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- Fortuner remains South Africa's most popular and successful large SUV.
- Toyota added a sharper appearance as part of its latest Fortuner upgrade.
- Several subtle enhancements should ensure Fortuner remains the best-selling rugged SUV in its segment.
It's a mild update for one of South Africa's most dominant vehicles. But even a small change to Fortuner matters a lot.
Fortuner could never be a failure. Automotive product strategy isn't easy, but Toyota rarely gets it wrong.
The Fortuner range, like Hilux double-cabs, isn't cheap. If you do the math with the 2023 prices, the average cost for a new Fortuner is R780 300. And Toyota will keep selling many of them. It's a tremendously successful business that has hurt German luxury car brands in South Africa.
Fortuner has made compact luxury sedans irrelevant
Two decades ago, the Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series were South Africa's desirable upper-middle-class family cars. For the last decade and a half, it's been Fortuner.
READ | Toyota Fortuner’s most memorable moments since 2006
The styling, trim and cabin upgrades for the 2023 Fortuner are mild. The headlights are smaller, and the fascia has grown larger with Fortuner's styling upgrade. Premium VX derivates, and all 2.8s, also feature Bi-LED headlights.
What's changed inside?
You'll encounter contrasting maroon trim panels on the VX models, and rear passengers benefit from their USB ports. The 2.4- and 2.8-litre turbodiesel engines, and their associated six-speed manual and automatic transmission, remain unchanged.
Fortuner works on all road surfaces
The fundamental concept of a five-door Hilux with seven seats remains increasingly valid in South Africa.
Beyond a narrowing selection of impeccably maintained highways and toll roads, South Africa's driving infrastructure is regressing. And that means a traditional luxury sedan has become irrelevant as a proper cross-country driving solution.
There is a theory that large crossovers would be the ideal compromise between a luxury sedan and the ruggedness of a ladder-frame SUV, like the Fortuner. But large crossovers fall victim to the same issues afflicting luxury sedans on potholed South African roads. With limited suspension travel and low-profile tyres, they often cannot absorb high-speed pothole strikes.
The family car that goes everywhere
In the context of real-world driving conditions, Fortuner is such a sensible option for upper-middle-class South African families. Yes, the high centre of gravity and the bakkie platform means you have laughably lazy steering. But it's so capable on all terrain types.
South Africa has tremendously diverse driving terrain: high-speed highways, corrugated dirt roads and severe off-road routes.
Our tar roads often feature a haphazard assortment of potholes. Navigating these in a luxury crossover sedan, you are always at risk of severe tyre damage or suspension misalignment. But Fortuner rolls through potholes with aplomb.
Test driving Toyota's 2023 Fortuner, we routed around the Oudtshoorn and George area, navigating some of the country's most renowned dirt road mountain passes. Unseasonable Karoo rain meant severe ruts in many places on these roads, but the new Fortuner did what all other Fortuners have ever done: it tracked with assurance and confidence.
You can't order crazy wheels – for good reason
Toyota's product planning is conservative, but proven. With Fortuner, Toyota does not offer 21- or 22-inch wheels, which Ford does, on their Everest. And for local driving conditions, 21- and 22-inch wheels are just silly.
An interesting note with the 2023 model year Fortuner is the presence of a new tyre: Continental's Cross Contact ATR. Dunlop's Grandtrek has long been Fortuner's standard tyre, but supplier dynamics will see some Fortuners fitted with Continentals. If you want a tyre with shaped sidewall lugs for additional traction off-road, the Continentals provide that.
Options? You could pay R10 200 for bi-tone paint. But everyone knows a Fortuner looks best in plain white, so you never have to tick that option.
