What do real land cruiser owners think of the FJC? (2 Viewers)

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///So would the FJC take the abuse that a Land Cruiser is built to take day in day out,///
Oh Julian, as an Englishman living in California I have to say you are wrong. My FJC has been used and abused on several difficult trails in Ca with no problems. We also travel the trails with a variety of LC's. You are off base with your negative FJ remarks. Drive one off road before making statements like that. BTW, we also beat the crap out of Land Rovers. :) And you can tell Victoria we said that.!!
 
///So would the FJC take the abuse that a Land Cruiser is built to take day in day out,///
Oh Julian, as an Englishman living in California I have to say you are wrong. My FJC has been used and abused on several difficult trails in Ca with no problems. We also travel the trails with a variety of LC's. You are off base with your negative FJ remarks. Drive one off road before making statements like that. BTW, we also beat the crap out of Land Rovers. :) And you can tell Victoria we said that.!!

Sorry, where was I being negative, I think you read my post wrong or just over sensitive. The Fj Cruiser is built around the 120/150 platform so there is the Land Cruiser pedigree.
 
Where were you being negative? here ///So would the FJC take the abuse that a Land Cruiser is built to take day in day out, Probably not.///
Not over sensitive just answering your comments. Smile dude, life really is fun.
 
I think it is the bastard child of the LC's.

For me the FJC has everything I wanted in a Land Cruiser, and I'd take it over a T4R, and I think it gives a lot of 80's a run for their money.
- 6 MT
- All time 4X4 like the 80 (if manual)
- Lockers
- Easy Clean interior
- Good off road maners
- Good on road manners
- Easy to find parts
- CHEAP Parts
- CHEAP and PLENTIFUL aftermarket parts
- Inclinometer

I think it is the perfect car for people who want a Land Cruiser but don't want to deal with the ridiculous prices the parts and the mechanics want to install them.

If Toyota would have fixed the visibility and some other little quirks I think it would have stolen the market from the T4R.
 
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owned a 69 40, currently own a 94 80 and owned a 2007 fjc. They are all awesome. I miss my fjc more than my 40. It was amazing off road and smooth on the road. Had plenty of power. They all have their place. Honestly I think about getting another one daily.
 
owned a 69 40, currently own a 94 80 and owned a 2007 fjc. They are all awesome. I miss my fjc more than my 40. It was amazing off road and smooth on the road. Had plenty of power. They all have their place. Honestly I think about getting another one daily.
the 40 series is utilitarian and nostalgic but good luck getting the wife off road in it. The FJC is great but not when you have 4 kids. I can pack the whole family and camping gear in the 80 and go anywhere.

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Test Drove a 1980 40 today. It looks sweet, decent power but felt terrible on the road...scary really. I took it off road on some pretty rough terrain (no boulders or crap like that) and it was a really rough ride. Told the guy thanks and kindly left. Took my FJC through the same terrain twice the speed only to confirm that...that'll do pig, that'll do.


Meet Babe my pig.
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I've owned a 94 & 95 80 series. There is loads of good and bad with both.

80s - just built to last (on the outside). SFA is big, but not as much as many make it out to be. They're also way under powered, and 95+ makes super or tubo more than most can justify. Interior was made to be luxury, which rarely ages well.

FJC - good power on the 2010+. Driving experience is great. Interior is simple but comfortable. Goes just as far as any stock SFA. Where it lost to jeep was wheel base. The jump from 33s is a huge pita.. and the rear view isn't amazing.. (side view mirrors are something people should learn to use)

All in all, when I was forced to get rid of one or the other last month, I chose the FJC.
 
HEY THATS ME!!!! (the third one!!)
like I said on the Landcruiser FB group page, I don't care how they feel, just get out and wheel!!

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everyone is always like how do you drive that thing? i cant see anything out of it and im like....just hold the wheel straight and dont stall it...feel for the rocks! thats what the skid plates are for!
 
I bought a new FJC in 12/06. I put a 3" lift, 33"KM2s,front and rear bumpers,sliders, winch and full skids on it. I beat the snot out of that truck and it just kept on going. Tough as hell. My wife and I have a lot of great memories in that truck, including getting married at the top of trail #15 at Harlan 8/8/08 at the TTORA Takeover. Those were the days of the Trail Teams.

We now have an 80 series and my favorite is the 62, yeah I am one of those weirdos that likes the rectangular headlights. The space for a Double Din radio is nice too. The biggest issue I had with the FJC was overall visibility, you get accustomed to it but once you go back to something like an 80 or 60 series it just cant be beat.

Whether or not an FJC is a Land Cruiser, I don't much care I like both.
 
We own both a '76 FJ40 and an '07 FJC......
Way too hard to compare. They are very very different trucks.
For all out utility use and abuse and ease of trail fixing the FJ40 is, by a fairly far margin, a better rig, thats what it was basically designed for.

BUT that's not to say the FJC is a dog. After 1/2 million km I can honestly say for a daily use truck that sees its share of offroad and the abuse of family life it is a very well built rig. With the locker on and Atrac hack it's pretty darn capable. Ours is basically stock and I'd put it up against many trucks stock or not in terms of off road ability and reliability. Our old off road truck was a 91 toyota PU lifted on 35's and a spool. Would it go further then our FJC? Sure, would it tow the family on the same adventure...no......and it certainly wouldn't have schooled our FJC.....

I think for a truck that was marketed as a new version of the old lineage Toyota did pretty darn good. And to be perfectly honest, when they were first released I thought "this is a bad idea". Even when I went to the dealership to look for a new DD it took convincing by my brother to actually even bother test driving it, after 10+ years in one, I'm happy he convinced me.

I love the final statement above by @NCFJ regarding not caring because of the love for both trucks, I think that sums it up pretty much to a tee.
 
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I owned an FJ for 7 years and now own a 200 series.

They are very different. The FJ was a beast. I beat the living crap out of that thing for the entire time I owned it. Took it on trails a relatively stock vehicle on 33's shouldn't wander into. Jumped it countless times in the dunes. Flogged it down the highway and over mountain passes towing a trailer. Countless deep water crossings. Other than taco'ing the rear lower control arms I never really even hurt the thing. It was still rock solid, everything felt tight, it drove great, it ran great. After years of breaking Jeeps on the trails it just seemed bullet proof in comparison.

The 200 Series is still bone stock (2008 LX570) but its been on some challenging trails and even with low profile street tires still on the stock 20's it is amazing what that thing will do. The build quality is on a different level. If the FJ felt solid, this thing feels like driving a bank vault.

So far, very different trucks but I absolutely love both of them. I got rid of the FJ only because it wasn't big enough anymore for our growing family. Otherwise I would have kept that thing forever and it probably would have out lasted me.
 
Well, you asked,
Real LandCruiser owner opining here. Real LandCruisers are extremely low tech, slow, uncomfortable and noisy. And slow. And bouncy.
They don't have automatic gizmos to do things for you that you should know how to do yourself. Like a choke, I have a manual choke. I decide when to choke my engine, if I leave it on too long it's my fault. But sometimes it's handy to have.
My LandCruiser came with a handcrank, from the factory, to start the engine with. I've used mine several times. Sometimes because I needed it, sometimes just to win a bet. Also useful when adjusting the valves.
A real LandCruiser has no mysterious black boxes with wires coming out of them. Sensors and servos and whatnot, everything on a real LandCruiser can be repaired or jury-rigged in the field, to get you home. I can rebuild a carburetor trailside. I've limped home from runs with damage that would incapacitate a modern vehicle.
Not saying a FJC can't wheel, ridden in one (Wooody's) I was impressed. I've followed them up the Rubithon, I was amazed at the amount of taillight lens and plastic bumper pieces I saw on the ground. Saw a rental FJC after jumping Pismo dunes at a S&T with funny sheetmetal creases in the fenders.
That's not a real LandCruiser.
But, I'm an old curmudgeon and don't think anything without a solid front axle is a real LandCruiser. And I have my doubts about anything with air conditioning.
It does piss me off that they named FJ Cruisers, and that any FJC would call it a Pig. Only FJ55s are allowed to be called Pigs.
Inclinometer? If I'm going that far over, I'm not looking at an inclinometr, I'm looking at the rocks coming up at me...
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FJ 40 is the only legitimate Land Cruiser and maybe my now sold FJ70 but heck, even though I have the 40, my FJC does all and with panache so I mostly drive the FJ Cruiser, the 40 is the wife, reliable but the mistress in FJC seduces one every time.
 
My 07 FJC is the daily driver. Plenty of power and comfortable on the road.

My 79 40 is great for driving around town with the bikini top but on the highway, it follows every crack in the road.

My 77 55 is what I wheel, mostly. Four to 5 hrs on the highway, wheel for several days and then drive home.

Great fun but not the most comfortable on the highway.

The FJC is as capable and then some to the 55 (or the 40).

In 2016 I ran the Rubicon with the FJC and plan to run the Rubicon this year with the 55.

While I love my Land Cruisers, they don't compare to the FJC for civility.

You can drive a FJC daily and still run some of the most difficult trails.

Different trucks, different personalities. It depends on what you are looking for.

As the FJC is based on the Prada, hence the 70 series LC, it is a LC in my opinion.
 
To me as an outsider, it's a styling exercise on a 4Runner. That's fine as far as it goes. But a 4Runner has more room, same drive train, and good vis out the back. Why would anyone buy an FJCruiser over an equivalent 4Runner? There might be a reason, but I don't see it.

Shorter body and wheelbase, less expensive perhaps?
 

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