Fortuner will give us a significant slice of that action. “Fortuner is positioned perfectly between Kluger and Prado diesel alternatives to Kluger are selling around 1400 vehicles a month, or almost 17,000 a year. “Fortuner definitely lives up to the promise of its road-less-travelled 4WD heritage,” Cramb said at the launch. The Fortuner may only be the latest of many additions to the confusion of choice that is a booming SUV market segment, but Toyota has a steely-eyed confidence about it. If I’d actually counted, I think the word “unique” was uttered more than 20 times during the press briefing before we were given the opportunity to drive the Fortuner and make up our own mind. I reckon he was getting close to spot-on. Consensus was that the Fortuner, to anonymously quote one of the aforementioned scribes, was “pretty bloody good”. And, no, it wasn’t due to the soothing bush atmosphere and fantastic scenery, the great food (seemingly appearing at 10-minute intervals) or the wonderfully varied driving route. Often, according to them, their seat on the plane to the launch was not close enough to the pilot’s or there’s a lack of luggage space in the newest sports car (there’s a surprise!) or the newest ute on the block was skittish around corners with no load in the back (also a revelation).īut during this week’s launch of Toyota’s Fortuner, staged in and around South Australia’s Flinders Ranges, the hard-done-by pack of penmen seemed strangely sated. MOTORING JOURNOS ARE notoriously difficult to please.