[Guderian]

Originally Posted by getsurya

Thanks for our dope on the wheel alignment, will serve as a reference point and a guide. So, it is advisable to get this done every 10000 km to keep the system smiling.

Hi Get,
Thank you for the words of appreciation.
Yes, it would be advisable to get the wheel alignment done every 10K KMs - or whenever you find the steering awry - which, going by my experience of the Fortuner and knowing the way you care for BOSS, would be rather rare.
I have got it done 4 times in the last 50K KMs - the last one done more because of my worries than anything going awry. And all the 4 alignments were carried out after heavy bashing during the various OTRs. And more for my mental peace, may I add.
For normal city and even rough patch driving nothing much should/would happen to the alignment.

Originally Posted by kaizanfan

Thoroughly enjoyed reading the analogy part with Nirupa Roy and Nurse all in the scene, more than the technical stuff. Thanks a lot Guderian for sharing every bit with a good punch of humor.

Thank you Kaizenfan.
How has been your experience been with the 4X2 Fortuner A/T ? Would be keen to know !

[dean5545]

Happy birthday Admiral !!
May you run lakhs of trouble free eventful and joyful km!
Congratulations guderian on completing 3 years on your ride.

[Guderian]

Feb 27, 2014.

Admiral completed 3 years of service yesterday & entered Year - IV today.

Spirit of Fleet Admiral Togo Heihachiro.




Exit figures of year -III:

...Or 27,622.57 Nautical Miles.

FE:


And now for some interesting figures.

Total KMs: 51,157.
Total Fuel/Diesel Consumed: 4337.37 Lts.
Total Cost of Fuel: Rs. 2,12,192.85
Total Service Cost at ASC: Rs. 30,535.
(Total No of Services - 11. Cost/Serv - Rs. 2775.90)
Insurance Charges (Ys-II,III &IV): Rs. 83,508.
GDW Charges: Rs. 12600.
Misc Charges (puncture repairs/pills, potions & lotions etc): Rs.2210.
Brake upgrade charges: Rs. 6541.
Ext. special washing (after OTRs): Rs. 899
Ext Wheel alignments: Rs. 1450


Cost/s Per KM:
Service: 0.60 Paise.
Fuel/Diesel cost per KM: Rs.4.15.
Insurance cost: Rs.1.63.
GDW Charges: 0.25 Paise.
Misc Charges: 0.04 Paise.
Brake upgrade: 0.13 Paise.
Ext special washing: 0.02 Paise.
Ext Wheel alignments: 0.03 Paise.

Total cost per KM (3 years) of all the above elements: Rs. 6.84.



There is this one guy I would really like to thank at this point of time:


This is my Man Friday - Ramchandar. Our GDW. Ram has been with us for over 12 years now. And keeps Admiral and the LoH's car in fabulous condition. Great technique, understanding of the vehicles and exactly what needs to be done when there is a bad spot or muck without damaging anything. Exteriors and interiors are kept in spotless condition. And if Admiral is still resplendent after all these years the lion's share of the credit should go to Ram.
He started with our Zen, moved on to the Scorpio and now administers Admiral & Bunny.
Here he's seen with his pride - a Honda Splendor.
Thank you mate !


And Admiral sails forth into his fourth year of service...under orders 'Engine Full Ahead' !


Aloha.

Originally Posted by dean5545

Happy birthday Admiral !!
May you run lakhs of trouble free eventful and joyful km!
Congratulations guderian on completing 3 years on your ride.

Hi dean5545,
You beat me to it man...and hats off to you for remembering !
Thank you very much for the good wishes and for being around.

[Monaro CV8]

Hail Generale'

Heartfelt wishes to you and the Admiral for a delightful 3 years!

How time flies?!
And looking back at how well we have conquered many tracks, trails, mountains, lakes, oceans, Highways, jungles, etc. etc.

Hoping to keep riding along the Admiral for many future endeavors to come..

[getsurya]

Total cost per KM (3 years) of all the above elements: Rs. 6.47

That is a great capture of metrics!

Congratulations for breaching the 3 year mark and doing it regally! Looking at your car's gleam it is not exaggerating to say that the ride can be mistaken for a 1 year old car(albeit the 'classic' looks giving it away!)

Many thanks for all the guidance, passion & the information on how to buy, maintain & enjoy a Fortuner

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by Monaro CV8

Heartfelt wishes to you and the Admiral for a delightful 3 years!

How time flies?!
And looking back at how well we have conquered many tracks, trails, mountains, lakes, oceans, Highways, jungles, etc. etc.

Hi Monaro,
You're right - time flies and how ! Though it feels that we got home Admiral just yesterday.
And after reading your post I realised that we've had quite a few drives and adventures (and hair raising ones at that) in the last 3 years. Great fun really.
Had never imagined initially that the Fortuner could be an effective weekday and weekend traveller at the same time.
Thank you !

Originally Posted by getsurya

Congratulations for breaching the 3 year mark and doing it regally! Looking at your car's gleam it is not exaggerating to say that the ride can be mistaken for a 1 year old car(albeit the 'classic' looks giving it away!)
Many thanks for all the guidance, passion & the information on how to
buy, maintain & enjoy a Fortuner

Thank you getsurya. My pleasure entirely. And must say I've been getting a lot of dope from your thread as well.
Hoping to meet BOSS someday soon !

[F150]

Greetings general on the completion of 3yrs with admiral.

Any anniversary presents planned for admiral for the third anniversary ? In the form of fresh tyres

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by F150

Greetings general on the completion of 3yrs with admiral.

Any anniversary presents planned for admiral for the third anniversary ? In the form of fresh tyres

Hi F150,
Thank you.
Yes - change of tyres is certainly on my mind. Tyres will possibly need to be changed before the end of the year. Though it appears to have life for another 10K+ KMs, I am not very comfortable waiting till I squeeze out the last KM from them. Looking at various possibilities.

[Guderian]

For a long time Admiral hadn't stretched his legs. So we (the LoH & I should I clarify ?) decided to pay a quick visit to Pune and shock a friend.
What better gift for Admiral on the 3rd anniversary ?
And I decided to make it more interesting, much to the chagrin of the LoH, to see whether I can test out the ol' boy's FE capability and check whether he still retains the old competency.

Started.

The FE here on starting today was after filling up the tank and running for about 44 KMs in the city yesterday.



It was a beautiful day to drive. Glorious sunshine. Cool breeze. Fuming lady.


Fuming ? We had to get back fast for another engagement early evening and yet here I was driving like a doddering old fool according to the good lady. I drove at a steady 90KMPH.

At Khalapur toll booth. A good climb.


At Pune. The city traffic wasn't too bad. But would impact the FE champioship position/s I thought.

The looks still take my breath away.




We turned back for the return run in a trice.
What a fabulous day to keep driving on & on.
Fearing a serious backlash I increased my speed to by 10 KMs/Hr to reach the three digit number and kept it steady there. The fuming reduced a little.



Hello Cousin...signalled Admiral.


The most hated sign on return.


At the end of the E-Way, grinding halt & the FE figure showed:

In this jam:

And seeing the above I thought I had lost the pole position in the FE championship race.

But Admiral sailed on and we reached the final marker buoy. We clocked in all:


And the FE showed:


Not bad eh ?

And we were well within the time limit set by the LoH.

Next time around I am going to keep it nailed at 70KMPH and see if I can breach the 17KMPL mark.
And if the good lady is with me I'll make noises with my mouth to create an impression of very high speed.

And not a bad day at all I'll say !

[smekad]

Herr Guderian. I have been following your thread for a while now. I must say you have been an inspiration for me to book my own white beast :-).

I have one question on the clutch for 4x4. I found it a little hard on test drive vehicle. I tried 2 different beasts but both similar. Could you let me know if the older model has similar feel or it becomes progressively better?

Thanks!

[kaizanfan]

Guderian, did you use cruise control or did you maintain the speed manually?

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by smekad

Herr Guderian. I have been following your thread for a while now. I must say you have been an inspiration for me to book my own white beast :-).

I have one question on the clutch for 4x4. I found it a little hard on test drive vehicle. I tried 2 different beasts but both similar. Could you let me know if the older model has similar feel or it becomes progressively better?

Thanks!

Hi smekad,
Great to hear that and congratulations ! And glad that this thread was of help to you and to note that the tradition of TBHP continues, which is fabulous.
I had picked up Admiral after thoroughly going through the first official review of the Fortuner here (by GTO) and the great ownership threads of Manuuj & Nilanjan.

Coming to your query. Frankly, hardness of the clutch is very relative. I guess if you are moving from a sedan/hatchback it could feel a wee bit harder - as I feel compared to the LoH's Alto K10. Hardly anything though.
Whereas when I had got Admiral (circa Feb 2011 make) I had moved up from a Scorpio CRDe which was far more harder and I had developed enviable quadriceps on my left leg in 5.5 years of its use.

But overall I'd say that to my senses the clutch on Admiral is pretty soft.

Originally Posted by kaizanfan

Guderian, did you use cruise control or did you maintain the speed manually?

Hi kaizanfan,
Admiral doesn't have the standard cruise control feature being from the older generation of Fortuners.
So I had to rely on the FCC feature - Foot Cruise Control !
Works pretty well I must say and the driver involvement is total and complete - which is my preferred driving mode. (Wink wink)

[manmohanmaan]

Hey Goody Saar, nice update and the Admiral looks as good as new even today. Shows your love and the good care you have taken. Congratulations on the anniversary as well as the blistering and detailed pace you have kept on this log. The effort is something not many of us can manage, wonderful job, looking forward to many more years of this wondrous journey.
Manmohan.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by manmohanmaan

Hey Goody Saar, nice update and the Admiral looks as good as new even today. Shows your love and the good care you have taken. Congratulations on the anniversary as well as the blistering and detailed pace you have kept on this log. The effort is something not many of us can manage, wonderful job, looking forward to many more years of this wondrous journey.
Manmohan.

Mananiya Shri Manmohanji,
There you are. Quite your nature - to speak up and to come to this important constituency...just around the election time.

Welcome back and thank you for the kind words and good wishes.
Yes, it's been great fun with Admiral and this thread and I too look forward to more of it (touchwood !).

And so, what's news from your Fortuner - Balvinder is its moniker, if I am not wrong ? It's been nearly three years almost and I am still awaiting your ownership thread. Trust it's doing good and that you are having a grand time with it. Do write in (even on this thread would be a pleasure) and let us know your progress.

Good luck.

[Ahmed]

Successfully completed reading your thread the n'th time HG! Just for the sake of reading your kind words. Love your attention to detail and hope Toyota uses you for Fortuner endorsements !