After 12 months and 18,602 miles in the saddle of our long-term 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser sport/utility vehicle, it's clear that while the Japanese automaker may have captured the concept of the much-loved FJ40 from the past, something was lost in translation.
Bringing old favorites into the 21st century is never an easy task. Some of the nostalgic styling cues that give the FJ its retro-cool looks also get in the way of making the vehicle a more functional tool. In addition, buyers are much more demanding nowadays-they want air conditioning, power windows, easy rear-seat access, the kinds of little things that engineers designing FJs back in the 1960s didn't have to worry about.
Our logbook was peppered with commentary on the form-over-function theme. "The FJ does a great job looking the part of a rugged, practical, active-lifestyle vehicle" was the sideways compliment from one editor.
While kudos went to the properly propped, wide-opening, side-hinged tailgate, everyone panned Toyota's attempt to maintain the FJ40's two-door styling by using rear-hinged side-access doors in an unsuccessful attempt to ease entry into the back seat. Better solutions might have been to make the front doors longer (no suicide doors) or simply build a four-door vehicle.
"Whoever decided to make these suicide doors swing out and down should be fired," wrote an editor. "You can't close them while sitting in the back seat. The rear doors are laughable and worthless."
It wasn't just the back seat that was a pain. We also found it hard getting into the driver's seat, and it wasn't terribly comfortable once we got there. Styling also blocked sightlines in virtually every direction except straight ahead, prompting calls for a backup camera as standard equipment.
"The blind spots in this sucker are just scary," wrote one editor. "No matter how many times I experience it, I always have an unsettling feeling when I look over my shoulder to check my blind spots and see a giant pillar."
Enough carping. On the plus side, the FJ was a soldier in the field, never missing a day of service with us. Maintenance was impeccable, quick and painless throughout our year of regular visits for oil changes, tire rotations and other checkups. Other than routine service, the only work our FJ required during the year was a four-wheel alignment and a nail-hole repair in a tire.
That's quite a tribute, considering we didn't put on the kid gloves to drive the FJ. Besides regular commuting duty, the Cruiser towed trailers, hauled heavy truck parts and even spent some time off-road. Our resident Jeep enthusiast observed that better off-road tires would have made a huge difference in the FJ's hill-climbing prowess, but the vehicle's biggest drawback was its lack of a locking differential, which we failed to check off on the options list, and the lack of a 4:1 transfer case, which isn't even offered as an option. Despite those complaints and the universal concerns about lack of visibility (hey, even off-road you have to be able to see where you're going), the FJ won high praise for its trail-tackling long-travel suspension, high ground clearance, respectable approach and departure angles and strong 4.0-liter V6.
While we generally felt the powerplant was as smooth as a sewing machine, plenty strong, and well matched to the ratios attainable via the slapstick five-speed automatic, we universally decried the FJ's premium (91 octane) fuel requirement. Toyota later issued a bulletin stating that while the FJ's fuel-door sticker says "Premium Unleaded Fuel Only," the owner's manual notes that premium is required only for optimum performance-and all 239 rated horses-but that the vehicle will run just fine on regular unleaded (87 octane). While this wouldn't have affected our fuel choice-AutoWeek policy calls for using the manufacturer-recommended fuel to obtain top performance in our test vehicles-with premium tipping the scales at $3 per gallon or better, a typical consumer might opt for saving the money over achieving the maximum horsepower.
One option, the truck's bare-bones, black-painted, hubcap-less wheels, summed up our love/hate relationship with the FJ. Our road test editor asserted that the basic look put us on the leading edge of a future styling wave, and the simple wheels never suffered from a single scuff mark. But most editors hated the appearance, commenting that they made the truck look unfinished, almost as if someone had stolen our real wheels and hubcaps and replaced them with junkyard castoffs.
The FJ, like its wheels, proved too true to form to be as functional as we might have liked. But on the style scale, our long-term FJ Cruiser was an SUV without peer.
Wrap-up
Miles driven (quarter/year): 2866/18,602
Fuel economy (quarter/year): 17.3/18.0 mpg
Fuel cost (quarter/year): $459.69/$2,786.34
Days out of service (quarter/year): None/none
Maintenance: Scheduled service visits, including 5,000-mile, 10,000-mile, 15,000-mile ($186.02); four-wheel alignment ($95.65); tire repair ($18)
Original sticker price: $27,936
Trade-in value: $25,050 (www.kbb.com)
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