2010 FJ Cruiser...any experience / opinions?

[Andy G]

Okay, so I know there's gonna be plenty of opinions...but anyone have any experience with the FJ Cruisers?

God a good line on a 2010, which from what I tell has a slightly more powerful engine than the previous years.

Needing a replacement for my Trooper, which is costing me WAY more per month in repairs / gas / upkeep than a car payment would even touch.

Thanks!

 

[Brett C]

The FJs are very capable vehicles. Most of it is a Tacoma but with a shorter wheel base and an actual manual transfer case (which we tacoma guys like to steal btw). Their drawback is they do have some really bad blind spots and the rear seat access isn’t easy. Also did I mention a horrible blind spot. Pelfreybilt makes armor for it so you have access to quality armor? Suspension is readily available. Oddly enough because they are no longer being made they have become more desirable so they usually go for close to what they went for new off the lot. You do run into people who are not toyota enthusiasts who don’t know that.

That’s about all I know about them.

 

[Mitch]

I've wired a few. Not a lot of under the hood differences from any other Toyota in its class (4Runner, Tacoma). There are interior space concerns. No real back side doors, its like having a Tacoma Access Cab without the bed space, or like a 4runner with less cargo area space coupled with harder to access rear seating.

The shorter windshield (so much shorter it requires 3 wipers) and its distance from the driver seat weirded me out when I drove it.

You should really go test drive one and see how you like it. My wife and I coveted them for a while before driving one, which then killed our attraction. The blind spots that Brett mention was a lot to get over.

 

[Andy G]

Awesome, thanks for the replies!

 

[Greg]

Okay, so I know there's gonna be plenty of opinions...but anyone have any experience with the FJ Cruisers?

God a good line on a 2010, which from what I tell has a slightly more powerful engine than the previous years.

Needing a replacement for my Trooper, which is costing me WAY more per month in repairs / gas / upkeep than a car payment would even touch.

Thanks!

Had a 2014 magma. Have a Taco now. If I could have kept both I would have. 145k in 4 years and not one problem. Nothing wrong with the vehicle. My needs changes and I needed a different platform. I had built the FJ out to be very capable off road. My plan for the Taco is to be more travel friendly.

A stock FJ is a very capable vehicle with a decent towing capacity. There's good support and a lot of options if you want to mod it. Bonus points to Toyota if you want to add front or roof lights. There's OEM parts you can order from Toyota to do so. Just plug in OEM relays, dash switches and harness extensions. (attached PDFs)

4 Adults? Not on a long trip. 2 adults and 2 children? Maybe okay. The back seats do not have a window to roll down. "claustrophobic" has been used to describe sitting in the back seat. Put the seats down, roll out a sleeping bag, and sleep inside? Not if you are tall.

Sitting so far back from the windshield was weird. Seeing stoplights can be fixed with this window mounted fresnel lens.

People complain about the blind spots. Adjust the mirrors correctly and it isn't a problem. With the mirrors adjusted this way I found that as a vehicle was passing me and moving off the side mirror it would be coming into my peripheral vision without much of a head turn and a glance to the side. Lean your head and your point of view changes back to seeing the side of your vehicle within the side view.

 

[Andy G]

Thanks for that info!!! Going to check it out after work.

 

[Haggis]

We currently have two FJs in the garage. My runabout 2011 and my son's college ride which is an '07 (formerly my wife's daily driver). Why do we have a couple. Well they just preform so well in stock form. Sure the Japanese designer was obviously drunk on sake when he design this. It has some odd quirks but we liken them to an ugly shelter dog...at first your not to sure but once they are around for awhile you come to love them.

We get 19 mpg out of the '07 and 23 mpg out of the '11. Toyota changed the tuning on the post '010 models so better mileage there but the downside is that they relocated the oil filter from the convenient top mount spin on filter to a cartridge filter housing buried down below requiring the skid plates to be removed to reach it. The ride is nice, throttle response is surprisingly good for a rounded brick with a tractor motor. They handle well for a body on frame SUV (much better than any Jeep I've owned). Factory brakes are good, steering response too. But the biggest attribute for us is that they are great winter commuters, sure footed and very predictable. The traction control is seamless and will be appreciated once you hit your first spot of black ice in two wheel drive. With the transfer case engaged they just eat up snow and slush.

Off road they function well, and though both of ours come with the rear locker, I have found that the ATrac system works better as it seems to be easier on the terrain than muscling the rear wheels with the locker. The FJ has become the rig of choice to gain access to our hunting grounds on the Clanhold. That steep access road covered in deep snow is a challenge for any vehicle but drop the FJ into 4Low, hit the ATrac and let it crawl. It's made the climb when the only other thing we could get up there was our skidder.

The blind spot...yeah it's there but honestly it isn't any worse than my old Jeep LJ with the soft top or my first gen Dodge Ram club cab. Hell my boy learned to drive in the '07 and aced his parallel parking portion with it.

Reliability on both has been excellent. Just maintenance and wear items, other than that both have been trouble free.

Until a manufacturer produces a vehicle with similar attributes at a reasonable price point, we'll hang on to the FJs for awhile.

As long as we have a truck also...FJs are great but sometimes you just need a truck.

 

[Bryanseye]

Not trying to hijack, it is an on topic question, have often wondered what the FJC offers that a 4Runner does not. What are the functional differences? I understand that there may be style preferences beyond that.

 

[Greg]

Toyota was strictly focused on off-road capability when they made the FJ Cruiser. The shiftier on the concept FJ was also a shovel handle and the dome lights popped out and could be used as flashlights. Some of that remained in the productions FJ with off-road lights and switches ready to be added.

It's a utilitarian 4Runner that's roughly 5" shorter wheelbase and body length that was beat with an ugly stick.

 

[Haggis]

Not trying to hijack, it is an on topic question, have often wondered what the FJC offers that a 4Runner does not. What are the functional differences? I understand that there may be style preferences beyond that.

We had a 4Runner but when we were looking for another SUV to replace it the decision to purchase an FJ was about price. We picked up both of our FJs at considerably lower cost than comparably equipped 4Runners of the same model year. With it just being the two of us we also didn't need the extra seating and there's more than enough available cargo space to swallow all the gear we need for an extended trip.

 

[Padre43]

Not trying to hijack, it is an on topic question, have often wondered what the FJC offers that a 4Runner does not. What are the functional differences? I understand that there may be style preferences beyond that.

If you really want to get technical, the FJ Cruiser is basically a 4th gen 4runner with a different body thrown on top of the chassis. Both are based on Toyota's global LandCruiser Prado platform (basically the LandCruiser lite sold overseas and the Lexus GX sold in North America). The FJ's frame I think has slightly different dimensions from that of the 4runner's, but otherwise the powertrain and overall chassis are mostly similar between the two.

The front and rear bumpers are different, so I think arrival and departure angles are somewhat different (but that is something that is so easily modified, it's barely worth mentioning). That aside, the 4th gen 4runner, and 5th gen for that matter, basically has all the same offroad capabilities as the FJ. The biggest differences IMHO are styling.

The FJ and 4runner might share a few suspension components with the Tacoma, but, contrary to popular belief, the Tacoma is based on an entirely separate platform (one that is mostly limited to North America).