Toyota Fortuner Crusade 4WD 2018 off-road review

Being based on the HiLux chassis appears to bring with it a narrow-gutted cabin, perhaps made more noticeable on the Crusade’s highish front seats; it’s not uncomfortable but the closer shoulder width is noticeable for adults – 1433mm compared with the Prado’s 1549mm.

The second row is good for two adults; there is a lap sash for the centre spot and three child seat anchorages here. The back two seats – best for small folk – fold up against the sides at the back, taking up a bit of cargo space and limiting visibility back this way; a full-size spare (commendable) sits below the rear floor so it would’ve been difficult to have fold down-and-away seats.

So the Fortuner would be handy for taking home a couple of extra kids from sports practice but best seen as a five-seater wagon – Mum, Dad plus three – for a family outing.

There are a number of cup and bottle holders, storage compartments and seat pockets plus three 12-volt accessory sockets and a 100w-220 volt socket in the centre console.

The touch screen for audio, phone and navigation operations is intuitive enough for most though the main instrument panel ahead of the driver, while classy and most informative, is a tad too busy – a digital speed read-out would be handy in these over-nannied days.

Toyota have long produced sensible powerplants and here the 2.8 litre common-rail diesel generates a useful 130kW at 3400rpm and 420Nm from 1400rpm when the four cylinder is mated to the six-speed automatic gearbox. (Six-speed manual Fortuners have 450Nm from 1600rpm but the range-topping Crusade only arrives with auto).

The transmission also has a set of low-range ratios, accessed by a rotary dial on the console.

The turbocharged diesel and auto gearbox is a good, fairly refined, partnership and helped out with steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters - particularly useful for off-road work when hands can be a mite busy.

There’s also a set of low-range ratios, accessed by a rotary dial on the console and handy when the going gets proper tough.

Maybe it was the light early-morning city traffic, maybe it was a driver’s light foot in a fairly empty wagon, but this Fortuner averaged 7.8L/100km for a combined urban and highway drive; the read-out wasn’t that much higher in the traffic but a more stop-start drive could well see 10s and more.

Where consumption rose rapidly was down the beach – over about 50km of sand driving, most of it on a falling tide – fuel use blew out to 15L/100km. It was about the same when picking our way down a rough, washed-out bush track over 30km.

Any Toyota with a two-speed transfer case has proven to be a decent vehicle for bush and beach, capable of dealing with all manner of off-road obstacles.

So the Fortuner starts out with a fair four-wheel drive heritage and with the HiLux ute ladder chassis (albeit with coils replacing leaf springs down back) and HiLux running gear it has the credentials, and the promise of durability, to get off the beaten track and back. And that’s certainly the case here – good gearing, good loads of torque delivered early plus 225mm of ground clearance are excellent starting points. The Fortuner also has a decent approach angle of 30 degrees, departure angle of 25 degrees and ramp-over of 23.5 degrees. Wading depth is 700mm.

So no question about its rough road ability. Despite the road-biased Dunlop Grandtreks on the Fortuner Crusade it never faltered in a bush and beach outing and conditions from soft, deepish sand to rock crawling and greasy mud splashing; electronic traction and stability aids come in handy at times.

Out on the bitumen the Toyota sat at an easy 110km/h down the highway, untroubled by sub-tropical storms and interstate travellers. On back country roads care is needed to curb a driver’s enthusiasm, the front end can run wide and there can be body roll if the Fortuner is pushed around, quite understandable for a tall machine on a ladder frame chassis.

Ride quality’s good, it will tow 2800kg and there’s an 80-litre fuel tank so the showroom-standard vehicle is pretty much set for wide open spaces from the get-go; maybe add a snorkel to be extra sure of clean air out west and dry engines through the creeks.

There is a pretty standard three year/100,000 kilometre warranty and a fixed servicing program of $240 per service for up to the first six services for three years or 60,000 kilometres to the first six services for three years or 60,000km (whichever occurs first).