Armed to the teeth

THE BODY-ON-FRAME Toplander has diamond-style headlights, 600-millimeter wading depth, and 3-ton towing capacity.

Photos by Aida Sevilla Mendoza

Of all the Chinese motor vehicle manufacturers who have ventured into the Philippines, the Foton brand has proven to be the most durable.

Distributed nationwide by the United Asia Automotive Group Inc. headed by Rommel Sytin, Foton now ranks second in sales for light duty trucks after Isuzu, which has been doing business here since 1995.

Foton outlasted all the other Chinese brands in the Philippines because it saw in 2007 the demand for commercial vehicles.

The largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in China and the second largest in Asia, Foton offers pickup trucks, vans, heavy duty trucks, construction machinery—and now, a sport utility vehicle, the Toplander.

Foton’s first SUV was displayed at the 22nd Manila International Auto Show earlier this month.

Thunder platform

Built on the Foton Thunder pickup platform and sharing the Thunder’s 2.8-liter Cummins turbodiesel engine, the Toplander is a midsize, seven-seater, and competitively priced SUV whose entry level 4×2 variant is only P23,000 more than the smaller, top-end Asian Utility Vehicle (AUV) variant of a leading Japanese manufacturer.

The 4×2 Toplander retails at P998,000 while the 4×4 variant is sold at P1.298 million. Executive versions of the 4×2 and 4×4 variants are priced at P1.098 million and P1.398 million, respectively.

The ace up the sleeve of the Toplander—and of the Thunder, for that matter—is its Cummins ISF 2.8-L turbodiesel engine equipped with Bosch electronically controlled high-pressure common rail direct fuel injection (CRDi) system and exhaust gas recirculation system plus diesel oxidation catalyst technology.

Famous

Delivering 160 horsepower and 360 Newton-meters max torque across a wide range of 1,800 to 3,600 revolutions per minute, the Cummins ISF 2.8 is the smallest diesel engine manufactured by Cummins Inc., an Indiana, United States-based global power technology leader with 7,200 dealer locations and 55,000 employees in over 190 countries and territories.

Cummins diesel engines are famous worldwide for their durability and strength.

The Toplander 4×4 proved its mettle when we used it to visit Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan one day with a side trip to Baguio for lunch and shopping in the city’s wet market for veggies and fruits.

THE 2.8-LITER Cummins diesel turbocharged engine

The Toplander tackled Central Luzon’s flat highways and the twisty Marcos Highway up the mountains with ease.

The Toplander’s suspension system consists of an independent front suspension and rigid rear axle.

In four-wheel drive mode activated by a shift-on-the-fly transfer case dial selector beside the gear shifter, the system automatically allocates zero to 50 percent of torque to the front axle as it moves around the torque shafts according to the tires’ grip.

Angles

Foton claims that the 4×4 Toplander has a 32-inch approach angle, 24-inch departure angle, a 42-inch inclination angle, and maximum tilt angle—plus 600-millimeter wade depth and a class-leading 3-ton towing capacity.

But on our trip north of Manila and when I got to drive the 4×4 Toplander for a week, we didn’t get the chance to check out the Toplander’s off-road capabilities.

Going to Manaoag and Baguio, I sat in the second row seat half of the way and in the front seat on the way back to Manila and found the ride to be reasonably comfortable for a pickup platform vehicle (PPV}.

The torsional rigidity afforded by the Toplander’s body-on-frame design reinforced the vehicle’s stability when we had to drive on secondary roads with uneven, corrugated surfaces.

THE COCKPIT has a double-barrel LCD screen.

The Toplander bears all the exterior and interior features of a typical midsize SUV, such as LED turning lights, integrated fog lamps and daytime running lights, a chromed waterfall front grille, roof rails, power sunroof, and 17-inch aluminum alloy rims shod with meaty 265/65/R17 tires.

Interior

Inside the 4×4 variant, a lot of hard plastic is set off by a double-barrel LCD screen with multi-information display, multimedia entertainment system, a multifunction steering wheel, five-speed manual transmission, AM/FM radio, DVD player, CD player, Bluetooth, USB, GPS, iPod and aux.

I discovered, when I got to drive the Toplander for a few days, that the manual tranny is notchy, with a very low clutch pedal and difficult to get into second gear. An automatic transmission Toplander is supposed to be in the pipeline.

The rear cargo space, 300 L in capacity, expands when the 60/40 third row is folded forward. It is easy to push forward the third row seatbacks, but challenging to do the same with the second row seats.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the engine hood pops open hydraulically, a feature that is usually found only in more expensive vehicles.

Safety

As are the 4×4’s safety features: torque-on-demand, electronic stability program, hill-start assist, hill descent control and cruise control, reverse parking camera, and hydraulic auxiliary braking system.

THE TAILLIGHTS are connected by a broad chrome strip with the Foton badge in the center.

Disc brakes on all four wheels are standard on all variants along with keyless entry, headlight leveling switch, electronic brake force distribution, brake assist, dual front airbags, four-probe reverse sensor, internal and external lamp off delay and Isofix.

Bottom line, the Foton Toplander 4×2 variant is a bargain as a Cummins diesel engine-powered PPV, while the 4×4 variant has almost all the technologies found in modern SUVs.

Only time can tell if the recently arrived Toplander would be able to establish itself as a reliable PPV SUV. On the other hand, the recent inauguration of Foton’s P1.6-billion assembly plant in Clark Freeport proves that Foton is here to stay.