Toyotas' FJ Cruiser
will make a lot of heads swivel with its conspicuous mashing of
cute cosmetics
and urban grit. But real off-roaders may question parts of the package.
DAN NEIL
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.
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 Panhard rod
— are derived from the Lexus GX470.
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 plough 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 4WLow, 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 Miami Beach.
But — très sacrilège! — 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 derrière 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 C$33,000. But if you're a serious off-roader
pining for your old steel coffin FJ, keep on pining.
2007 Toyota
FJ Cruiser
Price, as tested: C$36,000
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.)
EPA fuel economy: 17
miles per gallon city, 21 mpg highway (4x4 automatic)
