Can anyone tell me about the Toyota FJ ? Good? Bad?
I'm sorta interested. I saw a nice one the other day and it raised my interest. When I saw the price, it seems to have allot of personality for the cost.

 

I got a 2008 FJ late this fall. I needed something that would pull my trailer for the quads, be fun for going up north and still have some style. Also I plan to use it as an ORV for fun and I pulled out a huge tree stump while in Lo gear this weekend so all around it is perfect for what I wanted.

I had the top painted black so it is all black, added a 3" lift kit, black moto metal wheels with 33" tires. At least once a day I get a comment on the truck, far more then I ever did on my GS's

MPG kind of sucks and the tank could be a bit larger. Good luck will bring 300+miles per tank so on trips you may stop a lot.

The rear seat looks small but fits bigger people pretty well.

Stereo with a sub is good enough for me and I am a bit of an audio nut.

Inside to haul stuff is not huge but I have fit items over 6ft in length into it so it is good enough, larger then that I just grab the trailer.

Also something about the windows but you get a pretty good degree of view, we noticed that while we take long trips.

Ride is pretty smooth stock, little less smooth with my setup but stock felt feel good.

Car washes do not get it very clean because of the lines it has, so it is more work to get it real clean.

Quick dump on my FJ, ask away if you have more questions.

 

My co-worker has it. He loves it, and he uses it for L.A. commutes and off-road towing with his dirt bikes. He's a pretty active guy, and the FJ is good for "rough" lifestyles. More of an adventure off-road type SUV, not a people hauler.

Interior quality is a mixed bag of oddities. It's really functional -- you can hose down the interior (even the seats) and just wipe clean. Don't expect luxury amenities; the FJ is not luxury. It's a mini-Land-Cruiser with bare bones attire.

For the commute, he averages 17-18 mpg.

 

Hey, Thanks.
Very Helpful.
So far I 've talked to a few owners and they have all said good things.
Gas in an SUV is what it is. Not to many getting good milage.

 

I still have the Lex for the Luxury. I'd be getting rid of my Murano. Not happy at all with Nissan. I would have bought a new Mo , but I can't even get a dealer to call me back, 3 different sales reps. I don't have time to chase people around and ask them to take my money...

 

We were also going to get one but heard so many bad reviews on Yahoo autos. im not sure how accurate those reviews are, but they werent very good. Unless the later models have gotten better.

 

Most of the reviewers complained about gas mileage, comfort, and material quality -- all of which are not the FJ's main reasons to get one.

This SUV is all about off-roading. Comfort and material quality be damned; the purpose is to HOSE DOWN the interior! You can't have wood trim or leather seats for that. It's basically a Japanese Jeep...

 

i can't remember where i heard this but:

i heard the white roof was prone to cracking ... i could be out to lunch on that tho

 

has toyota addressed the frame cracking issue too?

 

I think the 2008 had the frame crack fix, but I am not 100% sure....

 

Everyone I have had in the truck said they were comfy and I am a stocky 6'1 and after a 5 hour trip I feel good. The quality on the inside is exactly what I thought I would be getting for sub 30k in a "for use" truck....

MPG is very poor, but it is what it is.

 

i rented one for a week in hawaii. one thing i remember the most is its HUGE headroom. i loved the vehicle. the big tires performed very well both offroad and onroad. there were lots of neat details. such as the little lamps on the outside rearview mirrors. everywhere we went ppl asked us how we liked the thing. we told them it was great. it was very comfy and cute!!

 

Yeah, where's the pics?

 

It has not been clean since I bought it

I will post some up this weekend as they just killed the dust on my dirt roads so a good spring cleaning is due