Being parents of a large family has many perks. One member of the family and their offspring are usually going off somewhere on a trip and often we are fortunate enough to get invited to go along. If you’ve been following the regular updates on our long-term Toyota Fortuner diesel, you’ll know that we’ve traveled to many ends of this fine country with Toyota’s attainable SUV.

We say attainable because at R338 600, it remains one of the most affordable ‘real’ SUV vehicles on the local market. It’s also very well specified for the price, with a full leather interior and other nice touches like ventilation for the rear passengers.

Unfortunately, our long-term sojourn is nearing an end, and what a perfect chance it was to take the Fortuner for a final escapade, this time joining my daughter and her family on their annual adventure to the Kruger Park, Mopani Rest Camp, situated 74km from Phalaborwa gate. It’s a newish camp of stone-built bungalows overlooking the Pioneer Dam and had an awesome view that will linger with us for a long time to come.

We had just cleaned off the dust from Mkuzi when we were back on the road again in this vehicle. It is ‘King of the Road’ in our estimation. It develops an impressive 120kW of power at 3400rpm and 343Nm of torque at between 1400 and 3200rpm. It has proven to be an ideal tow vehicle for our heavier caravan, which weighs 950kg when fully loaded.

It has a full time four-wheel drive system and a five-speed gearbox. The 65-litre fuel tank gives us more than an adequate range between fuel stops, and has averaged 9.1 litres per 100 km overall.

We like the onboard computer which keeps us informed of the outside temperature, average and instant fuel consumption, average vehicle speed and drivable distance left in the tank. The Fortuner has comfortable seating for seven people in three rows of seats using a 2/3/2 split design.

We did a round trip through Dullstroom stopping for lunch. We always find Dullstroom cold and were thankful for the heating system and the good demisters as the area was covered with low lying cloud.

If we look back over the past eight months, the Fortuner has proven to be competent in almost ever regard. It has enough grunt and a smooth enough ride for long distance driving, a spacious interior for all the kit. Yet, if some serious off-roading is on your agenda, Fortuner is very much up to the game thanks to a rugged ladder-frame chassis, two-speed transfer box, lockable Torsen limited slip centre diff and locking rear diff.

Fortuner also boasts a 220mm ground clearance, 30 degree approach angle and 25 degree departure angle. Despite being based on the same platform as the Hilux, it ditches the bakkie’s leaf-spring rear suspension for a four-link set-up with coil springs – resulting in a more comfortable ride quality.

This week we learnt that one Roan Antelope is valued at R150 000; two could nearly pay for the vehicle. Guess which we would rather have!