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The Toyota Fortuner Legender 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…
The Toyota Fortuner Legender 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.
If you want the 4×4 capabilities and the butch styling that one associate with the Fortuner, you can save a few and settle for the regular Fortuner 4×4. The Toyota 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.
While the exterior has allowed the Toyota designers to sculpt two distinct faces for the Fortuner, the interior doesn’t allow so much leeway. So while the flow of the dashboard and the layout of various elements are similar between the two cars (and also to the outgoing model for that matter), the Legender goes with a refreshingly new black and maroon scheme for the upholstery. It gets a contrasting white ambient lighting around the infotainment, instrumentation and foot wells, which looks quite nice.
The Toyota Legender only comes with the option of a diesel motor and it is the updated 2.8l four-cylinder turbo-diesel unit. The first thing you will notice on the updated car is that the engine noise has been muted significantly. You will only hear the clatter past the 2,800rpm mark and even then it doesn’t sound like a truck. The Toyota Legender can only be had with the 4×2 drivetrain with a 6-speed automatic which means the diesel engine gets the higher state of tune that churns out 204PS and 500Nm.
It may seem like a marginal bump in power and torque over the outgoing 2.8, but it makes for quicker acceleration off the mark, easier overtaking capabilities and better drivability around mountain roads. We managed a 0-100kmph sprint time of 9.85s with the Legender, which is significantly quicker than the outgoing car. In fact, this could be the quickest production-spec Fortuner on sale in India right now.
Sure, the Fortuner 4×4 will have better grip off the line, making for cleaner starts with the four-wheel-drivetrain, but the additional hardware makes it a good 125kg heavier than the Legender, giving it a lower power-to-weight ratio.
It isn’t only about outright acceleration though. The gearbox tuning has been optimised too and it shows in how the Toyota Legender drives effortlessly in the city or on the highway. It settles into a cruising engine speed of 1,500rpm at 100kmph or 2,000rpm at 120kmph. The mandatory beeper at that speed isn’t too intrusive either. This isn’t the quickest gearbox around, but it is predictable and once you get the hang of it, planning overtakes is easy.
The engine-braking isn’t particularly strong with this gearbox (even in Sport mode) and it almost feels like the car goes into a coasting mode when you get off the throttle – though it doesn’t have that function. But the brakes on the Toyota Legender are great and finely tuned for a progressive feel. So whether you are driving alone or with a full-house, this mammoth comes to a halt quite predictably.