The Toyota Fortuner recently received several updates, offering a more pleasant driving experience, more power, and an updated interior.
Although these updates are minor, they have made a big impact.
I list my five favourite things about the new Fortuner 2.8 GD-6 VX 4×4 after driving it, below.
Black interior
One of the most contentious features in previous Fortuners was the chocolate-brown finish.
Early models featured caramel-coloured leather carpets and trim, while the model before this one opted for a chocolate brown seat covering and a black dash.
On social media, users shared how the brown interior swayed their purchase decision away from the Fortuner – or they had it completely redone at extra cost.
The new black interior eliminates this issue and enhances the feeling of luxury inside the cabin, adding a cohesive ambiance between the leather, stitched dash inserts, and faux black wood inserts.
Over the lifespan of the car, black should also be more hard-wearing.
Seven-seater
Love them or loathe them, the Fortuner’s rearmost jump seats come in handy when required for short distances.
This adaptability is what makes the Fortuner and SUVs like the Ford Everest and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport popular choices for families.
Unlike the Everest and Pajero Sport, however, the Fortuner’s jump seats fold up and anchor over the rear side windows – rather than folding into the floor.
While criticized for this approach, in reality it provides for slightly better leg room.
Car-like safety features
The most noteworthy enhancement to the Fortuner VX is the addition of car-like features that make the driving experience, particularly on the open road, a lot more enjoyable.
It’s virtually silent at highway cruising speeds and is a lot safer.
Toyota Safety Sense is an exclusive safety package for the VX model, which adds adaptive cruise control, road sign recognition for speed limit identification, and lane keeping assistance.
This system also provides a pre-collision alert that applies additional braking if required. If an unavoidable collision is detected, it will automatically apply maximum braking to reduce the Fortuner’s velocity and subsequent impact.
Despite its car-like features, it still sports 279mm of ground clearance.
The new 2.8 GD-6
In this new generation, the 2.8 GD-6 diesel engine received a heavy-duty turbo which has enabled a 20kW bump in power, better responsiveness, and a torque boost to 500Nm.
It’s not uncommon to get consumption figures of around 8-litres/100kms, which is quite reasonable for 2.7-tonne car with an all-wheel-drive-capable drivetrain.
The unbraked towing capacity of 3,300kg beats out its rivals by over 200kg, making it a formidable towing car.
Connected technology
The new Fortuner supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, which means you can use map apps from your phone, control calls, listen to music, and use smart assistants.
In addition, as with all new Toyotas, the Fortuner comes with Toyota Connect.
It’s an opt-in service that offers a digital logbook, battery status check, service bookings, a real-time vehicle locator, and more – all accessible through the MyToyota app.
The car also gets a personal Wi-Fi hotspot, enabled with 15GB of complementary data. Additional data can be purchased thereafter.
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