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2021 Toyota Fortuner 4x2 Diesel AT: Driving experience

8th December 2021, 12:20 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

The SUV pulls strongly in the mid-range and achieves triple-digit speeds in no time. The top-end seems to be dead; no point in taking the engine till the redline.

BHPian Sanidhya Patel recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

After Ford left India, Fortuner's direct rival is MG Gloster. According to me, the Fortuner is very much rock-solid and way much oriented towards the way it is to be driven. I had driven the 4x4 Fortuner with 178 BHP 2.8L Diesel but now it was time to drive the 2.8 with a massive 204 BHP.

Pros

Macho look and feel
Great road presence
Powerful engine
Effortless to drive
Ready for off-road

Cons

Transmission takes its own sweet time to shift in 'D' mode
Misses out on common features at the price point
Lots of hard plastics on offer
Costlier than what it has to offer
Heavy steering at low speeds

Exterior

From the front, the car resembles its nature. It looks aggressive and sturdy. It has a piano black radiator grille surrounded by all-LED projector headlamps with LED DRLs. Coming below it has proximity sensors with LED foglamps and below it and more you go down you notice weirdly placed turn indicators for the reason best known to Toyota.

A glimpse of the projector setup.

A macho front look.

At the rear, you get an all-LED taillamp combo with a high mounted stop lamp in the spoiler which is also an LED Unit. A rear wiper with a washer and a rear parking camera aided with parking sensors on the bumper are also welcomed.

Interior

Toyota, as usual, has given all-black interiors. All the seats are comfortable and there are no ergonomic issues. The steering feels big and heavy to hold with buttons to control the infotainment system and the display in the instrument cluster, it's adjustable for both tilt and telescopic functions. Adding to this, the vehicle is also equipped with paddle-shifters and cruise control whose stalk is clearly visible behind the wheel.

The left stalk is for wipers and the washer and wipers are automatic too, and the right stalk controls headlamps and signals. The vehicle is also equipped with auto-headlamps.

The instrument cluster is basic with an analogue speedometer and tachometer with fuel and temperature gauges with a lot of telltale lights. In the center, there is a TFT display that shows the audio track, real-time fuel eco, DTE, trip meters, etc.

The infotainment system is basic and has normal things to do. The vehicle was equipped with a non-branded 8 speaker audio system which had decent audio output, unlike the 11-speaker JBL audio which is found in 4x4 variants. The Legender variant gets dual-zone climate control but this had single zone but ventilated seats on offer. Moving towards the left the car has two glove boxes. The upper one is cooled and the larger lower one is lockable. The IRVM is auto-dimming. Thanks, Toyota for no more cost-cutting here.

Thanks to the infotainment system that has physical controls too.

Auto-dimming IRVM for the win.

Engine, Transmission & Capabilities

The vehicle is offered with 4 drivetrain combos:

2.7L Petrol with 6-speed Manual
2.7L Petrol with 6-speed Torque Converter
2.8L Diesel with 6-speed Manual (450 Nm Torque)
2.8L Diesel with 6-speed Torque Converter (500 Nm Torque)

For the petrol variants, no one pays attention to them as they are serious gas guzzlers. The variant which I drove was a 2.8L diesel 4x2 with a 6-speed torque converter. As soon as you start the engine, the vehicle starts with near to no vibrations, unlike the previous-gen 3.0L D4D variants which used to shake the entire vehicle to its nerves. The cabin is silent and calm. In the Normal mode, there is power from as low as 1300-1400 RPMs which is similar to the sports mode. One can notice the progress the engine makes from such low revs as the turbo-lag is very well contained. The car pulls strongly in the mid-range which helps to achieve triple-digit speeds in no time. The top-end seems to be dead and no point in taking the engine till redline. In the Eco mode, things dull down. The throttle inputs become less aggressive, the air-con works on the lowest consumption possible and the gearbox takes its own sweet time to shift and tries to stay in the highest gear possible. Put it in the Sports mode (both for the transmission and engine) and the car flies, shifts happen smoothly and quickly, shifts at high rpms and keeps the motor on the boil.

The 2796cc turbocharged inline-4 diesel with 204 BHP and 500nm torque.

Notice the blue cap? It's the Ad-Blue Filler in the engine bay unlike other cars having besides the fuel filler cap.

The shifter for the 6-speed torque converter that has manual mode.

Drive modes buttons with traction control button. Auto Start-Stop to reduce fuel consumption.

The vehicle can be taken for soft off-roading as its equipped with a very good traction control system and Auto LSD (Limiting Slip Differential) on the rear axle whereas the 4x4 comes with a ton of off-roading goodies like Differential Locking, a multi-range transmission for 2H, 4H and 4L with Active Hill Descent Control (which uses brakes) etc.

Space & Additional Features

All the headrests are adjustable in the vehicle. The second-row seats offer good legroom even when pushed all the way forward and under-thigh support is also good. There is a center arm rest with two cup holders and the middle row also features reclining seats with one hand tumble down capabilities for easy and quick in and out of third-row passengers.

Rear legroom is more than adequate for passengers like me who are 6 ft 2 in tall.

Center arm rest with two cup holders.

The third-row seats feel a bit cramped with little under-thigh support for a big guy like me but are adequate for long journeys who are 5.6 ft to 5.8 ft. The third row is manually operated and doesn't create a flatbed and need to be hung sideways in the hooks provided, unlike its rival Endeavour which had an electric operation.

The boot is pretty decent at 330L with all the rows up. Gets things done for a weekend picnic.

Talking about the rubber, the vehicle which I drove was equipped with 265/65 R17s Bridgestone Dueler All-Terrain tires. The 4x4 variants get 18 inchers while the profile decreases i.e. 265/60 R18s and changed alloys. Toyota used to offer a full-sized alloy spare but now switched over to a space saver steel wheel.

The 265 section Bridgestone Dueler All-Terrain Rubber

Features-wise the car is equipped with necessary ones like 7 Airbags, ABS, EBD, Vehicle Stability Management, Hill Hold Assist, all-wheel discs, etc. Plus there is an ultrasonic sensor in the cabin which senses motion in the cabin when the vehicle is locked. If found so it starts flashers and honks to give alert. It also has an anti glass breaking system that detects if any of the windshields or windows are broken due to criminal activity and alerts for the same. All the windows and windshields are heat-reflecting and acoustic glasses.