

While the 2014 Fortuner was still awaiting refurbishment, here comes a wild card entry - on the 5th of Dec 2021, @RAHS sent me pictures of a 2012 Fortuner AT that has just arrived at Toyota, and the owner was trading this in for a new Fortuner.

I observed the following from the pictures:

1. Neat bodyline
2. Excellent interiors for a 9 year old car
3. Yokohama Geolandar G015 tyres all around of mid-2020; condition of the tyres seemed to suggest they had approx. 30,000km of life left
4. Windscreen was not the original

The following day, @RAHS got to inspect the documents and here is what he found:

1. One owner KA-05 registered car
2. Insurance valid until end Mar-2022, and had been renewed every year without a break; current NCB was 50%
3. Original Road tax receipt also visible
4. Valid Emission certificate
5. The second key was also available. The owner manual could not be traced, though.

There was just one element that was proving to be concerning – the odo reading that was shown as 2,42,000km. Although @RAHS was convinced that the car was good, he was not sure if he should consider a car with such a high odo reading.

The car

Rear left view


Odo reading


The co-driver seat - a little compressed


View from the driver door


View of the second row


One of the wheels


The documents

Registration Card


Insurance - 50% NCB


RTO Tax Receipt

[vigsom]

Decision Making – Go-NoGo?

1. @RAHS was willing to let go of his desire to own a 2014 Fortuner with a dark grey dashboard.
2. I advised him that picking up a 2,42,000 km car came with risks, but picking up a well kept Toyota with full service history came with a much reduced risk.
3. His capital outflow for this 2012 Fortuner vs a 2014 Fortuner would save him a cool INR 4 lacs.

He did his due diligence, checked the service history, had the car inspected by Toyota for a fee.

D-Day in Dec-2021

The car was finally his in just four days from when he saw her first; I must compliment @RAHS for not hurrying through the purchase, but making an informed decision.

Smart car with a smart owner alongside




Seeking God's blessings




Heaven's choicest blessings showered on the car


At the new home


First cosmetic changes

Although the interiors were good, with no wear, he decided to get the front and middle row seats’ upholstery re-done. Reason: The co-driver seat was all compressed probably because a bulky person used to be seated there.

The seat in its compressed state


After beefing the seats up at Imperial Leathers




Steering leather before


Steering leather after - excellent job by Imperial Leathers


He ended up getting the first two rows of seats re-done for INR 30,000, plus the steering leather for INR 2,000. Next in line was reverse parking sensors with progressive gap warning beeps; he got this done at Toyota for INR 4,500.

Surprise #1 – Jan-2022

One cold winter morning, the car wouldn’t start. I asked him for a video, and told him that the battery had gone dead and wasn’t able to crank the engine. He called Toyota who jump started the car for him, and then advised a battery replacement. A new Exide battery was put in; post battery replacement, no issues whatsoever.

[vigsom]

My encounter with this 2012 Fortuner AT

I was in Bengaluru last weekend, and set up a quick meet with @RAHS to see him, and his mean machine for the first time. After a good breakfast at Paakshala @ J P Nagar, I spent a good one hour looking at the Fortuner in person. What surprised me was the overall condition of the car at the current odo of 2,48,000km.

Inspection and first drive

The engine note was just like new, no oil leaks, underside showed no abnormality, tyres were good for at least 20,000km. Yes, the bumpers and a few other panels had been touched up but wasn't something to be hugely worried about. After all, who'd want to see scratch marks on a Fortuner. I could spot just two minor visible signs of wear on this ten year old car – a small wear on the driver door panel, and weathering of the T logo on the steering wheel.

Post inspection, I drove the car up 11th Main Road at Jayanagar, and found the power delivery and gear shifts absolutely perfect. An automatic transmission in good health means smooth gear shifts with no jerks. The brakes were surprisingly better than my last experience with a Fortuner of this generation. When I asked @RAHS about how the brakes behaved at highway speeds, he mentioned that he had never faced scary situations during emergency braking. He narrated an incident where, on his way to Mantralayam, he encountered a bull that suddenly broke away from the herd, and stood in the middle of the highway. The car was able to stop abruptly with no fuss.

The Great

• Easily navigable through dense traffic
• Felt like a boss in the driver seat
• Cosy front seats
• Chiller of an Aircon
• Simple, yet functional dash
• Denso stock horns sound sweet, yet warn road users that a Toyota is coming. These horns go on and on and on

What could have been better

• Bumpy ride
• Average brakes – although much better than a 2010 Fortuner that I've driven
• High floor = uncomfortable seating for second and third row passengers
• Under-thigh support in the second row, although better with the beefed up seats, was still short of "best in class"
• I'd have liked the engine bay to be cleaner (this and the wheels are the two most important areas to spot for tell tale signs of something going wrong)

Front view


Front view with the headlamps and LED foglamps (upgrade by earlier owner)


Engine Bay


Underside


Center console


The odo reading


Front seats


View of the center row seats


Steering leather


View from front left door


Rear view


Slightly weathered T logo on the steering


Minor wear on the driver door panel

[vigsom]

Expenses in the approx. 6,000km of ownership so far

1. Seats (were done just for making them look like new) INR 30,000
2. Steering leather INR 2,000
3. Battery INR 7,000
4. Reverse parking sensors INR 4,500
5. Headlamps buffing INR 2,000

Total INR 45,500

Except the battery, the other expenses are only for the feel-good factor.

Over to you @RAHS

If maintained well, the Fortuner never ages; and I’ll now pass the baton on to @RAHS to do more of the talking..

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[RAHS]

@vigsom, Thank you so much for taking the time to create this thread on behalf of me, much appreciated! Although you wanted me to create this thread, from the content and quality perspective I thought you would be the right person. I will continue to build on this as I move forward with the ownership experience. Your suggestions were so crucial while shortlisting the car and decision making. I still remember those long conversations back in Nov-2021.

With God's grace everything went well and I was able to bring home this stallion. Owning a Fortuner was my long time wish. So it was truly a dream come true moment for me

I have covered about 6000 KM in last 6 months. Mix of City and Highway drives. Car is in excellent condition and brings smile on my face every time I sit on the driver's seat. AT is effortless to drive and makes life easy.

Previous generation Fortuners are built like a tank. It doesn't show its age. Thanks to the first owner who has maintained it really well. Most of the people were shocked when I said it's a 2012 model.

Overall I am extremely happy with the purchase. Multiple road trips already and many more lined up in coming days!

Special Thanks to @vigsom for all the timely advice and penning down this thread with so much of details

Just for viewing pleasure, here is the pic from our recent trip to Munnar.

Cheers,
RAHS

[CEF_Beasts]

Congratulations @RAHS and a shout out to @Vigsom Sir as well who always makes sure that another person doesn’t buy the wrong used car and who is also great at troubleshooting problems in one go!

At 2,48,000kms the car looks almost brand new! I am yet to touch 1,00,000kms on my 14’ Fortuner and mine has seen it’s fair share of scratches and dents in Mumbai traffic. If that’s the body of a 2012 Fortuner then hats off to the first owner to take such good care of the car.

If well taken car of, Toyota BoF cars can last for decades, with just maintenance done.

The fade on the silver accents of the steering wheel is way to less for a 2,48,000km car. Mine has already started fading at the edges.

My only gripe is why didn’t we pick up an AT . The AT mated to the almost lag free 3.0L D-4D is a gem be it the 4 speed one or 5 speed one. Not that our MT is any worse, it’s just that it becomes cumbersome in city traffic. We would’ve been able to keep the car for much longer had it been an AT.

For 30k the seat upholstery done makes the car look like it just rolled out of the factory.

I have a few question though:
1.) Why does the Registration Card show the car as a Fortuner 3.0L 2WD MT and not an AT?

2.) Is there a separate button that Toyota has fixed for the rear parking sensors?

3.) Do you plan to upgrade the Headunit system?

[Excommunicado]

Let me add one to the legend of Toyota Fortuner. Recently me and my brother visited Toyota showroom in Nashik to check out the Innova Crysta. The SA there told me an incredible tale that only something a Toyota can stand upto-

A 2012 Fortuner bought for ₹23 lakh then, which had done 4,96,000 km was bought back by Wasan Toyota, Nashik for ₹10.5 lakh. It was sold to another customer at ₹11,20,000. The original owner then decided to buy an Innova Crysta since he was getting old.

Now this is difficult to verify for privacy reasons but when someone says 112-3 win loss or 14 French Open titles, you say Rafael Nadal. Similarly when someone says the car has done 5,00,000km you can be sure it is a Toyota.

[sudhir.karat]

@vigom Excellent Review @RAHS Congratulations on your purchase. I own a similar 2012 model which has clocked over 300,000 Kms and still growing strong.

[Sandy Damodaran]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Why Fortuner?

.

@Vigsom You Simply Rock! Taking so much of effort for so many people buying pre owned vehicles. However, I do think that the heading is a bit misleading. For any pre owned BOF SUV, Fortuner is the default choice.

Having said that, I'am really happy this specific review has come after I got the Pajero Sport . I'am yet to see a Fortuner which, inspite of any type of abuse, not running like a dream during the time I was in the market for a pre owned vehicle. It's just that I have always been more partial to a Mitsubishi.

@RAHS Congratulations on your purchase.

[superchamp]

Originally Posted by RAHS

@vigsom, Thank you so much for taking the time to create this thread on behalf of me, much appreciated! Although you wanted me to create this thread, from the content and quality perspective I thought you would be the right person. I will continue to build on this as I move forward with the ownership experience. Your suggestions were so crucial while shortlisting the car and decision making. I still remember those long conversations back in Nov-2021.

With God's grace everything went well and I was able to bring home this stallion. Owning a Fortuner was my long time wish. So it was truly a dream come true moment for me

I have covered about 6000 KM in last 6 months. Mix of City and Highway drives. Car is in excellent condition and brings smile on my face every time I sit on the driver's seat. AT is effortless to drive and makes life easy.

Previous generation Fortuners are built like a tank. It doesn't show its age. Thanks to the first owner who has maintained it really well. Most of the people were shocked when I said it's a 2012 model.

Overall I am extremely happy with the purchase. Multiple road trips already and many more lined up in coming days!

Special Thanks to @vigsom for all the timely advice and penning down this thread with so much of details

Just for viewing pleasure, here is the pic from our recent trip to Munnar.

Cheers,
RAHS

Congrats on the new ride. This is definitely the best and sensible decision that you won't have to regret. Fortuner is a very powerful car with a great road presence.
I wouldn't say it's comfortable as the Crysta is but your trip to Munnar shows that it is comfortable for long trips as well.

[zaid qazi]

Congratulations. Absolutely love the fortuner, I am personally a fan of the second generation fortuner, the way it looks the 3.0L D-4D engine, the capability of the fortuner to do lakhs and lakhs of kilometers without breaking any sweat.