One of our local car dealerships carries Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Jeep, Lincoln and Mercury. They had two FJ Cruisers in that didn't last a day. On Wednesday night graveyard I found a third one on their lot, that hadn't been prepped yet. I went down with a friend (he has a 4Runner and a 70's model Land Cruiser he is restoring and modding) to look at it and test drive it.
We got to the lot and talked to a friend, who is a salesman there. We looked over the FJ. One nice feature on the FJ was the view from inside the driver's seat to the front. The 3 windshield wipers cleaned off almost every inch of glass. Another nice feature was the location of the oil filter. It is mounted upside down and you reach it by opening the hood and reaching over the left fender. The rear window is practically useless, except to let in a little light. It will allow you to see a tree or something like that, if it's taller than 4 feet, otherwise you can't see much behind you. Also the rear glass opens up from the rear hatch (which opens sideways like a KJ), but on the FJ it is so high up that it's only practical for someone about 6 foot or taller to reach and set in a jacket or the like, you can't reach and grab something off the floorboard or set something down to the floor through the window. The front seats had decent comfort, good leg room hip room and shoulder room, but I didn't care for the way the seat supports under the thighs. The rear seats are only good for kids, or for short trips with someone much above 5'6" tall, and the rear suicide style doors are extremely small making crawling (not getting in) difficult. Another nice feature was the rubber floor throughout the vehicle, allowing it to be hosed out.
We took the FJ out for a test drive. We found it handled well at 90-95 on the highway (Passing Speeds
), it has a smooth ride. This FJ was equipped with the convenience package, rear backing sonar, locking differential and the automatic transmission.
My friend was driving and we went off road into soft sand and tried out the locker, and the transfer case. We went down some steep inclines, and the automatic transmission (in low, with the transfer case locked in low) handled the speed of descent and crawled down the hills.
On the way back into town we switched driving and I took over. Once I was driving the salesman friend told me to go to the 4WD trails (I always test my vehicles before buying them) and try it out. I went crawling up some hills, and tested the articulation over rocks and between some tight spots. The FJ handled well, but I did note that because of it's much wider stance that I had to watch carefully not to scrape the sides going through some spots which a KJ or a Wrangler handle with ease.
We took it back into town and stopped and showed it to my wife. She looked at it and with disbelief inquired if I was serious about wanting one instead of my KJ Renegade. Had to stop and get her wondering for a minute. Then we took it to where my friend's wife worked and let her drive it.
We went back to the dealership and my friend bought the FJ, he traded in his 12 year old 4Runner. The dealership sold it to him at sticker price, which considering most of them are trying to jack the prices up from $5-10K seemed like a descent deal. He got out the door for under $28K, before taxes.
Overall the FJ Cruiser looks like it is well built for the suspension and the power train. It handled well on the highway and off road. It looks like Toyota has come out with something that will compete with the Jeeps, if someone is truly in the Toyota camp this is a good choice for them. The couple things I wish that Jeep would do that Toyota is offering is offer the a switchable rear locker, from the factory, on the KJ and to offer the vehicle already lifted the extra couple inches for a little more clearance.
After driving the FJ Cruiser I still like my KJ Renegade better. The only thing it made me want to do is get a lift put on it, maybe later this year I'll look at a Frankenlift, larger tires and a locker.
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