Faults:

Injectors are sensitive to poor-quality diesel fuel or fuel containing water or impurities.

The exhaust gas recirculation system and the intake manifold become dirty over time.

Because it shares its architecture with the brand's pickup trucks, front-end components, such as inner and outer tie rods or shock absorbers, are prone to premature wear when frequently driven on unpaved or poorly maintained roads.

The turbo shaft can wear out or allow oil to leak into the intake, causing white smoke upon cold start-up.

General Comments:

It is a robust, highly reliable, and durable off-roader, although it features an austere interior with hard plastics and a rear suspension that is somewhat uncomfortable on rough roads.

The vehicle's best feature is its mechanical durability; it shares a platform with the Hilux, making it exceptionally rigid and rugged, ideal for unstable roads. Its ground clearance and traction perform very well on rural roads, rough tracks, and challenging terrain. It offers great comfort and spaciousness in the first and second rows of seats.

Another point in its favor is that the mechanics are quite simple, and spare parts are, all things considered, fairly easy to find and not too expensive.

The 2.5-liter diesel engine is adequate for mixed use and work, but it feels underpowered when the truck is fully loaded on the highway or steep inclines. As for fuel consumption, it is quite good considering the vehicle is rather heavy.

Excellent comfort, although the cabin design is simplistic, with a predominance of hard plastics that develop some minor rattles over time; however, overall quality is quite good. It lacks modern driver-assistance technology, and the factory headlights offer poor light output.

A somewhat rugged vehicle, yet very reliable and practical for daily use, and it handles disastrous roads and difficult trails very well.

Faults:

Rattles from day one that the dealer can't get sorted.

I have complained directly to Toyota and they can't be bothered either.

Automated tailgate needed four attempts from the incompetent dealer to fix.

Still rattles like crazy and now I think the entire body flexes when going around tight corners.

General Comments:

I needed a 7-seater 4x4 as the 2017 Camry V6 would be useless in the muddy countryside. And since I had a good experience with Toyota, then logically I decided to switch from the Camry to the Hilux based SUV.

I wish I hadn't... Anyway, on to the review.

OK, first off the good stuff:

- It's very capable at off-roading.

- Performance is... Surprisingly OK considering it weighs almost 2.2 tons and only has 204 hp on tap. The 509 Nm of torque certainly helps.

- Seven airbags, electronic stability control as standard and it's got an NCAP five-star safety rating.

The ride is appalling, the handling is a joke, the steering is heavy and slow, the fuel consumption is atrocious for a diesel.

Transmission has a mind of its owns and sometimes it downshifts when it's not needed. Dealer says it's normal... OK, then...

The seats lack lumbar support, the the wood on the steering feels cheap and nasty, the infotainment system is dated and dangerous to use, reverse camera doesn't have rear-traffic alert.

The Fortuner's adaptive cruise-control is useless and so are the front parking sensors that only cover the corners of the car.

The Fortuner just feels outdated and reeks of cost-cutting; from the manual handbrake to the horrible third row folding arrangement, which rattles and squeaks like crazy.

Can't lock the car from the automated tailgate like you can in a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, which comes with electronic parking brake and handles better, though it's much less powerful than the Fortuner.

Level of technology and standard equipment leaves a lot to be desired, given how much it costs. Insurance is very expensive and Toyota's warranty is useless as I still have to pay a small fortune for periodic maintenance.

Oh and reliability is not that great either; my 2021 Fortuner is a rattle city and I had to go to the dealer FOUR times to fix the automated tailgate and they still can't fix the interior rattles.

All in all, an outdated, overpriced, overrated 4x4.

Worst car I have ever owned.

And it's a Toyota... Oh what an irony.