Hey, look at me!
THE FJ Cruiser, Toyota’s charming venture into what might be called the adult novelty market, sweeps along the road in a flirtatious cloud of retro and metro energy. Roughly half the legion of admirers who stopped me to ask about the vehicle belonged to the knobby-tire set, off-roaders who instantly recognized it as a homage to the iconic Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 -- the wraparound rear glass, the bluffly upright windshield, the 5-inch headlights athwart a black-mesh grille and, most of all, the distinctive white roof cap.
The other half were urban guerrillas, city folk for whom off-roading invariably involves a breathalyzer and a tow truck. For these the FJ Cruiser makes a lifestyle statement -- I’m bold, I’m aggressive, I’m youthful, I’m outdoorsy, my underwear features wicking action. One tat-intensive guy stopped me at an intersection to ask when the FJ Cruiser would be available (this spring). “That’s rad,” he said. And then he said something very colorfully unpleasant about the Hummer H3. Well, and a Happy New Year to you.
Whipped up by Toyota’s California-based Calty Design Research studio as a concept car for the 2003 Detroit auto show, the FJ brief called for a vehicle targeting young people with active lifestyles, 18 to 29-ish. This group, of course, is more targeted than Al Qaeda in Waziristan and often just as hard to hit. Exterior designer Jim Kim swiped the front third of the old FJ40 -- the distinctive grille, the clamshell hood, the boxed-in wheel wells (which used to be fenders).
From the A-pillar rearward, Kim faced the challenge of clothing the naked proportions of a standard two-row SUV in something approximately the toolbox shape of the original.
To do this, Kim restated the yoke shape of the FJ40 sill line with bold, square contours of black side cladding. The other bit of illusion has to do with the truck’s set of rear-hinged doors, or half doors. These help create the illusion of a single side door, the proportion of which is roughly that of the old FJ. Likewise, the body-to-glass ratio is similar to the FJ. Finally, the FJ Cruiser rides on big 32-inch tires (17-inch, 265/70s), giving it something of the heavy-equipment look of the original.
The result is a vehicle that kinda-sorta looks like an FJ40 while having virtually nothing in common in stance or proportion. Another result is that at some angles, the FJ Cruiser looks taffy-pulled, strangely elongated in the rear quarter.
Even so, this is an almost irresistible design -- somewhere between cute and crunk, between old school and film school. This vehicle was a huge hit on the floor of the recent L.A. auto show. On the road, it could not have gotten more attention if I had erected a flaming cross on top.
The FJ’s mechanicals comprise mostly off-the-shelf parts and pieces from Toyota’s vast global warehouse. The frame and suspension -- double-wishbone up front, and in the rear, a solid axle located by four links and a pan-hard rod -- are derived from the 120-series Prado, known as the Lexus GX470 in the U.S. market. The FJ comes in two- and four-wheel-drive flavors. Ground clearance is 8.7 inches in the 4x2 models and 9.6 inches on the 4x4 models; to compare, an H3’s ground clearance is 9.1 inches.
The FJ’s powertrain is right out of the 4Runner: the same 4.0-liter, 24-valve, DOHC V6, here with slightly more output (239 hp and 278 pound-feet of torque) due to, I gather, a slightly less restrictive exhaust. The 4x2 model is available only with a five-speed automatic, while 4x4 models can also be had with a six-speed manual.
This gets complicated so try to follow along. The standard-transmission models use the full-time all-wheel-drive transfer case used in the V6-powered 4x4 4Runner. This transfer case can be locked to split torque 50/50, front/rear. The automatic-equipped models -- like our test car -- use a part-time transfer case with a manual shift lever. You can shift into 4-Wheel High range while moving, but to access the low-range gears you have to stop, shift into neutral, and slip the lever into 4-Wheel Low.
And here I have my first major problem with the FJ. Like virtually all Toyotas, it is equipped with Vehicle Stability Control, a computerized safety feature that selectively brakes wheels when the vehicle starts to under-steer or over-steer -- that is, to plow or fishtail. VSC switches off when you shift the vehicle to 4WD mode. If you’re bashing up to Big Bear on icy roads, you will likely have the vehicle in 4WD. Why would you not want spin control?
Similarly, when you put the FJ in 4WL, the anti-lock brake, traction control and VSC all switch off, leaving you with something called A-Trac, which is traction control with an off-road algorithm that allows for some wheel spin. Great, but why no ABS? Though it’s true that in certain situations, such as deep snow, ABS can actually make it harder to stop, in most situations ABS is a good idea.
When you engage the locking rear differential -- locking the wheels in sync so they both turn together -- all the electronic aids switch off. This, at least, makes sense to me, because if you’ve got the rear-diff locked you’re probably picking your way very slowly across some major roughage, and I don’t mean breakfast cereal.
Lastly, the FJ is not available with Toyota’s hill-descent mode, which pulses the brakes to maintain a controllable speed on steep downhill portions. Now, as it happens, I can drive off-road without these features but I’ve got a fair amount of experience, if not expertise. I think newbies will have a hard time finding the handle in this car off road.
All this goes to the question of authenticity. Rock-crawlers of the world want to know, is the FJ for real? Among the available accessories are brush bars, auxiliary driving lights and rock rails (the protective bars running along the rocker panel). And all of these cosmetics will look great while you’re negotiating the uncharted regions of Irvine, Calif.
But -- tres sacrilege! -- there is no provision for a bumper-mounted winch, which is a must-have if you don’t want to take that long and thirsty walk back to the highway.
I took the truck for a bash off road and found it reasonably competent. It does have a lot of ground clearance and more than enough torque to heft its 4,295-pound derriere onto a rock ledge. The short overhangs provide exceptional approach and departure angles. It is quite a bit wider than the old FJ and that, combined with a less-than-stellar turning radius, makes the truck somewhat less wieldy on tight trails than off-roaders might hope.
P.S.: Toyota, sorry about the scratches.
One other problem is the sightlines caused by the vehicle’s unique conformation: The windshield is more than an arm’s length away from the driver -- you need a croupier stick to adjust the rearview mirror -- and it’s actually hard to see out where the edges of the hood are.
On road? No problem. The FJ is smooth, tolerably quick, quiet and effortless to drive. If a Camry could climb over a pile of telephone poles, that would be the feeling. The rear doors are easy to open and close. There are no problems mounting or dismounting. The cargo space is generous -- though some might wish for a top-hinged door instead of the gate-style door on the back. The large C-pillars in the rear quarters look like they might create blind spots but the oversized mirrors, with driving lights on them, provide excellent side-to-side coverage.
One area of concern is the type of plastic used inside and out. It’s a soft poly resin that scratches easily, rather like the kind of plastic used on municipal trash cans. In the week I had the vehicle, a number of nicks and scuffs showed up. That rate of wear, I think, would aggravate users.
P.P.S.: Sorry again, Toyota.
Our test car was pretty well equipped, including the “Fjammer” premium audio system with a 7.9-inch powered subwoofer in the cargo hold. This system also uses a pair of NXT SurfaceSound transducers that turn the truck’s ceiling into a speaker diaphragm. Great. Now my hair can have a headache.
The FJ Cruiser does exactly what it sets out to do -- inspire drooling materialistic poseur-lust in hip, young urbanites. You can’t beat the price of $23,000. But if you’re a serious off-roader pining for your old steel coffin FJ, keep on pining.
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2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser
Base price: $23,300
Price, as tested: $26,765
Powertrain: 4.0-liter, 24-valve, DOHC V6, five-speed automatic transmission; two-speed transfer case; part-time four-wheel drive.
Horsepower: 239 at 5,200 rpm
Torque: 278 pound-feet at 3,700 rpm
Curb weight: 4,295 pounds (as tested)
0-60 mph: 9.5 seconds (approx.)
Wheelbase: 105.9 inches
Overall length: 177.6 inches
EPA fuel economy: 17 miles per gallon city, 21 mpg highway (4x4 automatic)
Final thoughts: Skirt in the dirt
