The big bully in town doesn’t need much of an introduction. With age, the

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bully has grown in to a mean soul, egged on by compatriots who had been looking up all along. And now, the big bully is automatic at Rs 22 lakh, all set to tame the hustlers in town.

Here’s a word of caution: Wear your sunglasses as you approach the new Toyota Fortu-ner. The pimped up front chrome grill might blind you otherwise. The chrome strip at the back gets broader, making owners prouder. There’s more chrome detailing near head and tail lamps — making them look sharper. You get a simple ‘automatic’ on the side of the car (but come on, everybody knows it’s a Fortuner).

Inside, things get neat and uncluttered. The touch-screen music system is fitted at an apt place: You don’t have to stretch to change station. The beige and grey treatment suits the no-frills attitude of the Fortuner. Not that we are complaining, but hey, the interiors have shades of Innova! Perhaps, Toyota could have added a bit more bling to distinguish?

Indoor handles near the door are a boon if you are on the shorter side. It’ll help you straddle the bully. This feature is hardly thought of by any other manufacturer.

Comfort is the order of the day inside the Fortuner. Don’t let its mean looks fool you. There’s enough space at the back: It can seat up to seven passengers. Its steering is typical Toyota, with an extra good grip.

Its auto transmission is exemplary because of its groundbreaking extra options for driving on each of the first three gears — you can consistently drive in either first, second or third gear through a switch on the gearbox depending on the traffic. Three thousand cubic centimetres are waiting to follow your tap on the accelerator. It’s almost like having 3,000 particles who have a life and are saying ‘me first’ to work-up while you use more foot at the accelerator. Listen to the roar — it never sounds tired.

It just swooshed past a BMW X6, tearing the wind apart. The X6 even disappeared from the rear view mirror after a few seconds.

Even to the layman who hasn’t driven an SUV before, Fortuner is a dream come true. It invites you to ride it like it’s your childhood friend accustomed to your ego. When Fortuner was added to India’s SUV pie three years ago, it sold thrice as much as Ford’s Endeavour that had been the market leader for many years. Drive to any arterial road, and you are sure to see many Fortuners bullying their way into the unruly traffic.

Fortuner’s reliability quotient scores over Endeavour apart from its cheaper after-sales service expenses. But one must add here that Endeavour’s ladder and stepney at the rear make for that famous American SUV look (the kind we have grown up watching whiz about in Hollywood films). Chevrolet’s Captiva and Hyun-dai’s Santa Fe have smaller 2.2 litre engines but have more modern interiors, features and equipment. The Renault Koleos is too expensive and the Nissan X-trail looks too tame compared with Fortuner.

So if you want a monster that does as well as it looks and doesn’t cost much to maintain, drive the Japanese big boy SUV on the middle of the road as if you own it.

(The car was provided for test drive by Toyota Kirloskar Motor)

saahilanant@mydigitalfc.com