TOYOTA FORTUNER LEGENDER

Luxurious SUV in the streets, utilitarian off-roader where it counts

- ROHIT PARADKAR

The Toyota Fortuner is a household name in India now and you have to be living under a rock to have not heard about its legacy. Of course, it can smash those rocks too and crawl over them to scale great inclines, but the reason for which it has been scaling high on the sales charts is because of the image it portrays. It announces to the world (or at least casts that image) that you have arrived in life, or are a person of power, or are simply enabling your wanderlust with one of the most capable SUVs out there. But, when we reviewed this generation of the Fortuner for the first time in 2016, we asked all of you the very important question - would you drive this polished SUV into the wild outdoors and scratch its expensive paintwork?

Clearly, most of you wouldn’t. If anything, people wanted an even more prim and proper Fortuner and that has given birth to the variant you see here the Fortuner Legender.

Design

If you want 4x4 capabilities and the butch styling that one associate with the Fortuner, you can save a few and settle for the regular Fortuner 4x4. The Legender is the fashionable alternative - wearing more refined styling cues that are inspired by Lexus. The X-shaped nose for example has hints of the Lexus spindle grille. It is complemented by a sophisticated four-pot headlamp arrangement and what Toyota likes to call a waterfall design for the daytime running lights. The lights have an exceptionally good spread and throw and are easily the best in the segment.

Type 2,755cc, 4-cylinder turbodiesel, 4-valves per cylinder

Max power 204PS @ 3,000-3,400rpm

Max torque 500 Nm @ 1,600-2,800rpm

LxWxH(mm) 4,795 x 1,855 x 1,835

Price ₹45.35 lakh on-road, Mumbai