Formerly titled..Not Quite What We Wanted FJ Cruiser
...or how stuff just gets dumped in your lap rather you like it or not and when it does you just have to do the best with what you have at hand and hope for the best. This is one of those tales.
Winter 2014 has not been a kind one. Too cold, too long and, oh yeah, my daughters 01 Tacoma DC is caught up in a wreck. She was OK and it wasn't her fault but the end result was a banged up Taco. Off to the body shop it went for repairs while the girl went back to college carless. A few weeks became a month and we were still waiting to get the truck back when we go a phone call. The truck was damaged more than they thought and now it was going to be totaled. I was flabbergasted and saddened as the truck was one of the nicest examples I have ever seen and the visible damage wasn't that bad but after having it in the shop they found that the frame was tweaked and suspension components were damaged. So the knacker yard was getting the shell but the Taco died a warrior's death protecting my daughter from harm and we know its spirit is in Truck Valhalla.
Great...now I have to buy a damn vehicle. On the plus side the insurance gave us a substantially higher pay-out check than we had invested in the truck. I soon found myself trying to find a safe, reliable and affordable ride in the heart of the rust belt. Clean, rust free rides are scarce and cost a premium so it takes a lot of searching to find one that's also a good deal. I wasn't having any luck and was getting frustrated when it occurred to me that I had the perfect vehicle already in hand for Allison...my wife's 04 4Runner.
A great, dependable ride; better gas mileage than the Taco; mountain goat like traction in its AWD system so that it's always ready for any road condition our climate throws at it and its a cool ride. Only problem is that my wife loves it. But she had been hinting about getting a newer vehicle as the Runner is reaching up there in miles so I broached the subject of procuring her a newer ride. Surprisingly she was all for it as she had come to the same conclusion as I had. It just made the most sense financially in the long term for the family. The wife had one caveat though, she wanted a newer version of what she already had. Do you know how hard it is to find a 2007 to 2009 V8 4Runner up in the snow belt for sale? Well it's real hard and the few I found were pushing the $23,000 to $25,000 mark. Now with two girls in college (Michelle the wife and Allison the daughter) and with us trying real hard not to have to borrow any money to get them through we really didn't want to use more than the insurance check we got from the truck. Than just to add more angst to the mix I had decided to put my '04 Jeep Unlimited for sale as it just sits in the garage most of the time. If we were going to get a newer ride I would like it to be both a daily driver for the wife and a capable replacement for the Heep. This left out car based SUVS like the RAV4 or Highlander.
Well after a lot of test driving and price comparisons we somehow found ourselves considering FJ Cruisers. The V6 4Runners weren't cutting it for us and they were going for a couple thousand more than the same year and mileage FJCs and we found no other brands or models that fit all the criteria we were looking for...
*Gas mileage around 18 mpg.
*Dependable and reliable with a robust drivetrain.
*Highly capable vehicle in stock form that can take us to work no matter what the weather, across the country or any back road we come across without any reservations.
*Though it's usually just the two of us driving about any new ride had to haul four comfortably at times.
*Priced below $17,000.
And despite not being exactly what we wanted and it's innate quirkiness, we found the FJC fit the bill better than anything else. Soon one followed us home, a 2007 with 75,000 miles on it...
Equipped with the Upgrade 2 package it comes with the locking rear diff, the ATrack system, power inverter, parking assist, TRD exhaust, some funky "rock rails" and a whole lot of quirk, it has made itself at home. So far the family really likes it though it will take some getting use to but I think we'll enjoy it. Which is surprising as I really didn't like these when they first came out. But it drives and rides very nice, the seats are more comfortable than the Runners and despite the smaller back seats the kids like it back there. More so than bumping along in the back seat of the LJ.
So what are our plans for it? Other than being Michelle's runabout it will serve as our couples retreat vehicle for extended travels when we don't need the full kit that rolls with the Tundra. I plan on ditching the current rails for something a little stouter and with a step for the wife. As we would like to mount the Maggie on it sometime and the factory rack is a behemoth mess I thinking a Front Runner or Baja flat rack would be nice to drop the tent mounting height down. Also we'll mount up a deer thumper bumper to protect it from the local mujihadeer and I'll throw the Warn from the LJ on to it for recovery. Other than a good set of tires that will be it...keeping it as stock as possible will be the mantra of this vehicle. So far we are off to a good start as the wife likes driving it and the first tank of gas netted us 20 mpg.
So as the weeks and months pass we'll see if this was a good idea or a dumb one. And while this thread won't be a build thread per se, I'd like to see it as more of a vehicular diary of our time with it. Maybe this thing will earn a name and a thread title change if it proves its worth to our Clan..
...or how stuff just gets dumped in your lap rather you like it or not and when it does you just have to do the best with what you have at hand and hope for the best. This is one of those tales.
Winter 2014 has not been a kind one. Too cold, too long and, oh yeah, my daughters 01 Tacoma DC is caught up in a wreck. She was OK and it wasn't her fault but the end result was a banged up Taco. Off to the body shop it went for repairs while the girl went back to college carless. A few weeks became a month and we were still waiting to get the truck back when we go a phone call. The truck was damaged more than they thought and now it was going to be totaled. I was flabbergasted and saddened as the truck was one of the nicest examples I have ever seen and the visible damage wasn't that bad but after having it in the shop they found that the frame was tweaked and suspension components were damaged. So the knacker yard was getting the shell but the Taco died a warrior's death protecting my daughter from harm and we know its spirit is in Truck Valhalla.
Great...now I have to buy a damn vehicle. On the plus side the insurance gave us a substantially higher pay-out check than we had invested in the truck. I soon found myself trying to find a safe, reliable and affordable ride in the heart of the rust belt. Clean, rust free rides are scarce and cost a premium so it takes a lot of searching to find one that's also a good deal. I wasn't having any luck and was getting frustrated when it occurred to me that I had the perfect vehicle already in hand for Allison...my wife's 04 4Runner.
A great, dependable ride; better gas mileage than the Taco; mountain goat like traction in its AWD system so that it's always ready for any road condition our climate throws at it and its a cool ride. Only problem is that my wife loves it. But she had been hinting about getting a newer vehicle as the Runner is reaching up there in miles so I broached the subject of procuring her a newer ride. Surprisingly she was all for it as she had come to the same conclusion as I had. It just made the most sense financially in the long term for the family. The wife had one caveat though, she wanted a newer version of what she already had. Do you know how hard it is to find a 2007 to 2009 V8 4Runner up in the snow belt for sale? Well it's real hard and the few I found were pushing the $23,000 to $25,000 mark. Now with two girls in college (Michelle the wife and Allison the daughter) and with us trying real hard not to have to borrow any money to get them through we really didn't want to use more than the insurance check we got from the truck. Than just to add more angst to the mix I had decided to put my '04 Jeep Unlimited for sale as it just sits in the garage most of the time. If we were going to get a newer ride I would like it to be both a daily driver for the wife and a capable replacement for the Heep. This left out car based SUVS like the RAV4 or Highlander.
Well after a lot of test driving and price comparisons we somehow found ourselves considering FJ Cruisers. The V6 4Runners weren't cutting it for us and they were going for a couple thousand more than the same year and mileage FJCs and we found no other brands or models that fit all the criteria we were looking for...
*Gas mileage around 18 mpg.
*Dependable and reliable with a robust drivetrain.
*Highly capable vehicle in stock form that can take us to work no matter what the weather, across the country or any back road we come across without any reservations.
*Though it's usually just the two of us driving about any new ride had to haul four comfortably at times.
*Priced below $17,000.
And despite not being exactly what we wanted and it's innate quirkiness, we found the FJC fit the bill better than anything else. Soon one followed us home, a 2007 with 75,000 miles on it...
Equipped with the Upgrade 2 package it comes with the locking rear diff, the ATrack system, power inverter, parking assist, TRD exhaust, some funky "rock rails" and a whole lot of quirk, it has made itself at home. So far the family really likes it though it will take some getting use to but I think we'll enjoy it. Which is surprising as I really didn't like these when they first came out. But it drives and rides very nice, the seats are more comfortable than the Runners and despite the smaller back seats the kids like it back there. More so than bumping along in the back seat of the LJ.
So what are our plans for it? Other than being Michelle's runabout it will serve as our couples retreat vehicle for extended travels when we don't need the full kit that rolls with the Tundra. I plan on ditching the current rails for something a little stouter and with a step for the wife. As we would like to mount the Maggie on it sometime and the factory rack is a behemoth mess I thinking a Front Runner or Baja flat rack would be nice to drop the tent mounting height down. Also we'll mount up a deer thumper bumper to protect it from the local mujihadeer and I'll throw the Warn from the LJ on to it for recovery. Other than a good set of tires that will be it...keeping it as stock as possible will be the mantra of this vehicle. So far we are off to a good start as the wife likes driving it and the first tank of gas netted us 20 mpg.
So as the weeks and months pass we'll see if this was a good idea or a dumb one. And while this thread won't be a build thread per se, I'd like to see it as more of a vehicular diary of our time with it. Maybe this thing will earn a name and a thread title change if it proves its worth to our Clan..
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Might have something for you to replace it with anyway....
