The Nissan Terra and the Toyota Fortuner are just two of today’s most popular SUVs. And with both models recently updated, many Filipino car buyers have their eyes on either vehicle. Interested to see which among the two deserve a place in your garage? Find out in this SUV brawl.

Exterior

Looking at today’s tale of the tape, The Nissan Terra appears to be larger than the Toyota Fortuner giving it a slight edge in terms of road presence and cabin size. Its larger body also provides it with a longer wheelbase and good ground clearance which translates to better ride quality.

The Nissan Terra also packs exterior features including its quad-LED projector headlamps, LED DRLs, LED fog lamps, LED taillamps, roof rails, mudguards, and a rear roof spoiler.

On the other hand, the Toyota Fortuner packs a similar lighting setup with LED headlamps, LED DRLs, LED fog lamps, LED rear combination lamps, roof rails, mudguards, and a discreet rear roof spoiler.

While both SUVs are neck and neck in terms of their exterior amenities, we’re giving this round to the Nissan Terra because of its larger body, longer wheelbase, and higher ground clearance.

Interior

Inside, the Nissan Terra features zero-gravity seats (the higher variant gets lumbar support) wrapped in either black fabric or black leather. Likewise, the gear shifter and the steering wheel can be had in either urethane or leather, depending on the variant.

It also has a seven-inch instrument meter cluster with advanced drive-assist display, either an eight or nine-inch infotainment system (depending on the variant), and an 11-inch flip-down rear monitor.

Meanwhile, the Toyota Fortuner features standard seats that can be had in either fabric, leather, or leather with maroon accents. Its steering wheel can also come in either urethane, leather with dark wood trim, or leather with galaxy black trim.

Tech-wise, the Toyota Fortuner sports a smaller 4.2-inch instrument panel, either a seven or an eight-inch infotainment system, and a wireless charger.

Being today’s premium driver and passenger SUV, there’s no doubt that this round goes to the Nissan Terra.

Engine

Under the hood, the Nissan Terra is equipped with a 2.5-liter engine that can be mated to either a six-speed manual or a seven-speed automatic (with manual mode). This powertrain setup allows the Nissan Terra to put out 187 horses and 450Nm of torque. Not bad!

The ever-reliable Toyota Fortuner does offer a one-two punch counter in the form of a 2.4-liter and a 2.8-liter engine. The base variant packing a 2.4-liter mill is mated to a six-speed manual tranny while the rest get a six-speed automatic gearbox.

Toyota’s powertrain options make a total of 148hp and 400Nm as well as 201hp and 500 Nm respectively.

Showing that it’s able to regain its footing, this round goes to the Toyota Fortuner.

Safety

When it comes to safety, the Nissan Terra boasts a slew of SRS airbags and seatbelts, ABS with EBD and BA, vehicle dynamic control with that sweet four-wheel active brake limited slip (ABLS), parking sensors, a high-mount stop lamp, and an anti-theft system.

And if that’s not enough, the Nissan Terra comes with your preferred mix of Nissan Intelligent Mobility features like the intelligent around-view monitor (IAVM) that can be had with either a reverse camera, a moving object detector, or a moving object detector with an off-road monitor. Of course, you still get stuff like intelligent rearview mirror (IRVM), intelligent forward collision warning (IFCW), intelligent emergency braking (IEB), lane departure warning, intelligent driver alertness, blind-spot warning (BSW), rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA), hill-start assist, hill descent control, and a tire pressure monitoring system.

The Toyota Fortuner offers a similar suite of airbags and seatbelts, ABS with BA and EBD, vehicle stability control with traction control, hill start assist, downhill assist control, an immobilizer with a horn, a high-mount stop lamp, a reverse or a panoramic view camera, as well as clearance and back sonars.

The higher trims do come with the Toyota Safety Sense which adds a pre-collision system (PCS), lane departure alert, and adaptive cruise control.

Seeing just how well equipped the Terra is, we’re giving this round to the SUV from Nissan.

Variants and pricing

Nissan Terra

Terra 2.5 EL – P1,649,000
Terra 2.5 VE – P1,829,000
Terra 2.5 VL – P1,999,000

Toyota Fortuner

Fortuner 2.4 4x2 G MT – P1,633,000
Fortuner 2.4 4x2 G AT – P1,723,000
Fortuner 2.4 4x2 V AT – P1,857,000
Fortuner 2.8 4x2 Q AT – P2,033,000
Fortuner 2.8 4x2 LTD AT – P2,290,000
Fortuner 2.8 4x4 LTD AT – P2,450,000

Verdict

With a well-rounded set of features, we crown the Nissan Terra as the winner of this scrap. Its trifecta of variants makes it an ideal choice for many Filipino car buyers who want a value-laden SUV.

Photos from Nissan and Toyota

Also read: 

Toyota PH unveils GR-S trim for Fortuner and Hilux

Nissan PH reveals updated Terra