Toyota Fortuner GR-Sport: a perfect send-off for SA’s popular SUV

While it took a while to finally tie the knot, the marriage between two of Toyota’s most popular monikers, Fortuner and GR Sport (GR-S), was inevitable.

While the second generation of the most popular ladder frame SUV in South Africa has had its share of special editions since its inception in 2016, it patiently awaited GR-S treatment. The first GR-S version of its production sibling, the Toyota Hilux, as far back as 2019, sparked hope that the Fortuner was soon to follow. But it was only after the third reiteration of the Hilux GR-S that the Toyota Fortuner finally followed suit.

Toyota Fortuner GR-S finally arrives

And much to the delight of the Fortuner faithful, the GR Sport badge not only brought with it the accompanying suspension enhancements and appealing styling cues. It also comes with a power bum, unlike the first Hilux GR-S. The latter featured the same outputs as the GD-6 2.8-litre turbodiesel variants in standard guise.

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Sharing the uptuned powertrain of the second and third reiterations of the Hilux GR-S, the Toyota Fortuner’s 2.8-litre blown diesel mill produces 165kW of power and 550Nm of torque. This is a 10% increase from the oil-burner in standard form. Like the Hilux, the twist goes to all four wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission.

The additional power, along with new mono-tube suspension shocks, outweighs all the aesthetical niceties the Toyota Fortuner GR-S has to offer. Albeit there is no problem with the windgate styling.

To be brutally honest, one of the areas the Toyota Fortuner has lacked against its rivals is its stability at greater speeds. It just never felt as stable as other body-on-frame SUVs when going over a certain speed.

Rock solid ride

After sampling it for a week, The Citizen Motoring reckons the enhanced suspension takes care of this to transform the GR-S into the most rock-solid Fortuner ever. The compromise to this is a noticeably firmer ride when going off-road, but it is a very small price to pay for what it gains overall.

Selecting the Power driving mode, available alongside Eco and Normal, also unleashes the full potential of the trusty oil burner. It makes it much more responsive so you can overtake with confidence. The auto box is still as solid as a rock, with recalibrated gearing ratios adapting to the specific driving mode.

We did not take the Toyota Fortuner GR-S off-road during its weeklong stay, but with its low transfer case, rear diff lock, and 279mm, we doubt there is any terrain it won’t conquer, as we have discovered many times over the years.

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Dashing good looks

And in the process, you are sure to look good too. It features black fog light bezels, black honeycomb grille with lower air intake, darkened LED headlight clusters, GR bumpers, black side-steps, black mirrors caps and 18-inch black alloy wheels.

A noticeable difference at the rear of our Platinum White Pearl tester was the white bootlid spoiler above the number plate.

Generous GR Sport styling inside manages to rejuvenate the cabin despite its age. These include perforated suede inserts on the black leather seats, along with red contrast stitching on the seats, handbrake and upper glove box. The centre console features matte carbon finishing and silver decorative inserts.

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Generous GR touches

The front headrests feature GR embroidery along with the floor mats and steering wheel, which also gets a red 12 o’clock marker. A Gazoo Racing plaque features on the centre console, A GR graphic in the instrument cluster, pedals are finished in alloy, and the starter button is finished with a GR logo.

Standard equipment for the Toyota Fortuner GR-S includes an eight-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an 11-speaker JBL sound system, an electric tailgate and folding electric mirrors.

Front and rear parking sensors and a panoramic rear-view camera are standard. More advanced safety systems include Adaptive Cruise Control, Hill Start Assist, trailer Sway Control, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Monitoring, and Downhill Assist Control.

A proud range-ropper

As far as fuel consumption goes, we managed to average between 10 and 11 litres per 100km. This is very much on par with the Fortuner in standard guise.

Slotting in at R999 000, the Toyota Fortuner GR-S will only enhance the SUV’s local status. It is the perfect send-off for a model that can make way for a newer version by next year already.

Toyota Fortuner GR-S road test data