Thread Starter
#1
1st look and you fell in love with it. Badly wanted to test drive it. On Wednesday (2/9/9) called up Millenium Toyota, Thane and booked an appointment for TD for Friday 4pm. But while I was enjoying holiday of Ganesh Visarjan on Thursday, I got a call from my cousin that our youngest uncle got a Fortuner. I immediately called my uncle and he confirmed the news. He also invited me to check out the car. It would be sheer foolishness on my part to miss this chance. I immediately called up my frnd Pulastya who stays just nearby and he was the only one to be available at such a short notice. He too agreed instantly and within few mins we left to my uncle's place.
Exteriors looks are too good and this in a way increases the expectations from the car. I sat on the driving seat and highish Bonnet and lower seating position disappoints a bit. You don't get that "King of the Road" feeling you get in for eg: Scorpio. Dashboard is grey and is small compared to Innova. Quality of dashboard too is plasticy which dosn't goes well with this class of car. Instead of Grey, the dashboard could be of Dark brown colour (like Innova). Instrument cluster looked dark and nothing was visible. Instantly i realised it could be backlit. Inserted the key, turned it on, kept my left hand on gear knob and started the engine and immediately noticed a jerk in gear knob (Similar to Innova). Turned the vehicle and was instantly impressed with tight turning radius. Clutch feel, engine note, accelerator response, steering feel, gear feel, everything was exactly similar to Innova. Engine was more eager though. It was raining and I took a hard left turn towards Palm Beach road. Push it hard and was impressed with the grip of 265/65 R17.. Seeing open Palm beach road, I accelerated hard and it indeed performs brilliantly. Soon without even noticing the speedometer, I was cruising beyond 140kmph in rain..! Rear windshield was getting dirty so I put on rear wiper and realised that rear wiper is defective. It turned full 180 degree but cleaned just half of it. After a short drive of about 6-7 kms, took a U-turn and stopped on side to take some snaps. Also check rear seats. Middle seats are pretty spacious and very comfortable but last row is short of leg room, head room and under-thigh support. It is just about OK for short drive but not comfortable for long drives. From there on I requested Pulastya to take over and I sat on co-driver seat observing interiors. Fiddled with Multi Info display which displays Avg speed, Instant FE, Average FE, Range, Time, etc. Best part is Multi Info Display showed fuel efficiency of 9.4 in City! Thats too good and comparable to Innova. This is one quality which impressed me the most and car is just 300kms old, imagine figures of well run-in one. Glovebox is short of space but there are 2 hidden Cup holders just in front of extreme Right and left side AC blowers. Quality of leather on seats, steering wheel and gear knob is too good.
It must be best feature of Fortuner which unfortunately I could not check out and that is the Off-roadability. Well, lets hope that I get our own Fortuner soon soo that I can go for a good off-road adventure.. :)
Positives:
1. Looks and paint finish.
2. Space and comfort.
3. Excellent balance of Ride and Handling.
4. Superb build (each and very door including tail gate closes with a satisfying THUD)
5. Overall performance and Fuel efficiency.
Negetives:
1. Interiors too similar to Innova (Including Highish Gear stick).
2. Last row.
3. Lack of any exciting feature.
4. Lack of Hill Descent control and ESP.
P.S: Now who want to go to Thane just for a km long TD? I won't go.
Exteriors looks are too good and this in a way increases the expectations from the car. I sat on the driving seat and highish Bonnet and lower seating position disappoints a bit. You don't get that "King of the Road" feeling you get in for eg: Scorpio. Dashboard is grey and is small compared to Innova. Quality of dashboard too is plasticy which dosn't goes well with this class of car. Instead of Grey, the dashboard could be of Dark brown colour (like Innova). Instrument cluster looked dark and nothing was visible. Instantly i realised it could be backlit. Inserted the key, turned it on, kept my left hand on gear knob and started the engine and immediately noticed a jerk in gear knob (Similar to Innova). Turned the vehicle and was instantly impressed with tight turning radius. Clutch feel, engine note, accelerator response, steering feel, gear feel, everything was exactly similar to Innova. Engine was more eager though. It was raining and I took a hard left turn towards Palm Beach road. Push it hard and was impressed with the grip of 265/65 R17.. Seeing open Palm beach road, I accelerated hard and it indeed performs brilliantly. Soon without even noticing the speedometer, I was cruising beyond 140kmph in rain..! Rear windshield was getting dirty so I put on rear wiper and realised that rear wiper is defective. It turned full 180 degree but cleaned just half of it. After a short drive of about 6-7 kms, took a U-turn and stopped on side to take some snaps. Also check rear seats. Middle seats are pretty spacious and very comfortable but last row is short of leg room, head room and under-thigh support. It is just about OK for short drive but not comfortable for long drives. From there on I requested Pulastya to take over and I sat on co-driver seat observing interiors. Fiddled with Multi Info display which displays Avg speed, Instant FE, Average FE, Range, Time, etc. Best part is Multi Info Display showed fuel efficiency of 9.4 in City! Thats too good and comparable to Innova. This is one quality which impressed me the most and car is just 300kms old, imagine figures of well run-in one. Glovebox is short of space but there are 2 hidden Cup holders just in front of extreme Right and left side AC blowers. Quality of leather on seats, steering wheel and gear knob is too good.
It must be best feature of Fortuner which unfortunately I could not check out and that is the Off-roadability. Well, lets hope that I get our own Fortuner soon soo that I can go for a good off-road adventure.. :)
Positives:
1. Looks and paint finish.
2. Space and comfort.
3. Excellent balance of Ride and Handling.
4. Superb build (each and very door including tail gate closes with a satisfying THUD)
5. Overall performance and Fuel efficiency.
Negetives:
1. Interiors too similar to Innova (Including Highish Gear stick).
2. Last row.
3. Lack of any exciting feature.
4. Lack of Hill Descent control and ESP.
P.S: Now who want to go to Thane just for a km long TD? I won't go.
Last edited by a moderator:
![[shock]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Shock.gif "Shock [shock]")
