We have already reported to you that Toyota is bringing the Fortuner facelift to India early next year. Toyota also has a new Legender variant of the Fortuner that they sell in Thailand, and while we really hoped that the Fortuner Legender makes it here too, it was only in a speculative stage. Now, we have learned that Toyota will indeed be launching the Fortuner Legender to India sometime in early-2021. The Toyota Fortuner Legender is a more premium version of the standard SUV and it comes with unique styling, more features on the interiors, more rugged off-road kit and a more powerful 2.8L diesel engine as well.
The Legender variant will sit above the regular Fortuner in India. While the regular Fortuner gets its own facelift, the Legender variant takes it a notch higher with a completely different nose, making it look like a facelift of the facelift, quite literally. The Fortuner Legender gets a completely-new bumper with a huge air dam in the middle and deep-set fog lamp housings that look very sharp and aggressive. The bumper line also sits a lot higher than in the regular Fortuner. The grille too has been completely revised and is a lot slimmer with a blacked-out treatment in contrast to the horizontally-slatted grille on the regular Fortuner facelift.
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The Legender variant also gets its own unique headlamps that look a more Lexus-like than Toyota. They are full-LED units with dual projectors and it even gets sequential LED turn indicators lower down. At the rear, the bumper too has been slightly altered. One of the biggest highlights of the Legender variant are the 20-inch alloy wheels in contrast to the 18-inch wheels on the regular Fortuner. On the inside, the dashboard design remains the same. However it gets some additional equipment in the form of a larger 9.0-inch screen, 360-degree reversing camera, Apple CarPlay, wireless charging, and two-tone seats.
Its not all cosmetic though. Toyota has significantly updated the 2.8L diesel to now produce 204hp and 500Nm of torque. That's a healthy upgrade over 177hp and 420Nm of torque in the regular Fortuner. This has primarily been achieved by the use of variable nozzle turbo, which is controlled by an electric motor for higher efficiency. Moreover, the torque boost in the Legender comes right from 1,600 rpm and the torque curve remains flat till about 2,800 rpm. This updated 2.8L diesel engine could even make its way under the hood of the regular Fortuner facelift. Conversely, Toyota could be discontinuing the current 150hp 2.4L diesel engine in the regular Fortuner.
The top-spec Toyota Fortuner is currently priced at INR 34.43 lakh (ex-showroom) in India and we expect the facelifted version to carry a little bit of a premium. The Toyota Fortuner Legender however will be considerably more expensive than the regular version, with prices expected to start at around INR 43 lakh. That is also considerably more expensive than any of its other body-on-frame SUV rivals like the Ford Endeavor, the MG Gloster or the Mahindra Alturas G4. But we are just happy that it is indeed coming in early-2021.
Stay tuned to IndianAutosBlog.com for more Toyota updates and other four-wheeler news.
[News Source : Autocar India]
