a great product, could have been better

I was one of the first persons in the state of Kerala to pick up the fortuner. This is my ninth car and the only one I have picked up without a test drive and actually drove my own vehicle out of the showroom. If this cannot be called trust in Toyota, what is? Having owned an Innova for three years made me kind of, what can you say- overconfident? Now that euphoria has started to sink in, and after having clocked 500 km in two days after the buy over all kinds of terrible roads and no roads at all, I am qualified to write some sort of a review. Yes, this is a brilliant product from the stables of Land Cruiser and Prado, a small cousin, but well abled, with the same genes. It took all the battering I gave it on the slushy mountains of Wynad and came out smiling. The roads were devoured with the appetite of a wrestler. The adrenaline rush that came over me was good. Now if someone feels that this is a novice doctor who knows nothing about driving cars,you are wrong. Last month I spent a week driving over 1500 km in Europe in a BMW 5 with 4 wheel drive, so me knows what it means to drive good cars, having driven all of Germany's great marques. Yes, I am peeved that the offerings are not there- the automatic, the navigation that even ordinary cars in europe have as standard, parking controls that lets you know all side of this behemoth, a gyrocompass, electric adjustable seats and the list goes on..After all, did I not spend a big sum of money for this car, and a great deal of time waiting? The sun roof- who uses them? I fail to understand their utility in our country. But all the rest are a must in an upmarket car, or does Toyota think that all are like me, will swallow anything that they give, and turn a blind eye to the inadequacies? Well, if an auto-box comes, I am shifting- for sure. The third seat is not all that bad, my parents sat there for over 200km over terrible roads, they are 65+ but of slim build, yes, but did not complain, and were in fact mighty thrilled. The A/C is good, the little touches like the rear A/C switch on the dash is neat. The music system is average, maybe toyota should look at the great one on the Outlander and make some amends. The Optitronic meters are neat and sporty, about the only thing macho in the cabin. To have a dash almost like the car you owned for three years and just sold for a decent price doesn't seem so good. Well, if the global economy would do better if all cars had the same platform dash and you could just build whatever you wanted over them, I will go with that, but only on this condition. My heart, of course wants more... Maybe you could have Fortuner VXL, ZXL and other versions, Toyota! That apart, the Fortuner makes me smile every time I look at it, the way people turn their heads 90 degrees in awe every time I pass them is a real good feeling. The massive car handles like a dream. I strongly recommend this to every one infected with the wanderlust bug. This baby goes everywhere!fabulous style, impressive road presence, good off road performanceno goodies on offer inside, no automatic box