Should you buy the Toyota Fortuner 2025 in the UAE?

Saudi Arabia : The Toyota Fortuner 2025 promises years of stress-free motoring and a strong resale value at the end of it. While these are poignant points to remember and appreciate, do they actually translate into a good car that you should buy? Well, that’s what we are going to find out in this article. Before that though, what is this midsize SUV basically all about?

The Fortuner is a body-on-frame SUV based on the same Toyota IMV platform as the legendary Hilux pickup truck. While there have been only two generations of the Fortuner thus far, they make up for that with over two decades of market relevance between them. The facelifted second-gen model arrived in the UAE in 2021, continuing to attract buyers even today.

Variants and Price

Competition is fierce within the midsize SUV segment in the UAE, so a win is not guaranteed even if you’re a Toyota. Pricing is important for buyers, but what matters even more is the value and use case of these cars. The Toyota Fortuner 2025 costs between AED 128,900 and AED 173,900 in the UAE.

The new Fortuner is available in three distinct variants: EXR, GXR, and VXR. The base variant gets a four-cylinder engine, the other two use a punchier six-cylinder. Meanwhile, the Fortuner’s closest competitors like the Nissan X-Terra and the new Jetour T2 are both cheaper – priced at up to AED 143,000 and AED 146,000, respectively.

Backed by Al-Futtaim’s vast and robust dealer network, buying a Toyota Fortuner is almost guaranteed to be a hassle-free experience. Enhancing that experience is a 3-year/100,000 km manufacturer’s warranty. Although not market-leading in any way, Toyota does offer customers the option to purchase an extended warranty plan.

Exterior

While Toyota updated the design in 2021, the new Fortuner successfully retained its butch and rugged outward appearance. The high stance, deep wheel wells, and a flat rear façade are visual indicators of this body-on-frame SUV’s off-road capabilities. The facelift thankfully brought about a few modern tweaks to an otherwise aging platform.

The sharpened front fascia now featured sleek LED headlights and daytime running lights, plus a revised grille and lower apron. The sculpted bumper has fake intakes with real LED foglights and a rugged-looking lower chin with a designer bash plate. There are similar stylistic touches such as the black wheel arches, 18-inch alloy rims, and chrome door handles.

The fixed side steps add to the ruggedness but are also fully functional. There’s a swooping windowline towards the rear-third of the Fortuner, which are mostly there for stylistic purposes and look good. The rear of the facelifted Fortuner gets new LED taillights that look sleek, along with a roof spoiler and a fake lower diffuser.

It might not be as visually impressive as some of Toyota’s larger SUVs in the UAE, but the Fortuner is certainly not compact. It has a wheelbase of 2,745 mm, length of 4,795 mm, width of 1,855 mm, and a height of 1,835 mm. Where the Fortuner does feel compact is in the boot department, offering just 296 litres behind the third row.

Interior

As impressive as its exterior is, when it comes to the interior of the Toyota Fortuner 2025, things aren’t as hunky-dory. While Toyota has installed soft-touch and squishy bits on the dashboard and door pads, much of the rest of the cabin is filled with hard and scratchy plastic. The relatively rudimentary HVAC interface, tall dashboard, and an old-school analogue instrumentation (with a 4.2-inch MID) aren’t modern.

The Fortuner is a 7-seat family SUV, but its third row feels properly cramped. The high floor means that there’s no real under-thigh support, and legroom is at a premium too. Although Toyota has scooped out a portion of the roof, headroom is tight. There are also no USB/12V charging ports nor any cupholders back there, but you’ll find roof-mounted air vents.

The second row is a lot more spacious and comfortable. There are integrated cupholders, seatback and door pockets, air vents in the roof, a single 12V socket, plus a good amount of legroom. The front-row occupants of the Fortuner are gifted cupholders, electrically-operated seats with ventilation, dual-zone automatic climate control, and a cooled glovebox. There are paddle shifters and an 8-inch touchscreen too.

The infotainment system of the Fortuner gets Apple CarPlay & Android Auto and a pretty average 6-speaker audio. The top variant has tan leather seats that look good and offer a decent level of comfort, though nothing exceptional. This variant also adds a wood & leather trimmed steering wheel, where the wood is fake but feels good to the touch.

Engine and Performance

There are two petrol engine options for the Toyota Fortuner 2025 in the UAE. The most basic of which is a 2.7-litre four-cylinder that serves up 164 hp and 245 Nm of torque. Given the hefty weight of the Fortuner, this powerplant can feel insufficient for those who drive on wide open roads like the Sheikh Zayed Road.

Moreover, with a rated fuel economy of 10.4 kmpl (9.6 L/100 km), the 2.7 isn’t a frugal motor anyway. Most buyers would be better off with the 4.0-litre V6. It’s not only smoother but also delivers 235 hp and 376 Nm of torque – making it significantly more powerful than the four-cylinder. While it’s thirstier at 9.6 kmpl (10.4 L/100 km), the actual real-world difference is negligible.

Their performance figures are expectedly vastly different. The Fortuner 2.7 needs over 13 seconds to reach 100 kmph, while the Fortuner 4.0 does the same in under 10 seconds. Both versions of the new Fortuner are equipped with a 6-speed automatic transmission and feature a part-time 4WD system as standard in the UAE. However, only the V6 comes with the flappy paddles for the gearbox.

The Fortuner’s truck-derived construction and rear locking differential make it a great tool for off-roading. Its double wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension allow for good wheel articulation whilst maintaining some semblance of on-road comfort. This is still a blue-collared 4x4 that’s been dressed up to play nice in the city – its choppy ride and noticeable body roll prove that easily.

Safety

Another proof of this platform’s age reveals itself when you scroll through the Fortuner’s safety list. Toyota has ensured basic systems like cruise control, ABS with EBD, traction control/vehicle stability control, and TPMS make it to the Fortuner. The SUV also gets 7 airbags, a tyre pressure monitoring system, hill-start assist, front & rear parking sensors, plus a reversing camera.

The top variant of the Fortuner comes with 360-degree cameras, a blind-spot monitor, and rear cross-traffic alert. Apart from these relatively ‘modern’ safety gear, there isn’t a whole lot more to talk about here. There is automatic headlight-levelling but no adaptive cruise control, which is a big omission for a car that costs this much to buy.

Conclusion

Despite its various misses, the Toyota Fortuner will be a very capable and dependable family hauler for most buyers in the UAE. It can tackle bad or incomplete surfaces without breaking a sweat and, if you feel like it, bash some dunes too on the weekends.

However, the proposition falls apart if you want a modern driving experience and the latest in-cabin features. The Fortuner is like a sledgehammer that can be operated with silk gloves, but one that will constantly remind you of its agrarian roots.