Three for the road
The Hindu : y>Mitsubishi Pajero, Ford Endeavour and Toyota Fortuner are designed to conquer any road but must maintain certain levels of comfort and sophistication. Ouseph Chacko has the details
T hese are big, rugged 4×4 SUVs whose natural hunting grounds include highways and wildlife sanctuaries. Though most aren’t tested to their maximum off-road potential, people still buy them for the ‘ go-anywhere’ reassurance. The three contenders fighting for your Rs. 20 lakh as well as the right to take you from your outrageous off-road drive to the exquisite executive dinner are the legendary Mitsubishi Pajero, the ever-popular, refreshed Ford Endeavour and the hot-cookie Toyota Fortuner.
SUVs rarely get bigger than these three. Six-feet tall, all of them look and feel rock-solid tough, imposing and not to be messed with.
The Mitsubishi Pajero appears weaker with its relatively small proportions. However, the Pajero has dated rather well and still manages to look rugged. The wheel arches have huge gaps, lots of chrome highlighting and an almost-flat glass area. The Endeavour has been given a facelift recently.
The Ford SUV gets a new bonnet, front bumper and winged headlights which have softened the looks a bit. It looks much more contemporary than the Pajero but it’s still a tad boxy. The massive grille and square and upright proportions give it an imposing stance and terrific road presence.
The Fortuner is distinctly taller and wider. The big Toyota abounds with neat stylistic touches such as the big scoop on the bonnet, the inward kinks in the headlights and the sharply-raked C-pillar. The only visible change to the otherwise traditional design is the location of the spare wheel. It’s mounted on the tailgate but goes under the car and as we learned is pretty difficult to extract.
Four-wheel-drive
All three SUVs are built with a body-on-ladder frame design, all have four-wheel-drive systems and longitudinally mounted four-cylinder engines. All have an independent double wishbone…More
