[graaja]

I brought home an Attitude Black Toyota Fortuner 4x4 AT this July to replace my BMW 330i GT.

What I like:

• Tank-like build
• Hydraulic steering with excellent feedback
• The ability to tackle bad roads without breaking sweat
• High seating position gives an excellent view of the road and the traffic ahead
• Loads of boot space to carry my Astrophotography equipment
• The AC is very effective and cools the car quickly, even when the sun is harsh. The 2nd and third rows also get their own AC vents.
• The 11-speaker audio system has excellent sound quality
• Ventilated seats
• Comfortable middle-row seats with adjustable inclination and very usable third-row seats
• Toyota’s reliability, customer care, and low maintenance costs

What I don’t like:

• The engine gets very gruff and noisy at 2000 RPM and above
• Very heavy steering gets tiring when operating at slow speeds, while taking U-turns, etc.
• Small AdBlue tank requires a refill between scheduled oil services
• The unknown behavior of DPF regeneration in high altitudes
• It is low on features, as it misses a 360-degree camera, rain-sensing wipers, memory seats, etc.
• No wireless CarPlay or Android Auto
• No provision to play music from a USB drive or SD Card. Needs a phone to play music
• Thigh support is not that good in the 2nd and 3rd row seats
• Bouncy ride at low speeds
• 4x4 AT comes with H/T tires. 4x4 deserves A/T tires

[graaja]

I will use this post as an index for important future events like services, upgrades, etc. This will make it easy for users to locate the topic of interest without having to browse through many pages.

Table of Contents:

Car Selection
Booking, PDI, and Delivery Experience
Change to A/T Tires, TPMS Installation, PPF
Exteriors
Interiors - Seats and Climate Control
Interiors - Steering Wheel and Control Switches
Storage and Space
Entertainment System, Instrument Cluster, and Interior Lighting
Engine and Gearbox, Ride and Handling, Safety, and DPF
Conclusion: From a Fast Sedan to a Rugged SUV, Final Thoughts

Important Updates:

Modiber 360-Degree Camera Installation
Monsoon Drive to Goa and Maharashtra - July 2024

[graaja]

Car Selection:

The BMW 330i GT had served me well for 6.5 years. Detailed ownership experience can be found in below thread.

A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue 330i GT M Sport Comes Home

I created lots of good memories with the car—the road trips to Arunachal and Meghalaya, Leh and Hanle, my regular astrophotography trips to Coorg carrying all my equipment, trips to Goa for my triathlons, and numerous other trips in South India. I planned to keep the car for at least eight years, but that new car itch started in June.

Though I drove the 3GT through very bad roads during my Arunachal and Hanle road trips, I was still limited by its capability and had to skip some routes (for example, the road from Pangong Tso to Hanle) that required a proper SUV.

I wanted to upgrade to a more capable car that could take me (and my astrophotography equipment) to more places, places that the 3GT could not. Only an SUV could do this. So, I listed the following requirements.

• An SUV with high ground clearance and 4x4 or AWD.
• Preferably a turbo petrol engine, but open to diesel if the DPF regeneration is handled well
• High reliability. I should be able to drive the car to any place without any worries
• High on safety, preferably 5-star Global NCAP rating
• Comfortable rear seats
• Ample cargo space. Though the 3GT had very good boot space, the spare wheel occupied part of the boot space, and I had to install a roof box to carry my equipment during the astrophotography trips.
• Good dealership network and customer service
• I love technology. Gizmos like a digital instrument cluster, 360-degree camera, ambient lighting, etc., would be an added bonus.
• Budget: 65L, can stretch to 75L

Vehicles Considered:

BMW X3 M40i or X3 30i with xDrive:

The X3 M40i is my dream car, but its 1.1 crore on-road price was way over my budget.

An X3 30i with xDrive would be fun to drive and, due to the higher ground clearance, could handle bad roads better than the 3GT. The car comes loaded with technology and would be a good upgrade (at least lateral) to the 3GT. However, BMW stopped making the X3 30i.

X3 20d was the only option available, but it cost 95 lakhs on-road. Even with good discounts, this would not fit my budget. So, with a heavy heart, I had to drop these models from my list.

Skoda Kodiaq:

For a long time, Skoda Kodiaq has been at the top of my list as a potential replacement for the 3GT. This car ticks a lot of boxes. It has higher ground clearance than the 3GT and can take bad roads, the DCC can provide both a comfortable ride for the family and when in the mood and roads and traffic allow, can also be sporty in sports mode, the 2.0TSi and the DSG combo would provide good performance, the car has ample storage space when the third row is folded, and has lots of gizmos like the digital cockpit, 360 camera, panoramic sunroof etc.

However, when I spoke to a few friends with experience with the Skoda dealer at Coimbatore, everyone discouraged me from buying a Skoda. As I wanted trouble-free ownership, though my heart was all for a Kodiaq, I also had to drop this from my list. I did not even go for a test drive.

VW Tiguan:

The next consideration after Kodiaq was the Tiguan. I have had a decent experience with VW dealers in Coimbatore with Jetta and Polo GT. Though the experience is nowhere near what I have had with BMW, it was not bad either. I booked a test drive, and after a couple of days, a sales executive from VW brought the Tiguan for a test drive.

The Tiguan felt more car-like in handling. The 2.0TSI + DSG combo was very smooth and had adequate power. The Tiguan also has good technology, such as a virtual cockpit, panoramic sunroof, adaptive headlights, etc.

The Tiguan had a few drawbacks. Its very stiff suspensions made it very harsh to ride at city speeds. However, this was a solvable problem.
A friend who owns the Tiguan has changed to Koni shocks and reported that this significantly improved the low-speed ride comfort.

Compared to the Kodiaq, Tiguan has less boot space and would not fit all my Astro equipment. I will have to use the roof box.

Though the Tiguan may have better ground clearance than the 3GT, it is still a softroader and may not be able to handle some terrain I may encounter on my road trips.

Overall, I was not excited about Tiguan as an upgrade at all.

Audi Q5:

The Audi Q5 is comparable to the Kodiaq, and I thought of checking it out. But again, I heard very bad reviews about Audi support in Coimbatore and reliability concerns. Considering the usage I was planning. I still wanted to check the car out and booked a test drive, but I got no response from Audi. I no longer felt like pursuing this and dropped it off the list.

Ford Endeavour (or Everest):

Many friends suggested that I wait for Ford to bring the Endeavour. But I did not wait for two reasons. First, Ford has not officially announced this. It's all still a rumor. Second, even if Ford brought the Endeavor or Everest, it would be a CBU and would mostly be priced atrociously.

So far, my search for a replacement has been disappointing.

Enter the Fortuner and Hilux:

I was speaking to BHPian Quicksilver, a close friend of mine, and when I mentioned my requirements, he told me to check out the Toyota Fortuner and Hilux. He said Toyota is the best choice if I was looking for a peace-of-mind ownership experience. Both the Fortuner and Hilux are built like tanks and can handle the worst of the worst roads, and the Toyota customer experience is very good.

I love sedans for their agility. I loved pushing the Jetta or the 3GT on curvy mountain or forest roads. An SUV would take away this fun. At least monocoque designs will provide some level of driving fun. But a body-on-frame SUV will completely take this away. This is the reason why, in my initial list, I had the Kodiaq, Tiguan, and Q5 and not the Fortuner or the Hilux.

I love luxury and technology in cars, and the Fortuner and the Hilux miss out on this. My friend told me the same luxury and technology is what make these cars unreliable. In addition to the bad dealership experience, it can become a pain owning these cars with the kind of usage I put the cars through. For example, though I greatly enjoyed driving the BMW in Ladakh, Arunachal, and Meghalaya, there was always a small fear of what would happen if the car developed some problem. The last dealership in the northeast is in Kolkatta, and in the north, I think it is Chandigarh. I still undertook these trips because BMWs are generally more reliable. This will not be the case with a Kodiaq, Tiguan, or Q5. These cars are not known to be reliable and, at the same time, do not have a dealership network like Toyota.

After considering my priorities, I decided to sacrifice the fun-to-drive part and check out the Fortuner and Hilux.

I decided to visit the showroom and have a look at both cars. It was a Sunday, and I took my daughters with me. At the showroom, I was received by Mr. Rahul, a senior sales consultant. He showed me both cars and immediately arranged for a back-to-back test drive of the cars.

I found the ride quality a little better in the Hilux compared to the Fortuner. And Hilux had an imposing road presence. However, the rear seat comfort was totally lacking in the Hilux. The seats were upright, and there was no option to adjust the incline. They also lacked thigh support. It would be fine for short drives. However, long drives can be very uncomfortable for rear-seat passengers. The most significant advantage of the Hilux was the huge storage space. However, I did not have use for such a huge storage space.

The Fortuner was much more practical with more comfortable rear seats with adjustable inclination. Even the third-row seats were very usable. The Fortuner had decent boot space that could hold a couple of suitcases with the third-row seats up. With the third-row seats folded, the boot space was quite decent. I could easily load my portable Astrophotography setup and some more luggage. With the 2nd row seats too folded, the boot space becomes enormous.

Though my heart wanted the Hilux, my mind was all for Fortuner. My elder daughter liked the Hilux, while my younger daughter liked the Fortuner.

I asked Mr. Rahul to bring both cars home so that we could do another long test drive, this time with my wife. As promised, he got the cars home the next day, and I did a couple of long test drives of both cars.

Hilux parked in the portico. There is barely space for someone to squeeze through when the gate is closed.


The Fortuner is a better fit in the portico.


My wife totally ruled out the Hilux for its uncomfortable rear bench. She also did not like the pickup truck design. She liked the Fortuner for its practicality as a seven-seater, relatively more comfortable rear seats, etc.

So, I decided to go ahead with the Fortuner. Some friends suggested I wait for the next generation to come. But there is no idea when this will happen. It may take a couple of years. But I needed the car now!

Color and Variant Selection:

The Fortuner has three 4x4 AT variants: the regular 4x4 AT, the Legender, and the GRS. The on-road prices of these variants are listed below.

Fortuner 4x4 AT - 52.92 Lakhs
Fortuner Legender 4x4 AT - 59.52 Lakhs
Fortuner GR Sport 4x4 AT - 64.42 Lakhs

The regular and Legender versions were almost 6.5 lakh apart. The only differences between the regular 4x4 and Legender were the body kit, dual-tone exteriors, and headlights. The GRS had sports suspensions but missed out on the 11-speaker music system and ventilated seats. I did not feel it justified a 12 lakh price difference with the regular 4x4 AT, so I decided to go with an Attitude Black 4x4 AT version.

[graaja]

Booking, PDI and Delivery

I had a fantastic experience with the booking and delivery process. The sales consultant, Mr. Rahul, was very responsive, from promptly arranging the test drive cars to ensuring a smooth delivery experience and helping with transferring the NCB from my BMW insurance; he was there all the way. I would rate the booking and delivery experience 5 stars.

This was the breakup of the official on-road price:

Ex-showroom: 42,32,000/-
TCS @1%: 42,320/-
Road tax and registration: 8,49,700/-
Insurance: 1,67,887/-
Extended warranty: 49,692/-
Smiles (1 year or 10,000 km): 8,100/-
Fastag: 700/-
Total: 53,50,399/-

They offered me the below discounts, which were worth 1 lakh:

Extended warranty offer: 20,000/-
Special offer: 60,000/-
Insurance offer - 20,000/-
Discounted on-road price: 52,50,399/-

As I will get a refund of the TCS amount when I file my taxes, the effective cost of the car is INR 52,08,079/-

I booked the car in the first week of July, and the expected delivery was in the first week of August.

During the same time, our driving group from Bangalore was planning a monsoon drive to Maharashtra in the last week of July. As we expected to travel through heavy rains and broken roads, we decided the BMW 3GT would not be capable of this drive. I was planning to join Dr.AD in his Thar. I asked Mr. Rahul if there was a chance to make the delivery before this monsoon drive. He said he would check inventory with the factory and other dealers and try to get it done. Within a week, he messaged me that he would be able to arrange the delivery by 3rd week of July.

The car arrived at the dealership on July 15th. I did a PDI on July 16th and released the payment the same day. The dealer completed the registration formalities in the next couple of days, and I took delivery on July 19th. Then we visited a temple nearby and finished the new car rituals.

A few pictures from the PDI and delivery.

This is the first glimpse of the car at the dealership. I just did a high-level PDI, like thoroughly checking for any physical damages, checking VIN number and manufacturing date, odometer, etc.




The factory sticker shows the car is fresh from the factory.


The showroom team had quite an elaborate PDI checklist.




Taking delivery of the car.


Puja rituals in a nearby temple.

[graaja]

Change to A/T Tires, TPMS Installation and PPF

The car came with Bridgestone Dueler H/T tires (ironically, the 4x2 variant comes with A/T tires), which are meant for highways. As I will be taking the car on drives with very bad roads and maybe some mild off-roading, I wanted to change the H/T tires to A/T tires.

I first decided to go with Yokohama Geolandar A/T tires, which were quite famous. However, I read several reviews about the sidewalls of these tires getting damaged, so I started looking for other options. That is when I saw BHPian cool_dube's post about Vredestein Pinza A/T tires in the SUV Tyres thread (link below).

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-...ml#post5613381 (SUV tyres for Indian Roads - Poll)

I connected with him over PM, and he gave me very good feedback on these tires, which he had already used for about 10K kilometers.

I called the local Vredestein dealer, and he agreed to exchange the OE H/T tires for Pinza A/T tires. The Pinzas cost 16.4K per tire, and after the exchange value of 8K per tire of the Bridgestone Dueler H/T, I paid 8.4K per tire.

I also bought Sensairy TPMS valves (set of 5), which I installed during the tire swap. Here are a few pictures from the installation of the tires and TPMS.

The tread pattern on the H/T tires.


Wheels removed from the car.


TPMS sensor installed.


All wheels are ready after the TPMS sensor installation.


The A/T tires.


Tires are being installed.


Wheel balancing is being done.


Wheel alignment is being done.


TPMS display on the phone.


As I write this review, I have driven about 5000 kilometers with these tires, including the 3000 kilometer monsoon drive. The tires have excellent wet grip and the car was very stable driving through flooded highways and puddles. I also had to drive through slush and slippery terrain and I found the grip to be very good under these conditions. Road noise is also quite controlled. But I am not sure how the noise will be after 10K or 15K kilometers. Will update on this in the future.

PPF Installation:

I have never installed PPF in any of my cars—the Jetta, 3GT, and Polo GT—and just polished and waxed them. However, after the first monsoon drive I took with my Bangalore TBHP friends to Goa and Maharashtra, I found several mild scratches in the paint from driving through narrow roads with bushes on the roadside. Under the same driving conditions in the BMW, I have never seen scratches in the paint. Either the paint quality in the Fortuner is not as good as the BMW, or the black color amplifies these scratches. This is when many of my friends suggested I consider installing PPF.

I also received mixed reviews and information about the pros and cons of installing PPF. The major disadvantage I heard was that the film would become yellow, and the paint would peel off when it was removed for maintenance work. I also found that the higher the quality of the film, the fewer these problems would be.

I checked various films, such as 3M, Garware, GSWF, and XPel, and received quotes ranging from 1.5 lakhs to 2.7 lakhs. I found this to be an expensive affair. But considering the black paint and the usage, I decided to go ahead and get it done. Went ahead with the XPel PPF. I got it installed at NextGen Autoshop in Coimbatore. They did paint correction work before applying the film. There were a few paint chips on the bonnet and a couple of mild scratches on the side, of which nothing could be done. These battle scars are now preserved under the film.

Below are a few pictures from the PPF installation.

Paint correction is being done.


PPF film is being installed.




The result after the PPF installation and a layer of ceramic coating.

[graaja]

Exteriors:

The first thought that comes to mind when looking at the Fortuner is that it's built like a tank. Be it the size (4.795m x 1.855m x 1.835m), the ground clearance (225mm), or those high-profile tires (265/65/R18), everything creates that rugged, indestructible look. At a height of 1.835 meters, the car is taller than me. I have to get on the footboard to dust the roof. The passengers, too, have to climb into the car by stepping on the footboard.

I will let the pictures talk.

The front view looks boxy and aggressive with those wide tires. I do not like those huge chrome trims on the bumper, though. I am planning to get it de-chromed soon. Even that aluminum-finished part in the front bumper would look good if it were black.




Here's another view of the front with the headlights, fog lights, and parking lights. The fog lights are white LEDs, which are unusable in rain. The front camera of the 360-degree system can be found below the Toyota badge. The parking lights below the fog lights also work as turn indicators and DRLs in the night.


The side view. Looks quite proportional. The rear spoiler integrates very well in this view.


The front three-quarter view.




The rear three-quarter view.




The boxy rear view. I like the sharp split tail lamps that wrap into the side of the body.


Projector LED headlamps with DRLs. Their performance is just about average, but not as good as the BiXenons of the Jetta or the Adaptive LEDs of the BMW 3GT, which were excellent. The Fortuner's headlights just about do the job.




The ORVM with integrated turn indicators. The side camera of the 360-degree system can be seen below the ORVM.




Side view of the bonnet.


The 18" alloy wheel.


The aggressive treads of the Vredestein Pinza AT tire. These have very good wet grip and good grip in slush too.


The door handle with the keyless entry button.


The passenger door gets keyless entry, too.


The sharkfin antenna looks nice.


Sigma4 badging for the 4x4 capability.


The powered tailgate. This can be opened in three ways - the keyfob, the switch panel on the right side of the steering wheel, and the buttons on the tailgate itself. One thing that is very noticeable about the tailgate is that it is painfully slow to operate. After pressing the open button on the tailgate, it takes a couple of seconds to start opening and takes more than 5 seconds to complete. One could press the button, have a coffee, and be back in time for the tailgate to open. Same with the closing operation as well. This slow operation may be intentional due to the weight of the tailgate. A positive is the soft closing. It does not slam shut. Once it reaches the end of closing, the tailgate is silently pulled inside to finish the closing operation.


Full size spare wheel that sits below the car in the rear. This is a very important improvement for me. Thought the 3GT had ample boot space. The space saver tire ate into this space. When I did my long road trips, I used to carry a full size spare wheel which further reduced the boot space. With the Fortuner, that is no longer the case. I have the full boot space usable. I did not change the spare wheel to A/T. I plan to use this only temporarily if there is a puncture.

[graaja]

Interiors:

The interior is dual-toned, with black and chamois. It's more utility-oriented than luxurious. All plastic inserts are hard. The door pad trims and the knee support trims on the center console are made of soft material with a leather (or faux leather? I'm not sure) finish.



The neatly laid-out center console.


Before getting into details of the interiors, let me list the major likes and dislikes.

Likes:

• Good ergonomics
• 8-way electrically controlled driver and passenger seats
• Easy access to the third row
• Seat inclination levers for both second and third rows
• Very comfortable and usable dead-pedal
• Ample legroom for 2nd row
• Usable third row with decent legroom
• Very powerful AC

Dislikes:

• Hard plastics
• Very hard steering wheel
• Side AC vents do not have flow control. They can't be shut off completely
• Seats lack thigh support
• Seats lack lumbar support

Ergonomics:

The ergonomics are quite good. The seats, though lacking thigh support, are quite comfortable. Both the second and third-row seats have inclination adjustment. The driver and passenger get 8-way electrically adjustable seats, but do not have memory function. The driver's seat can be easily adjusted for a convenient driving position. They also offer very good side bolstering. However, the driver and passenger seats lack any lumbar support. The A and B pedals are well spaced with a big dead-pedal. The dead pedal with the cushioned knee support trim in the center console provides a very comfortable resting for the left leg.

The legroom for the second-row passengers is very good. Access to the third row is also quite spacious when the second-row seats are folded. Third-row passengers can easily access the lever to fold the second-row seats without relying on others to help get in and out of the car. There is decent legroom in the 3rd row which is adequate for kids and adults of light build.

The view of the cockpit from the driver's side.


The view of the cockpit from the passenger's side.


The center armrest. It is located a little behind and doesn't slide.


View of the 2nd and 3rd row seats.


8-way electrically adjustable seat for both the driver and passenger.


The second row seats with ample leg room. Even the middle passenger gets a three point seat belt. The seat belt for the middle passenger is accessed from the roof.




The entry into the third row is quite easy with ample space once the 2nd row seats are folded.


Third-row passengers get decent legroom.


The well-spaced pedals and the dead pedal.


Air Conditioner:

The Fortuner gets dual-zone AC, and both the second and third-row seats get AC vents. The AC is very effective and chills the car in no time, even on sunny days. This is a big improvement compared to the weak A/C in the German cars I have driven.

The Automatic Climate Control has very neatly laid out physical buttons and controls.


The center AC vents have both direction control and flow control.


The side AC vents have direction control but no flow control.


The digital clock between the two center AC vents.


Both the 2nd and 3rd row passengers get roof-mounted AC vents. Note the seat belt in the roof between the two rows of AC vents. This is for the middle passenger in the 2nd row.


The 2nd row passengers get AC blower adjustment in the reading light console.

[graaja]

Interiors: [...Contd]

Steering Wheel and Control Switches:

The steering wheel is quite hard to hold. About three-quarters of it is wrapped with hard leather, and the top part has a hard faux wood finish. This hard part of the steering does not offer any grip and can get very slippery when the hands are either too dry or sweaty. The steering wheel also has buttons to control the music system, connect or disconnect a phone call, and menu buttons for the instrument cluster. It also has paddle shifters. However, I found the paddle shifts to be quite slow to respond.

The steering wheel. Notice the wood finish in the top part of the wheel.


The control buttons on the left and right side of the steering. The left side is to control the music system and the right side to control the menu in the instrument cluster.


The left and right control stalks in the steering wheel. The left control stalk controls the wiper. Automatic rain-sensing wipers are a big miss. The right control stalk controls the headlights, parking lights, fog lights, and turn indicators.


The paddle shift buttons behind the steering wheel.


The cruise control stalk's placement is inconvenient, and I still haven't gotten used to accessing these controls.


The control switches for various operations, such as drive mode select, 4WD control, window control, boot open/close, fuel tank open, bonnet open, etc., are intuitive and neatly laid out.

The engine start/stop button is placed to the right of the steering wheel and is easy to access.


The gear lever has the conventional PRNDS layout. It is surrounded by aluminum trim and a faux wood console.


The hand brake lever is easy to access.


The control panel on the driver-side door has window controls and ORVM controls.


The 4WD control switch is located below the ACC control and display.


The drive mode select and diff-lock control switches are located below the gear lever.


The switch panel to the right of the steering wheel has the tail gate switch, parking sensors enable switch, manual regeneration control switch, fuel cap open switch and the bonnet open switch.

[graaja]

Storage and Space:

The Fortuner has lots of usable storage spaces like cup holders, glove boxes, bottle holders etc. It also has various levels of luggage space by various seat configurations.

Below are a few pictures of various storage spaces.

Cup holders in the center console.


Cup holder on the right side of the steering wheel for the driver.


Storage space under the armrest.


All doors have bottle holders that can easily take 1-liter bottles.




There are two glove boxes. The one in the top is cooled. Both boxes have decent storage space.


The cooled box. The air vent control is situated on the left.


Both the glove boxes opened.


A small storage space that can accommodate a cell phone for the 2nd row passengers. There is a 12V socket.


A charger is connected to the 12V socket, and a cell phone is placed in the space.


The boot space with the third-row seats up. This can easily hold a couple of check-in suitcases.


Boot space with the third-row seats folded. The seats do not fold to a flat floor and occupy some vertical space. The seats can also be stowed to the side. In this configuration more vertical space is created, but horizontal space is reduced. Depending on the type of luggage one of these two configurations can be chosen.

Third row seats folded down.


Boot space with third-row seats folded and stowed to the side.


Boot space with 2nd row seats folded and tumbled.




A compartment for the tool kit in the boot. There is a 12V socket too.

[graaja]

Entertainment System, Instrument Cluster, and Interior Lighting

Entertainment System:

The Fortuner gets an 11-speaker music system from JBL. The sound quality is quite good. I am not an audiophile, and I mostly listen to old songs. I find the mid-range very good for the vocals. There is a sub-woofer in the tailgate, which produces decent results in the low range. The display is LCD and is very average.

One of the biggest disadvantages I found with the entertainment system is that it does not have any storage, nor can it play from a thumb drive. The only way to play music is through the phone. I have a big collection of songs that I used to play from the SD card in the Polo GT or downloaded to the internal hard drive in the BMW 3GT. I have not yet figured out how to get these songs to play in the Fortuner.

The JBL head unit with mechanical buttons and knobs. It has a simple user interface which is easy to navigate and control.


Each door gets a speaker.


Each A-pillar has a tweeter mounted and another speaker below the windshield. The aluminum insert on the speaker looks bad, reflects on the windshield, and is very distracting.


The sub-woofer is mounted on the tailgate.


A collage of various screens on the display.






Instrument Cluster:

The instrument cluster in the Fortuner is old-school. It has analog dials for RPM, speed, fuel, and temperature display, and a graphical display between the analog dials shows various drive information and notifications.

The instrument cluster has analog dials and a digital display in the center.


Various screens in the information display.


Interior Lighting:

The interior at night is practical, with backlit control switches that are easy to locate. However, it is quite boring with no ambient lighting. There is ample lighting for the interior. Both the front and second rows have reading lights. There are no reading lights for the third-row passengers. There is a boot light too. All the lights are white LEDs except for the boot light which is yellow incandescent. This looks quite odd.

The view of the center console at night. All buttons are backlit in blue.


The backlit reading light assembly for the driver and passenger.


Backlit reading light assembly with AC control for the 2nd row passengers.


With all the interior lights on, the car is well lit at night. Note the incandescent light for the boot.




The tail light and license plate light. License plate light is an incandescent light, too.


The indicator lights are quite bright and have very good visibility.


There are puddle lamps in all the doors. These are incandescent bulbs.

[graaja]

Engine, Gearbox, NVH, Ride and Handling:

The Fortuner comes with a 2.8 liter BS6 diesel engine that produces a power of 200 BHP and a torque of 500NM. Though the power and torque figures are good by themselves, the car weighs a massive 2.75 tons, which results in the power-to-weight ratio of 72 BHP/ton and a the torque-to-weight ratio of 181 NM/ton. The engine is mated to a 6-speed torque converter gearbox. Though the gearbox is not as quick as the DSG in the Jetta or the ZF8 in the BMW, it is not too slow either. Shifts are quite smooth. However, one irritant is that it holds the gear beyond 2K RPM, and the engine gets quite noisy at this point.

The Fortuner gets a 4x4 wheel drive system with a differential lock. I am not an off-roading enthusiast and do not have any experience in reviewing the off-roading capability of the car. But when I joined my Bangalore friends in the monsoon drive to Goa and Maharashtra, I had the opportunity to use the 4x4 L gear ratio while driving in some slushy terrain, and the car tackled these situations without breaking a sweat. If I happen to do any off-road driving in the future, I will write about the 4x4 capability of the car in detail.

The steering in the Fortuner is hydraulic and is on the heavier side. It takes a lot of effort to steer the car at low city speeds. Taking U-turns or driving in hills requires lots of strength and is a proper workout. However, the steering has excellent feedback. I have heard people talking about steering feedback, but have never experienced this as all my previous cars had electric steering control. This is the first time I am driving a car with hydraulic steering and I love the feedback that clearly communicates the ups and downs and potholes on the road the tire is going through.

Due to the car's heavy weight, outright acceleration is not good. The car struggles a lot if pushed. Most of the time, I find the engine refinement to be ok. But it gets vocal beyond 2000 RPM, and the gearbox holds the gear beyond 2000 RPM and refuses to upshift till maybe 2200 to 2400 RPM. So even if the throttle input is mild, and the car is cruising at 100 kph, the gearbox does not shift to higher gear. It upshifts only if the throttle is lifted off. I have slowly gotten used to lifting off the throttle and letting the gearbox upshift. I have also noticed that the engine becomes gruffy once a DPF regeneration cycle is triggered. I can understand the gruffiness while the regeneration occurs, but the gruffiness remains even after the regeneration cycle is complete. This is quite strange, and I have not been able to find the exact situations when the engine is refined and gruffy. On two-lane roads, when I push the car for overtakes, the car struggles a lot and becomes very noisy. But the car is a fantastic cruiser and mile muncher. The car can cruise all day at 100 or 120 kph, and even after a full day of driving, I don't feel tired.

Where the car excels is its bad road handling prowess. On roads where I used to slow down and steer carefully with the BMW to avoid potholes, the Fortuner just bulldozes ahead without breaking a sweat. In fact, I don't even notice bad roads anymore. Also, the high seating position gives an excellent view of the road and traffic ahead, and I am able to take the gaps that I would usually avoid in the BMW due to lack of visibility. Because of this, I have observed that the average speeds have improved.

Due to the high center of gravity, there is body roll and lateral movement when driving in bad roads at low speeds, but it is quite controlled. I feel the suspension is tuned a little on the softer side. Because of this, at low speeds, I notice significant squatting when the brake is applied. Also, the suspensions oscillate a few times before settling.

I have considered upgrading the suspensions. Have read good reviews about the ToughDog foam cell suspensions and also Teins. But I have decided to drive with the stock suspensions at least 20,000 kilometers and then take a call. Meanwhile, I got to drive a Fortuner of a friend who has installed some sort of stabilizers that greatly arrest body roll and lateral movements while retaining comfort levels at slow speeds. I may try this simple solution before going for a full suspension upgrade.

Safety:

The Toyota Fortuner has scored 5 stars in Global NCAP rating. It has 7 airbags (driver and passenger front airbags, driver and passenger side airbags, 2x curtain airbags and driver knee airbag). It comes with standard safety features like ABS, EBD, Hill Assist control, Electronic Stability control, emergency brake signals and ISOFIX child seat mounts. All seats have 3 point seat belts.

The Elephant in the Room - DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter):

As the Fortuner comes with a BS6 rated engine, it has a DPF and requires Adblue for regeneration. Also, regeneration can be a problem at high altitudes. As I would be making road trips to Ladakh and driving at high-altitude passes, this is a great concern for me. This is the reason why my first preference was to get a car with a petrol engine. But I had no other choice considering my other main requirement of a reliable car that can take me to places which have very bad or non-existent roads. As I read about Toyota updating the DPF system to allow manual regeneration, I took this risk and bought the Fortuner. Hope this does not come back to bite me in the back.

When the DPF regeneration button is pressed (located in the panel on the right side of the steering), the MID displays the below. I have tried several times and always see this menu. I am not sure at what point manual regeneration option will be available and when visiting places of high altitude, when to perform a manual regeneration. I need to do more research on this.


The Adblue tank is only 8 liters and lasts for about 7K kilometers. Because of this, it is necessary to fill Adblue well before the 10,000-kilometer scheduled interval for the engine oil change. I got the Adblue tank refill notification at 5,000 kilometers on the odometer, with a projected range of 2400 kilometers. I took the car to Toyota service center to get the Adblue tank filled. I had a good experience at the service center. It took about 15 minutes to get the Adblue filled and complete billing and payment.

The Adblue can comes in 5-liter cans and costs about INR 550 per can. It took about 6 liters to fill the tank.


Pouring the Adblue in the tank. As Adblue is ammonia which is corrosive, if it spills inside the engine compartment, it needs to be washed off with plain water.


They used two 5-liter cans, of which one was fully used and there is about 4 liters left in the other. I have taken this can home. I will fill the tank myself when the next notification arrives. I plan to keep at least 10 liters of Adblue at home.

[graaja]

Conclusion: From a Fast Sedan to a Rugged SUV, Final Thoughts

The Fortuner replaces the BMW 3GT. This is a paradigm shift for me from a fast petrol sedan to a rugged diesel SUV. Many friends warned me I would not like this shift. After driving the Fortuner for 5000 kilometers, below are my final thoughts on this shift.

TL;DR Version:
Do I miss all the driving fun I had with the BMW 3GT? Definitely yes
Will I go back to a sedan? Most probably not

Engine and gearbox: The BMW had a creamy 2-liter turbo petrol engine that generated 252bhp power and 400NM of torque and a fast shifting ZF8 gearbox. With a weight of about 1.7 tons, this resulted in an explosive performance. The engine was refined and sounded sweet when revved. Overtaking on 2 lane roads was effortless. Driving the 2.8-liter diesel engine in the Fortuner feels like driving a proper truck. It's crude, it's gruffy, and it struggles when pushed. I am used to aggressive throttle inputs with the BMW. In the beginning, I used to apply the same throttle input to the Fortuner and was very disappointed with the lack of acceleration and the amount of noise the engine made. After driving the car for 5,000 kilometers, I am now getting used to the slower acceleration and gentler throttle inputs.

Handling: I had installed MSport suspensions in the BMW, which resulted in fantastic handling. The car used to have fantastic grip in the corners with almost zero body roll. More than straight roads, I enjoyed twisting hill roads with the BMW. But the Fortuner has a high center of gravity that results in significant body roll. I have to slow down to appropriate speeds while taking curves.

Technology and Gizmos: BMW was loaded with technology and gizmos—the adaptive LED headlights, panoramic sunroof, iDrive, digital instrument cluster, heads-up display, and wireless CarPlay, to name a few. Compared to this, Fortuner lacks in technology.

Go anywhere capability: This is where the Fortuner shines. With the BMW, though I have taken the car to remote locations during my Arunachal and Hanle drives, I was still limited by its capability to take bad roads. I had to drop many places as the access to these had very bad roads. But with the Fortuner, I am no longer limited by this. With its high ground clearance, high water wading capacity, and high profile all-terrain tires, I can reach places that were not possible with the BMW (for example, the Pangong Tso to Hanle road). I experienced this first hand during the monsoon drive to Goa and Maharashtra. During this drive, the Fortuner tackled adverse situations like water logged roads, broken roads with crater like potholes, slippery roads filled with slush and mud. BMW would have broken down in this trip.

When I drove the BMW, I had to be very cautious while driving in roads filled with potholes. I used to slow down to 20 or 30kph and carefully steer the car through potholes. Even with all the care, I had to change alloys several times. I have changed 7 alloys in the BMW in the 1.2 lakh kilometers I had driven. This was an expensive affair. I don't have any such concerns with the Fortuner. It just glides through potholes that used to break the alloys in the BMW. In roads where I had to slow down to 20kph with the BMW, I am able to drive at speeds of 40 or 50 kph.

Cargo Space: Though the BMW had ample boot space, the space-saver spare wheel used to occupy a significant part of it. I had to install a roof box to create more space to carry all my astrophotography equipment. Even with the roof box installed, it would not be possible to carry the equipment if my family travelled with me.
The Fortuner has lots of cargo space with the third-row seats folded. I will be able to carry all my equipment even when my family is traveling with me.

Maintenance cost: Maintaining the BMW was expensive. I had taken the BSI service package which offset this to an extent. But changing parts not covered under the service package was expensive. For example, changing the front struts cost a lakh. An oil service outside the service package would cost 20K to 25K. Brake pads would cost 20K and discs 40K and so on. Compared to this, I have read ownership reports where the Fortuner takes 1/3rd the cost to maintain.

Service network: With the BMW, when I was on road trips, there was limited dealer network. When I was on the Arunachal road trip, the last BMW dealership was in Kolkata. Similarly, when I was on the Hanle road trip, the last dealership was in Chandgarh. Fortunately, BMW being a very reliable car, I did not face any breakdowns during these trips. But if I had any breakdown, it would have been a long haul to bring the car to the nearest dealership. Compared to this I would find Toyota dealership in all major cities and towns throughout the country.

The below picture summarises my experience in changing from a fast sedan to a rugged SUV.

[graaja]

Modiber 360-Degree Camera Installation

I found the reverse camera inadequate for a car of this size in the Fortuner. There are too many blind spots. So, I wanted to install a 360-degree camera. The dealer had a 360-degree camera as an official accessory. This was manufactured by a company called Modiber. Shortly after taking delivery of the car, I got this installed at the dealership. I have written a detailed thread on the installation, calibration, features, likes and dislikes on this system.

Installed: Modiber 360 Degree Camera in My Toyota Fortuner 4x4 AT

Adding a few pictures from the installation for record in this thread.

The package has the cameras, wiring harnesses, and control unit.


The license plate light is replaced with this part, which integrates a camera and the license plate light.


The rear camera is fixed.


The front camera is fixed on the grill below the logo.


Wires from the front camera are routed through the firewall.


The side camera is fixed below the ORVM.


The wiring for the side camera is routed through the door.


This calibration mat is used to calibrate the cameras.


This is the calibration screen.


A 360-degree top view after calibration.


A few pictures of various 360-degree views.

[graaja]

A Monsoon Drive to Goa and Maharashtra

Just one week after receiving the car, I went on a 3000-kilometer monsoon trip to Goa and Maharashtra with my driving buddies from Bangalore. Moderator KarthikK documented this drive in the thread below.

Monsoon Musings: A rain-drenched sojourn through Konkan and Southern Maharashtra

We drove through very harsh conditions, such as heavy rains, water-logged roads, broken and pothole-filled roads, mild off-roading to reach some reservoirs, etc. The Fortuner did all this without breaking a sweat. The way it tackled bad road conditions made me feel empowered

A few pictures from this trip.

The full convoy: From front to back - Robimahanta's Thar, Tilt's Thar, Dr.AD's Thar, Abirnale's XUV700, my Fortuner.


A couple of samples of the roads we drove in. There were much worse roads, but I did not click pictures of these.




Several pictures of the Fortuner from the drive.
















That's all folks I have for now on the story of my change from the BMW 3GT to the Toyota Fortuner.

I will keep the thread updated on major events like services, road trips, etc. Thank you for the patience and reading through the thread.

[KarthikK]

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

Hearty congratulations and happy motoring with this mighty mammoth of a go-anywhere SUV. It is indeed a very refreshing change from driving a fast (3GT) sedan to this beast which can practically go anywhere. Knowing you and your travel patterns, I am sure you will find this to be a way more capable tool in your future roadtripping adventures.

As your co-pilot and having shared the Fortuner’s driving on our Maharashtra monsoon drive, I can attest to having enjoyed my time thoroughly behind the wheel of this black beast. The omnipresent torque, no-nonsense ergonomics, commanding view of the road and the capable mechanical package just up the confidence and fun factor whether on flat out expressways or when venturing off the beaten path. A true roadtripper’s delight!