The new Fortuner is built on the TNGA platform
The SUV is now priced very competitvely
The new Fortuner comes packed with features
I can only imagine what the brief must’ve been for designing and developing a new second generation Toyota Fortuner. Hiroki Nakajima, the Chief Engineer assigned to the project and his team would have had one mandate, and one mandate alone - take a bestseller and make it even better. In a nutshell then, Nakajima san and his merry bunch have done just that. The first impression I want to put down for you is that the new Fortuner is indeed a better, more refined and better-finished car. And while it has taken its time to get to India, I am glad it is finally here and Toyota has launched the new Fortuner at Rs 25.92 lakh for the petrol and Rs 31.12 lakh for the diesel.
The location Toyota selected for the India drive of the Fortuner was a surprise - Kochi and not Bangalore! The idea was to test the car through Kerala’s teeming state highways and up into the tea estates to Vagamon - a little over 100 kilometres from Kochi. The route was not always ideal to test the highway character of the car, Kerala’s always busy state highways - dotted with constant habitation - provided for much experience in traffic manners and manoeuvrability. It will not matter what road you have to deal with though - highway or city, high or low speed - you will instantly pick up on how much better the car’s ride quality and handling have gotten.
New Toyota Fortuner front
That is primarily down to the fact that it is a completely redesigned stiffer chassis on the new TNGA platform. The idea was simple - take previous benchmarks and strengthen them. So the chassis has been bolstered with more solid side rails and new cross members. The suspension is also all-new, and I have to say that Toyota has thoroughly surprised me. The new Fortuner uses a most stiff and well configured chassis which makes it hard to believe it is ladder on frame and not monocoque. Bravo Toyota engineering! And what that means is the car is extremely well balanced, maintains its composure, no matter what you throw at it. So whether it was high speed cornering or darting in and out of chaotic city traffic - the new Fortuner does it with aplomb! The massive body roll and shudder that the previous car used to be identified with have gone, and the bouncy ride has been replaced with a more planted feel. The car also feels wider and tends to offer a better stance when on the road. This to me stands out as the chief USP of the second generation. Watch our first impression video on the Fortuner as well.
The New Fortuner is at home in all kinds of terrains
Oh I should mention that I began my drive with the 2.8 litre diesel mated to a 5-speed automatic transmission. The brand new engine is a beast and is shared with the other TNGA platform babies - the Hilux pickups and the new Innova of course. But unlike the Innova ( and the new Fortuner that’s already gone on sale in SE Asia) we aren’t getting the 2.4 litre, 149 bhp diesel, which is a surprise. Let me quickly say that even though Toyota denies that engine will ever be offered on the Fortuner in India, given it is made here in India, it may show up at some point on a lower specced future variant. But I am getting ahead of myself here! Let’s instead focus on the 2.8, which has a generous 173.4 bhp on tap and delivers 420 Nm of peak torque. That the peak torque comes in between 1600 and 2400 rpm bodes well, and you will never fall short of torque driving this car.
But while the Fortuner is quick and powerful, it lacks alacrity. And I have to say that is truer of the automatic. The gearbox is not sluggish, but is slow - and in typical Toyota fashion has long ratios. The alternative is to use the new paddle shifters - a great new addition - which do make upshifting much faster. But here too, the transmission takes a second to respond and so you do need to get used to its behaviour before accurately anticipating.
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