[Guderian]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

1. @Guderian - Thanks for sharing the snaps.

2. I should say it felt strange to see the snaps of beautiful flowers coming in from the General especially after all the T-Fort snaps. Softer side of the General i should say.

3. And where did you get that off roader from? I forget what is it called. Off roading in Coorg.

Hi Amit,
1. The pleasure is entirely mine. Just can't get over Coorg.

2. Have a confession to make - most of the snaps were clicked by my son !

3. Those are called Quad bikes or ATVs. Son and I usually pick up couple of them at the neighbouring estate which has an adventure trail/course etc and have a whale of a time. Those Quads are mean. To know what is real torque one should ride those nasties. The number of times I almost slide off the trail and almost into deep ravines is no joke - but the sheer torque brings one back with a slight flick of the wrist on the acclerator. Son too has some narrow shaves on those meanies. But real fun lies in learning to control them and tame the course. Despite the many heart in the mouth escapes - great fun.

[mdsaab]

Splendid snaps, have heard a lot about Coorg, seen a lot of snaps of coorg, only one part left and that is to experience Coorg.
There is an adventure park near Pune that has these ATV's and a course. Would love to ride em.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by mdsaab

Splendid snaps, have heard a lot about Coorg, seen a lot of snaps of coorg, only one part left and that is to experience Coorg.
There is an adventure park near Pune that has these ATV's and a course. Would love to ride em.

Thanks mdsaab !
Those are two things I'd recommend very seriously - Coorg for a must visit and Quad Bikes for a must try. Both great experiences.
Trust you shall experience both of them soon.

[amitwlele]

General the TOGO channel seems to be not following the program schedule.

If i remember correctly there was going to be an update from you about the things that bother you in T-Fort. Am i right? Not pushing you, just wanted to confirm that i read your earlier posts correctly.

[dot]

Thanks Amit for posting that. Yeah, I am waiting the whole day eagerly to find out what exactly are the shortcomings of Admiral. I mean, are there any?

[bluevolt]

Hi Guderian,

Came to this thread little late but as they say its better late than never. Congratulations for your Toyota Fortuner. As I can see by scanning the thread very quickly you are enjoying this beast at peak and she is too serving you well. Very nice pictures along with good thread compilation.
I will keep coming back to this thread. Drive safe.

[Guderian]

Sunday Togo Nama. May 8, 2011.

And after a rather eventful week for the world and me, what better way to unwind and refresh for the next week than to spend close to 5 hours on the Admiral !
And today it was the day for a thorough wash of the engine bay.

'Wet and Wild' ways of the Admiral:




From my experiences of the weekly cleaning and washing of the engine bay I noticed one thing from the earlier vehicle - Scorp. Even after 5 years and 113K KMs of running - I had not changed a single tube or hose. And all the hoses/tubea were very soft, pliant and supple. And whereas every other Scorp I used to see in the ASC even after 25 KMs used to have very brittle hoses/tubes. The long life of the rubber hoses/tubes on my Scorp could have been due to regular water washing is what I reckon. Some small point/s to keep myself motivated I guess - even it be wrong !

Even in my fight against global terrorism (read dirt) I have key allies. And let me introduce one of my key allies in the fight:


This KA ( a simple but dedicated ally) is deployed in many tactical routines and in 100 different terrains and scenarios.
A few shown here:

The vanes of the ECU box...


To routine stuff...


After use the ally is a little battle weary and is disposed off in a eco friendly manner. No, not taken back home for the family members to now use it as proper ear buds !


We shall fight this kind of terrorism anywhere it occurs, track the culprit, hunt him or her down and bring him or her to justice...

Has anyone here tasted pigeon soup ? Roast ? Fry ? Or any form of pigeon ? Planning to have a Pigeon food mela soon in the colony.
Sorry if I have hurt the feeling of PETA activists/vegetarians (I am, by choice, one myself)/pacifists/Animal Rights Organisations etc. But global/vehicle terrorism of this kind cannot be put up with indefinitely. We are duty bound to end the machinations and dark, evil designs of Al - Pigeona. And this we will.

This week showing you another minor design gem from the Admiral. This might be very common in the vehicles today. But compared to my earlier older gen Scorp, this is a leap for mankind.
And this is a very simple battery terminal (+ve) cover:


And why am I so kicked about it ? Because in my previous vehicle this was a moulded piece of plastic on the wiring harness. And once it broke/sheared off due to brittleness caused by heat etc you couldn't replace it unless you changed the entire section of wiring harness. And as I am particular about these items, I had to change the section of wiring harness once just for the cover. Cost me 600 bucks !
And so this design comes as a sheer relief. Small, but significant to me.


Has a little clip to remove it:


Easily removable. Especially when you remove the battery to clean up or otherwise:


Noticed the quaint design of terminal fastners - look at the bolt head - quite different from the normal ones found in other vehicles:


And Admiral is all fresh and glowing and ready to take on the world and the next week:



And now on to somethings I have been observing and mentioned that I'd list the items that are begining to annoy me or I dislike:

1. The biggest annoyance: Is that frankly there is nothing to get annoyed about ! Any other vehicle especially the Scorp one had a litany of items to be corrected by way of niggles etc and so your level of involvement with the vehicle was very high and therefore very engaging ! But this vehicle seems to convey - "Listen chum - just sit back, I'll do my stuff just don't interfere and we'll all be happy !". Makes you feel like an outsider. Touchwood ! And hope it continues for good. Typical Toyota others would sniff and pronounce. And I am experiencing it only now. To a certain extent it can get boring really.
So why did I use such strong word/s like annoyance/dislike etc ? To get attention, grab eyeballs - get high TRPs !!!

2. Some design improvements from a user perspective are certainly required. I had put up a list sometime ago - from the early days of ownership. Now those points were all at the touch, feel & sense levels and could have been as a result of a switch over from the earrlier vehicle. Like now I am rather comfortable and more with the seating position, thickness of the steering wheel etc etc. The points below are therefore purely from ease of daily use:

a. Some of the switches on the right console of the dash - next to the steering column are backlit and some aren't. The headlight leveller is so but the OVRM adjuster and dashboard illumination intensity controller are not:

The other night wanted to adjust the OVRM while driving in pitch darkness - pawed/fumbled below the dash quite a bit. And as Manuuj quipped (when I asked him to double check whether that panel was backlit or not) Admiral must have been left wondering about my dishonourable intentions after pawing him 'underneath' in the darkness !

b. The grab handles surely needs a redesign. The recessed, spring loaded, folding types would be the best. My son has this constant crib of banging his head on it every now and then:


The front passenger could do with just one (mid way between the current two) folding type. Wonder why two have been placed:


A better dead pedal please ! Arching of my foot is quite a bit with the current one when moving the foot to the pedal. I guess it should be at the same level as the clutch pedal:


c. The parking sensor is activated only when you switch it on. Wish it were automated - everytime you engage the reverse gear. One constantly keeps forgetting it and I don't like a switch to be left on - especially of there is a provision for it to be switched off. Quaint, but that's me !


d. Hey ! No USB/Aux port here. Son wanted to run his iPod off the system - couldn't and so...


e. This arm rest cum cubbyhole cover needs to be softer or padded. After market perhaps ?


f. Mentioned before - not so good quality of window beading. Works well but looks terrible.


Are there more ? Not sure. As time goes by shall update the list.

And till then, Aloha !

Have a great week ahead all of you - happy driving.

[nilanjanray]

Guderian,

Got your message. Too bad, but I understand that duty calls :-)

Will plan something in autumn.

[theexperthand]

They say you can judge a person by the way he acts when no one is around - I like to alter it and say - you can judge a gentleman by the way he treats his engine bay - and you sir, is one fine specimen. I have not come across many who are as meticulous as you about caring and cleaning up what lies under the bonnet.

We shall over come, we shall over come, we shall over come Al-pigeona one day...

Throughly enjoyed the Coorg pictures - next time when i visit Coorg, shall find a way to get my hands on a ATV.

[mdsaab]

@Guderian
Using buds for those tough to reach small areas, reminds me of when i use to clean the AC vents of the Matiz. I would wrap the car key inside a small cloth and go about cleaning the AC vents. But the ear buds are a great idea thanks.

The mirror switches as well as the light intensity switch should very well have been back-lit too. It's quite a shame that Toyota have omitted this really smalll, but highly necessary feature.

I think the grab handle on the A pillar is to help one climb into the vehicle. I have seen some oher huge SUV's have them on the A pillar as well. The one overhead should definately have been spring loaded, that's how they do em nowadays. But the front needs two one for holding onto when the going gets tough, and one as mentioned earlier to aid climbing inside.

Most manufacturers get the dead pedal wrong. I don't know why but it just is.

Parking sensor should have an option for auto engagement. But i am cool as long as there is a switch to operate. But yes leaving the switch on will bug the nuts out of me too. So i guess setting up a back up procedure is now a 2 step process, not including other precautionary measures.

Alright so many don't have the USB port. But no AUX in! that's taking it way too far.

Just a Q forgot if i have asked you before. Since you have driven both the Scorp and T-Fort ~ Is the Scorp really a scary handler on the highway? Is the T-Fort way ahead in this department?

[dot]

Originally Posted by Guderian

The biggest annoyance: Is that frankly there is nothing to get annoyed about

So why did I use such strong word/s like annoyance/dislike etc ? To get attention, grab eyeballs - get high TRPs !!!

Ha.

Originally Posted by Guderian

c. The parking sensor is activated only when you switch it on. Wish it were automated - everytime you engage the reverse gear.

IMHO, this is a sensible thing. Do you really need the sensor to activate when there is nothing for the poor fellow to report? Caveat: these golden words are coming from a chap who has never installed parking sensors and has a documented enmity against them.

Originally Posted by Guderian

d. Hey ! No USB/Aux port here. Son wanted to run his iPod off the system - couldn't and so...

Feel sad for your son since the feeling is mutual after picking up Scorponok. Then I found a fix.

Originally Posted by Guderian

e. This arm rest cum cubbyhole cover needs to be softer or padded. After market perhaps ?

Looks like it is lifted from Innova.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Guderian

Has anyone here tasted pigeon soup ? Roast ? Fry ? Or any form of pigeon ? Planning to have a Pigeon food mela soon in the colony.

Apparently quite a bit of research is happening on global issues created by the Pigeons and fellow birds.

Here is some information:
The Myth of Bird Droppings - Singapore Motoring News - Oneshift.com

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Hi Guderian,

Came to this thread little late but as they say its better late than never. Congratulations for your Toyota Fortuner. As I can see by scanning the thread very quickly you are enjoying this beast at peak and she is too serving you well. Very nice pictures along with good thread compilation.
I will keep coming back to this thread. Drive safe.

Thanks for coming here bluevolt !
But...splutter, choke, gasp...it's a he, not ssshe ! Admiral is a he - please don't even mention this within his earshot.But nothing to worry there are female Admirals too in the various Navies and couple in India too and you could be forgiven for an error.
But the Admiral here is a He ! Trust that shall be kept in mind.

And - thank you for the kind words too.

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Guderian,

Got your message. Too bad, but I understand that duty calls :-)

Will plan something in autumn.

Thanks Nils. That something in Sept would be a delightful break ! Thank you once again.

Originally Posted by theexperthand

They say you can judge a person by the way he acts when no one is around - I like to alter it and say - you can judge a gentleman by the way he treats his engine bay - and you sir, is one fine specimen.

Thanks teh. Though I'll be very careful stating I treat everything that lies under the bonnet with great care etc...you see bonnet has quite a few other meanings too ! Like a bee in your bonnet perhaps ?!!

Originally Posted by mdsaab

@Guderian
Using buds for those tough to reach small areas, reminds me of when i use to clean the AC vents of the Matiz. I would wrap the car key inside a small cloth and go about cleaning the AC vents. But the ear buds are a great idea thanks.

The mirror switches as well as the light intensity switch should very well have been back-lit too. It's quite a shame that Toyota have omitted this really smalll, but highly necessary feature.

I think the grab handle on the A pillar is to help one climb into the vehicle. I have seen some oher huge SUV's have them on the A pillar as well. The one overhead should definately have been spring loaded, that's how they do em nowadays. But the front needs two one for holding onto when the going gets tough, and one as mentioned earlier to aid climbing inside.

Most manufacturers get the dead pedal wrong. I don't know why but it just is.

Parking sensor should have an option for auto engagement. But i am cool as long as there is a switch to operate. But yes leaving the switch on will bug the nuts out of me too. So i guess setting up a back up procedure is now a 2 step process, not including other precautionary measures.

Alright so many don't have the USB port. But no AUX in! that's taking it way too far.

Just a Q forgot if i have asked you before. Since you have driven both the Scorp and T-Fort ~ Is the Scorp really a scary handler on the highway? Is the T-Fort way ahead in this department?

Hi mdsaab, Noted your comments.
Yes the TFort is way ahead of the Scorp in the handling department. I had an old Scorp CRDe with spring leaf suspension at the rear. So one can imagine the boat like bobbing in choppy seas. But I never had a problem as I learnt its ways pretty early on and thereafter handled it accordingly.
Was never a problem at all. Had only couple of scares - both round corners.

Though I have not seriously driven the recent MHawks except once or twice I felt that even here the TFort is far ahead in terms of road manners.

Originally Posted by dot

1. IMHO, this is a sensible thing. Do you really need the sensor to activate when there is nothing for the poor fellow to report? Caveat: these golden words are coming from a chap who has never installed parking sensors and has a documented enmity against them.



2. Feel sad for your son since the feeling is mutual after picking up Scorponok. Then I found a fix.



3. Looks like it is lifted from Innova.

Hi dot,
1. Well as mdsaab mentioned it becomes a two stage process. Sometimes I forget about it and then when I am halfway into the manoeuvre I remember it and then scramble to activate it. Safety hazard as per me ! Well if one doesn't have it at all you'll be more careful and it's less of a distraction to switch it on etc.

2. Shall catch up some time on that fix.

3. Well no clue about that as I have never had an experience of the Innova as a driver - only as a passenger in Innova taxis that dot our country !

Originally Posted by vb-san

Apparently quite a bit of research is happening on global issues created by the Pigeons and fellow birds.

Here is some information:
The Myth of Bird Droppings - Singapore Motoring News - Oneshift.com

Thanks vb-san. Shall be carefully going through it. Besides of course the damn vermin is a health hazard as well.

[Off Roadie]

@ guderian, lovely read as usual, have actually eaten tandoori pigeon Egyptian style and it is quite good, I'd rate it between Chicken and Duck meat =P.
Managed to clock 5000 kms in the Scorp finally and she will be going in for her first service tomorrow, although I have typed a lot for my ownership review, am awaiting an opportunity to click some snaps before I start posting and that is something I just can't do in my building or everyone in my society will think that I have lost it.

[Akshay1234]

I don't think I have commented on this thread before. But Kudos Sir to you. What a comprehensive review. The Fortuner will truly last you a decade easily, that is if you do keep it that long.

Also noticed your crib about there being no usb/ipod source. Something like this should set that right -
USA SPEC: iPod to Vehicle Interfaces

I only wish I could also spend a few hours with my V6 every week. But its parked in the basement with terrible lighting, and if I bring it out and park it all the building drivers would stare and wonder why a kid is fiddling about with his car for so long. Check out my thread, you may like it.