Mad Manny's Meandering Motoring Musings

[Mad Manny]

Jake's, you remind me of the guys who, years ago, when I said Suzuki will make a 5 door Jimny and it won't be assembled in Japan,.

Or the guys who told me Toyota would never put a 4 cylinder motor in a Cruiser.

They also refused to believe Siener De Freitas...

[BushWacker]

Siener de Freitas,
Purely as a matter of interest
when will Ineos Grenadiers outsell Defenders ?

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/busi ... sales-soar

[Mad Manny]

Chas, I don't think the Ineos Grenadier will out sell the New Pretender anytime soon.
I can't find accurate global figures, but it seems they sold about 25000 Grenadiers over the past 12 months.
JLR managed to move 114 000 Defenders over the past year, worldwide.
Meanwhile, the Fortuner, which is not sold in Europe, the UK or North America, sold more units than those two combined....

Did you know? Toyota puts more people behind the wheel of a proper 4x4 each year than Jeep does.

[iandvl]

Did you know? Toyota puts more people behind the wheel of a proper 4x4 each year than Jeep does.

Of which the vast majority never use 4x4. They are njammie mammie vehicles or mall crawlers.

[jakeslouw]

Did you know? Toyota puts more people behind the wheel of a proper 4x4 each year than Jeep does.

You can't use TOYOTA in the same sentence as PROPER 4x4 unless you are talking LC70 series. The rest are soft all wheel drives IMHO.

[BushWacker]

“ Meanwhile, the Fortuner, which is not sold in Europe, the UK or North America, sold more units than those two combined....

Did you know? Toyota puts more people behind the wheel of a proper 4x4 each year than Jeep does.”

…….

This is akin to telling me:

“ Theres more vermin in the whole of Kruger
than there are of the Big Five combined … “

… but yes …

The ‘holics and their kind are a proliferating threat.

[Mad Manny]

Jake's, it sounds like you only regard a vehicle with;
Ladder frane
Low Range
Diff locks
SFA as a proper 4x4.
In that case, then the only proper 4x4s you can still buy are:
LC 70s as you correctly state
Jeep Wrangler a Rubicon.
Ineos Grenadier.
That are it...

[jakeslouw]

Jake's, it sounds like you only regard a vehicle with;
Ladder frane
Low Range
Diff locks
SFA as a proper 4x4.
In that case, then the only proper 4x4s you can still buy are:
LC 70s as you correctly state
Jeep Wrangler a Rubicon.
Ineos Grenadier.
That are it...

and unimogs

[Mad Manny]

You should be aware that Toyota has a low cost 'IMV' based Hilux in certain markets that should be coming to SA. The Hilux Champ/Stallion.
We'll it seems (unconfirmed by TMC) that this Bakkie will form the basis of the new FJ Cruiser.
So the FJ could be a low cost basic 4x4.
Talk is that it will be shorter, narrower and cheaper than a Fortuner.
This is all unconfirmed rumor, but the sources are seldom wrong.
If true, this will be great news!

Further to this, Toyota apparently asked Suzuki if they could Badge Engineer the Jimny as they have done with the Fronx, Baleno, Grand Vitara, etc.
Suzuki, it's alleged, told Toyota to get stuffed. Saying that this model sharing should not extend to 'Halo' models like the Jimny, Swift or, in the case of Toyota, the Cruisers.

Now, you may know that, whilst in SA, the Jimny has no direct competitors, in India there are vehicles like the Mahindra That (3dr) & Thar Roxx (5dr) as well as the Force Gurkha.
Both slightly bigger & more powerful than the Jimny.

My thinking is that the new Toyota Cruiser FJ will compete with these 3 vehicles, but will be marginally larger, marginally more powerful & better built than the Thar or Gurkha.

It will be sold in the 'Low' countries - basically where the Fortuner is sold (so yes for SA, Oz, Thailand, Indonesia & South America, but know to Europe, UK & North America.

We should no more within the next 6 to 8 weeks...

[Redman]

Seems like there is a good chance that the new FJ and Hilux (so Fortuner for all practical reasons as well) will be based on a version of the TNGA-F platform. This is the same one used in the 300, 250 Prado, Tacoma, Sequoia and some Lexus products.

The current Hilux and Fortuner are some of the last products not running on a "shared platform". By going the TNGA-F route, each market in theory will have a variety of engines that can work on that platform.

Technically you can have your next Fortuner, Fj or Hilux with one of the following engines:

• 3.4L V6 Twin Turbo Petrol
  3.4L V6 Twin Turbo Petrol Hybrid
  3.3L V6 Twin Turbo Diesel
  4.0L V6 Petrol
  2.4L 4 cylinder Turbo Petrol
  2.4L 4 cylinder Turbo Petrol Hybrid
  2.4L 4 cylinder Turbo Diesel
  2.4L 4 cylinder Turbo Diesel Hybrid (apparently almost market ready)
  2.8L 4 cylinder Turbo Diesel
  2.8L 4 cylinder Turbo Diesel mild hybrid (more like kinetic assist)

Not a bad selection, although I recon most markets will have one or two of these as the standard option. Would be nice if they include the 2.4L Turbo Petrol T24A-FTS in some of the models.

Don't think we'll see the 3.3 V6 diesel in anything else as this will cannibalize 300 sales. Maybe in a future Hilux offering?

[Mad Manny]

Seems like there is a good chance that the new FJ and Hilux (so Fortuner for all practical reasons as well) will be based on a version of the TNGA-F platform. This is the same one used in the 300, 250 Prado, Tacoma, Sequoia and some Lexus products.

Redman, many of the poorer quality publications are saying the new Baby Cruiser/FJ Cruiser will be on the TNGA - F platform.
I disagree.
I think it will be on the IMV platform that used to underpin the 1st D4-D Hilux and currently underpins the Hilux Champ/Stallion.

However, I do have a sneaking suspicion that Toyota may be working on TWO new baby Cruisers.
A cheap one on the IMV platform for the LOW countries that will have the 2.7 vvti engine or the 2.4GD engine abd then a more modern,more upmarket one that will either be on the TNGA-F platform or be based on the Corolla Cross, this one will be softer and have hybrid drive trains and will be sold in the 1st World.

But that's just my personal speculation.

[Mad Manny]

2024 Mitsubishi Triton

Mitsubishi Motors South Africa, would, if there were no Nissan South Africa, be our most useless South African motor distributor.

There's an all new Triton coming. By ALL new I mean it was launched in Thailand in mid 2023.
Then it was rolled out in other markets.
Mitsubishi SA said we'd get it in in the 1st half of 2024.
Then they said "in the 3rd quarter of 2014".
So that means by the last day of September.

The Engine & Gearbox are the same as before.

AFAIK the 6 speed auto is an Aisen box that does duty in the Isuzu D-Max with no issues & in the Hilux & Fortuner with much bitching.

Otherwise, it's just a new body.

I'm sure the 3 or 4 guys who buy Mitsubishi are mildly excited...


BTW, while Mitsubishi SA has been dithering, the following bakkies were launched:
New P500 by GWM
Foton returned to SA,
LDV arrived.
Ashok Leyland launched (not that you'd know).

Also, while we've been waiting, Nissan sold another 12 Navaras...

[Mike-PS]

On a rare occasion I have to agree with you Manuel - the new triton appears to be a bit of a Frankenstein with some good advances in some areas and still outdated improvements in others.
For example it still has rear drum breaks, no tail gate struts and other niceties still missing that all the other new utes have come out with recently.
The engine is interesting, although same block it is a 2.4-litre bi-turbo four-cylinder diesel engine with 150kW of power at 3500rpm and 470Nm of torque from 1500 to 2750rpm - we’ll see over time how those turbo’s hold up.

BTW for all the patrol pirates - the new patrol launch is in the 1st of September, which I’m sure you are aware comes with the petrol 6 cylinder bi-turbo - and very upmarket on looks - although I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mad Manny]

Yes Mike, the new Patrol launch is early September.
The Patrol guys are very excited.
Probably unaware it's just a rebodied Infinity Q80...
If they come in around R1.4bar it'll be a very good option versus the Land Cruiser 300...

[Disco Nic]

As far as I know they only sell 5 models:
1. Magnite
2. Cashcow
3. X-Trail
4. Navara
5. Patrol...

The Qashqai is no more. Removed from SA market because it wasn’t selling.