I wish I could do something about the Toyota Management in India

Guys, I took delivery of the Fortuner last week and after driving it for six days - ONLY 6 days - I am feeling Saturated. Seriously - a driving a car is all about discovery, each day is a new day, you find the design welcoming, you notice a small feature and you feel you had not seen a curve earlier, had not focussed on detail of a small piece of chrome.

The Engine did well today taking me through the rough patch, the road was closed and I drove through the field in my SUV, the competition eating dirt, the auto box manages the revs so well, the lights are HID and the have a smart feature which helps me corner so well, the wipers are rain sensing, the park-a-tronic is a beauty I never thought I could have parked in such a small place.

I WANT TO GO TO LEH and not to the OFFICE in this car. And I want to go TODAY - so I am turning towards MANALI rather than NEHRU PLACE. As I hit the highway I need an audio system that will make Bhangra sound like Bhangra - and I aint letin any car CROSS me... AHUN AHUN - all the way ... I once a bought a FORD IKON 1.6 petrol and I still remember the OLD days when I would ZIP to 160kmps and leave many eating the sand.

It was fun the car though high on maintainence used to get my adrenalin pumping each time I thought of a long drive. I need a GPS "AUNTY" to talk to me, tell me where to turn and where the closest massage or escort parlour is, especially when my wife is not in the car. It has been a sinful life and I intend to continue along the same path as no amount of remorse is getting me to the heavens.

I need a vibrating auto adjust-seat to keep my blood and hormones flowing and to ensure that the useful hormones get to the right place and do not die in my arteries and vessels, effectively hampering my "performance" levels. And I do not want to hold on to a Japanese's vibrating stick, do not know why but every time I change the gear - 377 flashes in front of my eyes, and I have a real big issue with that as I am normal. I am the Macho man who is getting naughty at 40, no 30 year old who has got all his systems in high performance mode can actually think of spending 20 lacs on a car, here my friends lies the paradox.

I have grown and so has my Bank balance - and I can now think of buying a bigger and better car - but there aint no manufacturers who can give me one that is the right product at the right price. Is there no justice in this world and why does it happen that a car that is priced at 10 lacs or less in other countries has all the goodies but not in this country.

This Fortuner thing weighs about 2000 KG and has baout 160 BHP of power- getting to 100 KMPS takes about 20 seconds - a moped accelerates faster- try it if you do not believe me. You can expect the Tires to last you about 40,000 kms and no more as against a normal life expectancy of about 60-75,000 kms. Fortuner does not have TRACTION control so how the hell do you expect it to behave the DAY YOU ARE IN TROUBLE - even if you have paid 20 lacs.

The Skoda 3.6 V6 - 260 bhp petrol 4*4 (0-100 in 4.1 secs) is an option - I can live with a mileage of 5-6 kmpl but the maintainence is extremely high and Skoda has a bad track record on service. The Japanese are a BIG let down in India- when Honda launched their product many of my friends and especially their wives and girl friends had refused to sit in those cars (probably for the first time in life both the wife an dthe Girl friend agreed on the same point) for the quality of interiors- Honda realised it much later and only when the competition kicked their butts. Still Honda choses to mess up on the Jaaz and the Accord the Sales numbers prove the point- monthly sales down to 200 cars from 800 plus.

Toyota might have garnered 200 bookings but they need to sell for 4-5 years and that certainly is not going to happen. The FORTUNER is a big let down on build quality - the engine is not from a car but from a BOAT - do some research on the web and you will find out - this is not the same engine that is offered in other countries. The Gear Box looks as a souped up piece from a world war 2 Willys jeep, and quite certainly the engine behaves like it is at SEA. The NOISE and the RATTLE that comes to you is HORRIBLE, especially when I start it in the morning and the neighbourhood in New Friends Colony Delhi- comes to know that I am leaving for work!!!

I really do not know why but these Japanese are doing some sort of experiment on the Indians - on testing our tolerance - let us see how long this lasts and what are the results. The customers will kick their butt once again and they will upgrade this SUV to acceptable levels in about 8 -10 months of the launch but the fact remains that those like me who trusted these Japanese with our hard earned money and 20 lacs is no JOKE- have got a VANILLA car- whose actual value is no more than 12 lacs.

Those of you who think it is a GOOD SUV - Have never seen a Good SUV, my prayers will always be with you.

Good looks over the competitionLousy Interiors, Innova Lineage, a part each has been borowed from Corolla, Camry and Innova