Topic: CD Article: 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser

[robarakira]

I like how its back door opens in the right direction.

[kf095]

Don't know how many of you, who posted here their comments were doing the real off-roading.
I was doing it back in 1996-1998, by the ten years old LC70. Our cottage was in the middle of the forest and near by it was the old huge sand pit. Even local roads in this area were out of service for many years. Every weekend I was going to these places. It was four seasons destination only because of LC. And it was fun to go for hunting and fishing in the real winter deep snow too. Here is two reasons why this FJ has nothing to do with the real off-road.
Reason one - no solid axles. I'm not talking about articulation of arms vs of solid ones. I'm talking about for how long it will lasts. Solid axsels of LC70 were service free, even no alignment was needed after three years of driving and jumping at the speed of 80KM/H over sand hills, roads with huge holes in the asphalt and so on.  If you will take  this one for long off-roading you will face about 5K service bill for every year of the real off-road use.
Reason two - the body style. I'm not against of it. But it is the sexshop fetish. Without removing of all of this plastic crap it is not usable for hitting of trees and bushwhacking.

[johngenx]

It's a big jump in price to get the locking diff, as it's bundled with crap.  Too bad.

[initial_D]

Don't know how many of you, who posted here their comments were doing the real off-roading.
I was doing it back in 1996-1998, by the ten years old LC70. Our cottage was in the middle of the forest and near by it was the old huge sand pit. Even local roads in this area were out of service for many years. Every weekend I was going to these places. It was four seasons destination only because of LC. And it was fun to go for hunting and fishing in the real winter deep snow too. Here is two reasons why this FJ has nothing to do with the real off-road.
Reason one - no solid axles. I'm not talking about articulation of arms vs of solid ones. I'm talking about for how long it will lasts. Solid axsels of LC70 were service free, even no alignment was needed after three years of driving and jumping at the speed of 80KM/H over sand hills, roads with huge holes in the asphalt and so on.  If you will take  this one for long off-roading you will face about 5K service bill for every year of the real off-road use.
Reason two - the body style. I'm not against of it. But it is the sexshop fetish. Without removing of all of this plastic crap it is not usable for hitting of trees and bushwhacking.

Nice looking Toyota, Kf095. All white and ready to be painted with mud. 

[kf095]

In fact, it was painted in by mud regularly and all male population in my town district was getting wet about it. All local guys, who meet me for first time, used to say - are you this LandCruiser Man?
This is the only car, I'm missing as the old human kind of friend I will always trust on.
I saw this FJC in Georgetown of Ontario today. It is bits and pieces. No solid picture.
How nice to be the regular driver here and to be able to say what you really think. I like this forum, but Toy-ota Canada are zero, nothing. They have  no market sense, look at the autotrader.ca for used LC. 20 years old ones LC70 are for 18-22K CAD. It means almost the same price as this new FJ Crapcruiser. If LC70 diesel will be on the market again it will kill Jeep Wroongel. Nobody will ever even take this JW for trade-in. Only for recycle.

[mrthompson]

Thanks for clearing that, Arthurdent. Always though of the Range Rover. I think the earliest Land Cruisers were also in duty during  WWII, too.

No.  Both the Land Rover and Land Cruiser are preceded by the Jeep.

[kf095]

A descendent of the Model BJ that was the first vehicle to reach the sixth station on Mt. Fuji in 1951. The BJ was renamed Land Cruiser in 1954 and first imported to the U.S. in 1958.

The first Land Rover was designed in 1947, The first Land Rover prototype 'centre steer' was built on a Jeep chassis.

Even before 1938, Minneapolis-Moline was working on the conversion of a farm tractor to serve our Armed Forces. This vehicle was the first that the Armed Forces called the 'Jeep,' so named by Army men at Camp Ripley, Minn., in 1940.

Although it is Karl Benz who is credited with the first prototype (in 1885) of the modern car, the first self-propelled vehicle was invented more than 100 years earlier.

spoked wheels were introduced c.2700 B.C.

[Benhaze]

The US army put a call to 130 auto companies in early 1940 for a light weighted 4X4 vehicle. Major requirement was to provide a running prototype in 49 days. Only 2 accepted the challenge and only one (Bantham) succeeded because the help of one Detroit Engineer who designed -for free- the vehicle that would later become the Willys.

That one prototype went through 3400 miles of testing by the army. Willys and Ford then proposed their own prototypes based on the Bantham one and Wyllis got the contract. Because of the high demand and short delivery time, Willys granted the US government a non-exclusive license to authorize another company to manufacture vehicles using Willys' specifications.

During the rest of the WWII, Willys and Ford provided the army with more than 700,000 vehicles (Wyllis built 330,000). Interesting to see Ford has build more than half of the predecessor of the Jeep CJ.

[DriverJeff]

If you take the off-road capability into the whole package, FJ is far better value than RAV4. FJ uses Tacoma chassis and engine. Its capable off-roading and should be civilized enough as daily driver.

As for looks, I found its 2-door proportion looks weird in such a large SUV.

If looking at the new FJ, I've got to wonder, once the hype around the visual impact of this thing dies down, won't people realize that the new Xterra is a better all-round vehicle?  Not as funky-cool, but nearly as adept off-road and certainly easier to see out of on-road.

Kf095, thanks for posting about your REAL off-road LC70.  Looks really cool!

[Ex-airbalancer]

My son was looking at one.
There was $1000 green tax on this
Is this do to the Fed green tax?
It was priced in Nova Scotia

[Ex-airbalancer]

My son was looking at one.
There was $1000 green tax on this
Is this do to the Fed green tax?
It was priced in Nova Scotia

fpound the answer
does the FJ take 91 fuel?

[Mitlov]

If looking at the new FJ, I've got to wonder, once the hype around the visual impact of this thing dies down, won't people realize that the new Xterra is a better all-round vehicle?  Not as funky-cool, but nearly as adept off-road and certainly easier to see out of on-road.

Some people will always buy Toyotas.  But yes, I agree that overall, the XTerra looks like a much better package.

[soj]

The original FJ, CJ, Land Rover and G-wagen were designed to be practical no compromise off road vehicles, styling followed function. This is simply a styling exercise that conjures up vague notions of the original FJ with little of value so many people bought them for: tough, simple, practical, easy to repair in the field etc.

Toyota already has the Rav4, Highlander, 4Runner and Land Cruiser and all of their Lexus counterparts for trolling the malls, why not get serious about off roading with at least one of their trucks?

I think they’ve lost the plot on this one, Toyota's version of the H3.

I couldn't agree more, this vehicle is nothing more than a continuation of the retro-styling trend (new Beetle, PT Cruiser, Mini, ..etc).  You'll never see this vehicle in Africa, the Andes or even the Outback.  Rather it's all about catering to wannabe macho cement heads with more money than sense.

[avtoller]

I find the FJ truly horrible, but unfortunately they seem to be selling well here. 

[safristi]

   BJ...CJ.....DJ....FJ.................Know which ONE i want.................

[2JDM]

Well I think its the only Toyota that has "character" in terms of styling...

[Arctic_White]

Well I think its the only Toyota that has "character" in terms of styling...

I find the '07 Camry to have "character" as well.