James from Perth - Hi!

[deeman111]

Hi guys,

My names James, and im in Perth. My fortuner has been ordered and wil be ready for pickup in a couple of weeks. Went with the Blue GXL Auto, with winch bullbar and towbar.

I was planning on buying a MUX, but took a Fortuner for a drive for shits and giggles.... wow was i lucky i did that.

Anyway hopefully when we have a few members we can catch up and go for a 4x4 somewhere

[Shaun]

Hi guys,

My names James, and im in Perth. My fortuner has been ordered and wil be ready for pickup in a couple of weeks. Went with the Blue GXL Auto, with winch bullbar and towbar.

I was planning on buying a MUX, but took a Fortuner for a drive for shits and giggles.... wow was i lucky i did that.

Anyway hopefully when we have a few members we can catch up and go for a 4x4 somewhere

Welcome James!

Yeah, glad you went with the Fortuner too

I reckon the GXL in blue is the way to go, I have seen a few out and about and they look the business.

As the user base grows I will definitely look at organising some events to get people involved and have a bit of fun.

Don't forget to post some pics of your new beast when delivered.

Shaun

[deeman111]

Arrived today, although they decided to wait until delivery to tell me the bullbar is on backorder until mid January. Hopefully it arrives early as im heading up north for 4wd and fishing trip on the 12th Jan and need a bar!!

[Shaun]

Looks good mate! Hope your bar does arrive on time

[deeman111]

UPDATE- Spent the day up in Two Rocks yesterday to see how it goes offroad. I was very impressed, only dropped tyres to 20psi and got over every hill we attempted. Soft sand was a struggle but a bit less air in the tyres would have fixed that. The auto was suprisingly good, smooth changes and holding gears when you really needed it. Only problem now is its 2 days old and already needs a detail

[SJC]

Hi James - the blue looks awesome! Question with the bar, are you going for the steel or alloy?
Cheers SJC

[deeman111]

Alloy winch bar. Hopefully pick up a cheapy winch in the new year. I have some plans for getting it ready for my fishing trip. Just gotta sell the old car first!

[deeman111]

Well after a testing week, my bullbar is getting installed today. They did it last week, and when i went to pick it up it wasnt the winch compatable one. My finance company had ordered the wrong one!! So now its cost them an extra $3500 to get the correct one ordered in and installed today. Toyota did come to the party and partly credit the other bar. I was quite suprised how much cutting is involved to fit the bars. I would have thought it was a bolt on addition, but a lot of the front end is actually cut away.

So now i have a 5 day mad panic to get it all ready before my fishing trip. Auxillary battery, roof cage with solar panel, LED light bar on the front, Cable run to the back to power the fridges (1x50l 1x35l Waeco's) and a fishing rod tube on the roof somwehere!

Fingers crossed it all goes well, and i will have some good photos of the car during the trip (1000k's up the W.A. Coast)

[deeman111]

Here are some photos of the Fortuner in its natural habitat! Did over 400k's of offroad driving, mostly sand, some rock and a few corrugated tracks. Nothing that couldnt be beaten even with the stock tyres, i just dropped the pressures and took it easy.

We also managed to catch a few fish and had a great time. Now to plan the next adventure as i know the car can handle it!

[Shaun]

Hey Deeman111,

Those are awesome pics. How was the fuel consumption on the offroad bits?

[deeman111]

Fuel went up a bit on the offroad. I averaged 10.7L/100k on the 940km drive up. It was sitting on 9.5 cruising at 110, but boredom took over so i upped the speed to 125 and chewed a bit of juice. The average for the whole 2300km trip was 11.9.

In the end, fuel usage while offroad comes down to your driving style, if you co hard at every obstacle then it will be high, but i try to go a bit slower and keep the revs down

[deeman111]

More toys arrived today from 4x4supacentre.com.au ,

12000lbs Domin8r winch
2x2.5m awning
hercules recovery set

Also my CTEK DC-DC charger arrived with a wiring kit, and another 240w LED light bar

Going to be a busy few days getting it all sorted. I cant wait!!

[Shaun]

Awesome, good old 4wd retail therapy!

Looking forward to hearing how it all goes!