SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.


Fortune smiles: 2015 Toyota Fortuner 3.0 D-4D 4x4 manual

What most buyers want

Posted: 17 May 2015

The cheat sheet
Price: R523 900
Engine: Toyota 1K-FTV, 2982 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder, commonrail turbodiesel
Power: 120 kW at 3400 rpm
Torque: 343 Nm between 1400 and 3200 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 11.8 seconds
Maximum speed: 172 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 10.3 l/100 km
Tank: 80 litres
Luggage: 208-544-1360 dm3
Turning circle: 11.8 metres
Ground clearance: 220 mm
Approach and departure angles: 30/25 degrees
Towing capacity (braked): 2020 kg
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km; at 10 000 km intervals

Familiarity is good. South Africans, being a conservative bunch generally, like the familiar because it’s what they trust. Toyota has been in the country about 50 years, so they know it won’t disappear. Fortuner has been around since 2006 so it’s established, not too expensive, solid, not too fancy, and has a minimum of electronic stuff begging to go wrong and cost a shipload of money to fix.

Full-time all-wheel drive, using a torque sensing central differential, is easy to live with and has safety advantages. It’s comforting to be able to lock that diff, in either high- or low range, only when you want to do so and by using an old-fashioned lever. A separate button to lock the rear differential is useful too; just a pity that it has to be electrically operated, some might say, but we can’t have everything, can we?

Boxy styling with big, square windows lets you see what’s coming and where you’re going. The fold-up sixth and seventh seats steal either loading space or your view out through the rearmost side windows, but at least you have them. Those extra chairs are useful for carrying additional little passengers on the school run or shorter grownups on shorter trips. A further useful touch is that second row seats (split 60:40) can move backward or forward through a range of about eight centimetres – to afford third-row passengers a touch more leg room or to increase luggage space. They also tumble out of the way when longer loads need to be carried.

Some styling and equipment changes were introduced late in 2011. These included an uprated Display Audio System with 15.5-centimetre touch screen and automatic sound level control for upper versions of Fortuner with this engine or the 4.0 petrol motor. Bluetooth-equipped, it can answer calls automatically, stream music files from one or two phones and store up to 100 of your contacts.

That helps you identify incoming calls so you can decide: Kid’s annoying teacher – decline; bank manager who is forever demanding money – decline. Just kidding, folks. When you do answer calls, the music goes into pause mode so you don’t get interrupted. It even works if the phone is somewhere in the back of the vehicle. That suggests your tech-savvy brats could override your music and impose theirs, but we aren’t here to settle domestic disputes. It obviously plays iPod and flash drive music, MP3 or M4a, with full track and album display, via USB.

Other kit fitted to this version but not available on the 2.5 D-4D we drove in 2012 includes darkened rear- and cargo area windows, automatic climate control, four more airbags (side and curtain), dark toned wood-grain highlights in the cabin, leather upholstery, backup camera, steering wheel satellite buttons for cruise control and Bluetooth, and electrical seat adjusters for the driver.

Safety kit fitted to all models includes ABS brakes with BA and EBD, vehicle stability control, three-point belts all around, side impact beams and energy absorbing clusters in the roof, front section and steering column. One item noticeably missing is ISOFix anchors for baby chairs. That’s probably because none of the rear seats are permanently locked down – they all tilt, tumble or lift in some way.

Like the 2.5-litre 4x2, this one is comfortable and stable on dirt but with the added advantage of full-time 4x4 so you are assured of maximum grip at all times. Being a high-riding Toyota with all the off-road kit, including standard all-terrain tyres, it sailed through our muddy and rocky assault course without hesitation.

Fortuner regularly outsells all other SUVs in South Africa, with its closest and most consistent challenger being Toyota’s own RAV4. It might not be particularly quick, the least expensive, or the most modern SUV out there but it’s what most buyers want – solid, steady, easy to use and reliable. That surely says what we all know; South Africans stick with what they know, don’t really trust modern flash and faithfully buy from faithful suppliers.

Test unit from Toyota SA press fleet


What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

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