To conclude, this car is for people who love to be in the driver’s seat and don’t care much about features. Dare I say, Fortuner is an enthusiast’s car. There is nothing of note to wow the family with, and honestly, most people will find it hard to justify paying so much for this car.
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Went out with my family to local Hyatt yesterday which is approximately 23 kilometres from my home, and got an experience of the car in both rush hour slow moving traffic as well as empty roads where i could stretch the car’s legs a bit.
This is the first automatic car I’ve driven in my life and trust me when i say this, it took me less than a minute to get used to it. I can already feel my love for manual transmissions waning by the minute.
Without further ado, I’ll list out the observations that i have:
Engine & Transmission
This is a gem of an engine. I’ve driven the 3.0L manual Fortuner (2015 model) extensively and this 2.8L engine just sounds so so smooth. The damping is excellent with only engine growl being heard at higher rpms. The car literally leaps ahead if I smash the accelerator and that put a good scare in my elder folk.
The Transmission feels like it’s hunting for gears at lower speeds 10-40kmph which can be clearly felt if you’re a car person, but overall I’m satisfied and it doesn’t feel like i need to plan an overtake. Just changing lanes and feathering the accelerator does the job(no need to smash it). Climbing uphill is a piece of cake as the car feels it’s sitting on huge reserves of torque even with 7 passengers on board.
I tried the ‘S’ mode as well as the road to the hotel property is under construction and is 4 km-ish distance downhill from the main road. I just put the car in S1 using the paddle shifters and literally glided down the road (chefs kiss). I haven’t used the hill descent control as i don’t know how to use it works yet.
I agree with the official review that ‘eco’ mode is the best for city use as ‘sports’ mode just makes the car too jerky if you don’t modulate the accelerator pedal carefully.
Presence & Visibility
The car has fantastic road presence and despite there being so many Fortuners already on our roads, people still turn their heads to look at it. The jaywalkers and two wheeler do respect the presence but only sometimes. It’s way better than my Ertiga though.
The frontal visibility is fantastic from the driver seat as well as the co passenger seats. Powered adjustments help a lot in finding the right driving position.
The rear view from IRVM is strictly average with a 3rd passenger on the middle row seat, not that visibility is great even with the seat left vacant. The IRVM being powered is a boon and I realise now, how great a feature it is.
The big ORVMs and reversing camera make life easy but i can totally understand a newbie who hasn’t driven big cars struggling to maneuver and park this beast in tight spaces.
NVH
Coming from an Ertiga, the NVH levels are fantastic on this car with the outside noise staying outside.
I was pleasantly surprised as the wheel wells don’t seem to have much cladding. The engine note as mentioned earlier is soft and pleasing to the ears and the horn isn’t heard much inside the car either.
Going downhill on a gravel road didn’t trasmit any noise into the cabin at all.
Ride Quality & Comfort
The car gives you the feeling that you’re sitting in a tank. Sitting in an Audi A4 gave me the same feeling.
The suspension feels solid (firm) when going over bumps and is you always hear a muted sound. At low speeds, one has to slow down for the sharp speed breakers no matter what but at higher speeds, if you miss spotting a breaker, just go over it on speed and it doesn’t faze the car even one bit. It’s that stable for a behemoth.
The car does make you feel it’s size on curves and the body roll can be felt but at no point does the car make you feel nervous or uncomfortable. I get nauseous in the last row seats of most cars, but even on a full stomach, I felt nothing of that sort in the Fortuner.
Overall, if i need to pick a car between Innova and Fortuner (4×2 with zero off roading) and have the money, I would still buy the Fortuner over Innova every single time. The presence and the looks alone are enough which make driving easy as people move out of the way, don’t cut lanes etc. and this may just be me, i find the comfort to be not so different in both the car’s. My point of reference is the old Innova which was replaced by the Crysta.
Features & Miscellaneous Observation
Well, what features? LOL. The Fortuner is shockingly low on features for a car at this price point. Nowadays, everyone right from kids to elders love exploring car features and well, their excitement ended when i took 30 minutes maximum to explain all the car features. My elder folk asked me: is that it? I could only smile sheepishly.
Oh well, the features Fortuner does have, work well and that’s what’s important.
I’ll summarise the good and not so good factors of the car, with observations apart from what I’ve already stated above.
The Good
- The AC is fantastic on all rows but gets excessively loud at higher blower speeds. The Dual zone feature is great and is being used all the time as my father prefers a less colder temperature while i need the air as cold as ice age, if possible.
- The seat ventilation is good but not great. Even at highest setting, i felt that it could be better for sure.
- Passenger side visor has both mirror cover and illumination. I actually forgot to check the driver side visor so i won’t say anything about it yet.
- Powered tailgate is a good to have feature and will surely come in handy.
- Request sensors on door is such a great feature. No need to take key out of pocket again.
- The headlights are great (in city) but do get faded out when someone is coming from the opposite side with equally powerful lights. The Rear foglamps are bright (will be useful in low visibility conditions) and enhance the looks as well.
- Lots of space in the cabin with an adjustable middle row seat. It can comfortably seat 3 people abreast as well. Both front seat back pockets get nifty foldable hooks. The door pockets are big enough to hold 1 litre bottles. The middle row additional gets AC blower controls which can be set to Auto or Manual (Gloster gets a full climate control console for the rear)
- Factory tinted glass makes life easier but I still feel that i would need to buy sun shades.
- Puddle lamps under the ORVMs and warning lamps on doors are bright and a good to have feature.
The Bad
- The car has lots of scratchy plastic all around which doesn’t look or feel good. Hopefully they don’t squeak over time.
- The infotainment system and the music quality is shockingly average. Stock system of Ertiga sounds much, much better. The screen is responsive to touch but the system overall has no place in a 40 lakh SUV.
- The middle row under thigh support feels inadequate for an average height person like myself. Can’t imagine how it would be for taller folks.
- The low beam is 100% going to be useless on highways as it’s angled too low. If i ride on decent speeds, I’ll need to use high beam all the time.
- Wheel well cladding or the lack of it, is an eyesore.
- The heavy bonnet doesn’t have gas struts and I would say it’s dangerous for a person with light build to open it without full attention or being distracted. The Hilux bed door which is heavy enough, almost caught me off guard and could’ve injured anyone standing close as it literally fell the moment i opened it as i had thought it would have pneumatic struts.
- No sunroof is a B-I-G miss. The weather in Dehradun as well as in nearby hilltowns would’ve allowed liberal use of the sunroof and upped the cabin ambience.
- The process of latching the seats back after people have moved to the third row is not for old or thinly built people as the seats are heavy and require some offered to be put back in.
I may have missed some points as the time spent with the car has been brief but i tried my best to recollect everything and pen it down. My s20+ camera is malfunctioning and does not take pictures properly, so i apologize for the not so clear pictures. This is also the reason for not posting more pictures.
To conclude, this car is for people who love to be in the driver’s seat and don’t care much about features. Dare I say, Fortuner is an enthusiast’s car. There is nothing of note to wow the family with, and honestly, most people will find it hard to justify paying so much for this car.
Am I a madman for being in sports mode throughout, in rush hour traffic?
Keyword: 2021 Toyota Fortuner 4x2 MT: 9 likes & 8 dislikes