Toyota Fortuners

[LinkPopularity]

all you Fortune drivers can try to make excuses as much as you want, everybody else knows that you bought that car just because you have no real personality to show for !

[phormio]

Moved here with a wife and daughter 2 1/2 years ago - the daughter was 1 yrs old at the time.

We used to get around town using Taxis, MRT, BTS - scared the 'ell out of me. I have never seen the serious life-ending accidents that I've seen in Bangkok in my few years living hear.

Decided to go car shopping - and felt lucky to have discovered the Fortuner - to keep the kids safe(now have a one year old son too).

The family plus two domestic servants - Fortuner can handle it well.

As has been said in previous posts, the Fortuner has:

1. Plenty of passenger capacity

2. Can handle most of the nastiest weather conditions

3. Very cheap compared to other similarly capable vehicles - (mostly due to large taxes on non-locally manufactured vehicles - this might change with FTA's but large tax reductions with be gradually phased in).

4. Want to keep those kids safe!

I was disappointed to learn that my Fortuner(3.0 Diesel) only gets about 7.4 km/liter - this is mostly stop and go driving in the city, but even on the highway its only getting about 9. Also, the air-con water drain keeps getting plugged up , with water spilling into the passenger seat on turns - had this fixed twice and have to go back and get it fixed again.

Had my Fortuner for almost 2 years - haven't put 20K on it yet. I'm happy with it - and have only run into a few of the really nasty jerks behind the wheel of a Black Fortuner, and that was quite recently.

Went with the Fortuner instead of the Innova(much better mileage) because of the rainy season/road conditions , even in Bangkok, and thought the Fortuner would be safer for the litt'l uns.

P.S.: Wife got a Mazda 3 through her employment and I love zipping around in it, but don't think much of safety and handling in poor weather conditions.

[chinthee]

Moved here with a wife and daughter 2 1/2 years ago - the daughter was 1 yrs old at the time.

We used to get around town using Taxis, MRT, BTS - scared the 'ell out of me. I have never seen the serious life-ending accidents that I've seen in Bangkok in my few years living hear.

Decided to go car shopping - and felt lucky to have discovered the Fortuner - to keep the kids safe(now have a one year old son too).

The family plus two domestic servants - Fortuner can handle it well.

As has been said in previous posts, the Fortuner has:

1. Plenty of passenger capacity

2. Can handle most of the nastiest weather conditions

3. Very cheap compared to other similarly capable vehicles - (mostly due to large taxes on non-locally manufactured vehicles - this might change with FTA's but large tax reductions with be gradually phased in).

4. Want to keep those kids safe!

I was disappointed to learn that my Fortuner(3.0 Diesel) only gets about 7.4 km/liter - this is mostly stop and go driving in the city, but even on the highway its only getting about 9. Also, the air-con water drain keeps getting plugged up , with water spilling into the passenger seat on turns - had this fixed twice and have to go back and get it fixed again.

Had my Fortuner for almost 2 years - haven't put 20K on it yet. I'm happy with it - and have only run into a few of the really nasty jerks behind the wheel of a Black Fortuner, and that was quite recently.

Went with the Fortuner instead of the Innova(much better mileage) because of the rainy season/road conditions , even in Bangkok, and thought the Fortuner would be safer for the litt'l uns.

P.S.: Wife got a Mazda 3 through her employment and I love zipping around in it, but don't think much of safety and handling in poor weather conditions.

There we go. I was going to second the motion to close this thread, then we get a really nice family man posting his reasons for having a Fortuner. Let's see you Fortuner flamers tackle this one! Nice to see a family man that doesn't go for the generic mini van.

[Austhaied]

all you Fortune drivers can try to make excuses as much as you want, everybody else knows that you bought that car just because you have no real personality to show for !

What colour is yer Volvo then link ?? :D

[mikethevigoman]

I'm a regular Fortuna Driver Basher.. I mean it's such a cliché - Fortuna, BigC, Camel Trophy outfit, the 'Family' and the 'Expat Swagger' (Do guys walk like that back home or is it something to do with the Fortuna Seats?)

More than that I think the Fortuna epitomizes "Farang going through the Bamboo Curtain" - They bought a car because they believed the rot they were told about it.

A second rate vehicle, that is only selling because there are no real alternatives in the price bracket. Like much in Thailand, second rate gets praised as first rate because... there is no alternative.

It's not the vehicle I bash, its those that believe the rot.

Interesting viewpoint...

Personally, I have never noticed any expats walking differently because they have a certain brand of car, then again, maybe I don't sit in superstore car parks watching how people walk.

I think you will find that many actual Fortuner owners are happy with their car, then again, maybe they are wrong and the people who don't own one are right. I tend to go with the people who own them, knowing more about them, than those who don't own them. The Ford Escape maybe an alternative, but I have known a few Ford Escape owners who sold their cars and became Fortuner owners and are happy.

Guesthouse, why do you put the word ' Family ' like that, it's as though you are trying to make a point about something, are Fortuner owners Families stigmatised also?

What is it about The Toyota Fortuner that makes non Fortuner owners crazy ?

Some sort of inferiority complex maybe ,would these same fortuner haters rush outside and tell their next door neighbor what a tw@t he is for having one of them , ? i doubt it,,Excellent vehicle for thailand, roads are crap, and if you have an accident in one im fairly sure you will come out of it better than the jazz players ,.you can buy a top of line vigo ,a fortuner and a small house and still have change over a new range rover and the range rover still has questionable reliability issues, why pay superior money for an inferior product,

[mikethevigoman]

I would say that generally because of the aggresive way people drive there Fortuners and also those Fortuner owners always going on about how good and how much better there truck is than anyone elses'

That said, I find that the worst drivers on the road are Camry owners...I really hate them....10 x worse than any Fortuner owner

Im beginning to think this is a numbers game, its down to how many there are, camrys loads, = a fairly high proportion of bad drivers, fortuner ,same, its not the vehicle, its the drivers you are having a go at by the sound of it,.go into a pub, there wil be some idiots in there,do you blame the booze and stop selling it ?

[mikethevigoman]

What a ridiculous thread..

I agree, love em, vigo with a coat on ! Edited May 31, 2007 by mikethevigoman

[mikethevigoman]

I'm a regular Fortuna Driver Basher.. I mean it's such a cliché - Fortuna, BigC, Camel Trophy outfit, the 'Family' and the 'Expat Swagger' (Do guys walk like that back home or is it something to do with the Fortuna Seats?)

More than that I think the Fortuna epitomizes "Farang going through the Bamboo Curtain" - They bought a car because they believed the rot they were told about it.

A second rate vehicle, that is only selling because there are no real alternatives in the price bracket. Like much in Thailand, second rate gets praised as first rate because... there is no alternative.

It's not the vehicle I bash, its those that believe the rot.

Wow, GH usually gets it right. Oh well, no one bats 1.0000.

'Expat Swagger' - lol.....okay....whatever you say; I did hear you know a lot about prancing about.

'believed the rot I was told about it' - nobody told me anything about it. I test drove one. It fit my needs. I bought it.

'second rate vehicle' - hmmmmm.....honestly I've never 'rated' the Fortuner. Maybe it is second rate, I don't really know. All I know is that it has everything I need. I've put 25K on mine with nary a problem.

I'm very happy with my decision to buy the Fortuner; would do it again.

What's a 'Camel Trophy' outfit?

My 'Family' consists of me and my wife. We live 90k from her family and roughly 10,000 miles from mine.

HERES A CAMEL TROPHY OUTFIT, NOT A FORTUNER ABOUT, WHAT ARE THEY ON ABOUT !

[bendix]

mikevigoman, is it really necessary to copy a whole ###### post, reply with one line and not do it once, but usually six or seven times in succession?

You, personally, are responsible for three of the seven pages of this thread, and I'm buggered if you've actually said anything yet . . . . ;-)

[mikethevigoman]

mikevigoman, is it really necessary to copy a whole ###### post, reply with one line and not do it once, but usually six or seven times in succession?

You, personally, are responsible for three of the seven pages of this thread, and I'm buggered if you've actually said anything yet . . . . ;-)

Lack of education old boy,( is it against the rules ? )i answered mr magoos and moonois with a sensible answer i thought ,..im doing my best to waste some time and have some fun,.i was waiting for a bite! , Edited May 31, 2007 by mikethevigoman

[sibeymai]

As a Hilux Vigo dual cab 4WD driver (a white one at that) I don't understand why Fortuner owners pay so much just for rear coil spring suspension (and possibly rear disc brakes, not sure). How can it possibly be worth several hundreds of thousands of baht for that ? The Hilux matches the Fortuner in every other respect and is actually more versatile.

Does that mean Furtuner buyers are just suckers for car salesmen ?

And with all those Fortuners on the roads when the time comes for a new model Toyota will have to make it even bigger. Can't have the old Fortuner drivers intimidating the new Fortuner drivers can we ?

BTW, the Hilux doesn't have a passenger air bag either which seems a big oversight by Toyota.

I also own a Jazz (the bright yellow one), but contrary to what others have said, I'd prefer the Jazz in town or up-country to the Hilux.

Im told nutters are attracted to yellow, how much was it !

705K new. Recommend staying clear of yellow Jazzs. They're mostly driven by women drivers like my wife.

[mikethevigoman]

the range rover still has questionable reliability issues, why pay superior money for an inferior product

Fortuner superior to a Range Rover? Ok then.

Recent models of Land Rover (inclding it's luxury models Range Rover) may not be the most reliable or well built (you can say similar things about similar luxury brands such as Mercedes Benz and Porsche BTW) but some 75% of all Land Rovers built since 1955 are still on the roads. Still light years ahead of the Fortuner in desirability, design, driveability, ability, luxury, etc, etc, etc.

They are also the safest cars on the road according to the UK Dept. of Transport.

Did you not get the gist of my post? ,im talking about value for money and reliability, land rover in all polls are usually somewhere near the bottom ( reliability ),toyota near or at the top, and as for desirability ,its usually by those that have never owned one, i however have owned nearly all years of land rover at one time or another an ex garage owner /motor trader for 40 years,,did you say design ? ,the disco was just an old tractor of a thing and about as reliable as thai bg, they have a lot of followers ,. i put them in the same catagory as the guy with the t shirt with " id rather push my harley than ride a rice burner " ( jap bike ). misplaced loyalty and totally out of touch,. to all his own, but my t shirt says you usually will be pushing your harley as i ride past !

[cheshiremusicman]

Quote ---"They (Land Rovers) are also the safest cars on the road according to the UK Dept. of Transport."

They should be! - most of the time they are layed up for repairs. Mate of mine had the misfortune to own the Discovery and it was total heap of SH-T , spent more time off the road than on. Poor sod couldn't get rid of it for love nor money and ended up buying three of them in the vain hope that they would get better - No chance. He eventually cut his losses and sold the last heap for next to nothing and then bought an X5 when he finally admitted it had been the biggest mistake of this life.

In mitigation I am told that the latest Range Rovers are much better than the old ones - they are now under Ford ownership aren't they? Lets see how they fair in the 'reliability ratings' from now on, but I bet you a pound to a penny that Toyota, Honda, Isuzu etc are still up there in the top ten.

[davethailand]

Fortuners are ok but i'm not impressed with them today after an apparent under the influence german guy just tried to run me off of the road in one just because all the bikes went in front of him at the traffic lights whilst he was held up. (wouldn't be surprised if he'd hit someone else)

Edited June 2, 2007 by davethailand

[soundman]

Having been both a Range Rover owner & Fortuner owner in Thailand - I can honestly say the Fortuner is a far more economic car.

Wife bought the RR as a parrallel import from Hong Kong for about 5mil Baht. That was the begining of the problems. ULR wanted a 300K Baht "memebership fee" to even look at it for servicing. Next the Auto trans shit itself after 60k miles another 300k Baht down the drain. Then the CPU management system went. 100K Baht. Next the airbag suspension (twice), water pump, and electric windows/rearvision mirror. Another 100K Baht. Lost the key - 9000 Baht & 5 weeks delivery time. Numerous other problems. Petrol consumption - 80 litres - 380 km's. Sold the car with 110k miles on the clock. 400k Baht.

Nett loss in six years - B/W 6-7 mil baht.

All in all a really nice car to drive. Powerful, smooth, quiet for a car with big 4x4 tyres.

Fortuner.

1.3mil Baht. Owned for 1 year 3 months. No probs whatsoever. Nice car to drive, plenty of power. Crap brakes, interior refinements & options limited. Servicing not more than 5000B per 10,000 Km's. Reasonably economical for large car. Diesel consumption 60 litres - 650km's.

Cheers,

Soundman.