I will reserve judgement on the FJ Cruiser. Certainly a fine truck at a competive price point, and I look forward to seeing properly modified FJ's suitable to the trails they are running. My problem is more with Toyota, rather than the truck itself, or the talented trail teams that were driving them.
What I really felt was per Loewenbrau's comments about Toyota's support for the event as a whole. I think of vendors like Mudrak and Marlin. Little guy outfits, that somehow manage to donate thousands of dollars in major prizes to the events, then buy hundreds of dollars in tickets, lead trail rides with thier expert experience, and provide more parts and tools and trail fixes to participants than you can imagine. Then you think of the FJ Team... nice guys, for sure. But held up more traffic than they helped, thier raffle donations amounted to a few trinkets like watches and pocket knives that were bundled with significant donations from much smaller vendors, and I was left with the bitter tastes of commecial self interest rather than a sense that Toyota was there to genuinely support the community. I would have thought Toyota could have donated a major prize to the raffle.
Now, I must confess my personal Bias about the FJ Cruiser as a Canadian. First of all, they stopped bringing in any Land Cruisers in 1989. Last year, our club was putting on the first Canadaian TLCA sanctioned event, the 2005 River Shiver. We approached Toytoa Canada, and thier offical response was that they no longer support the Land Cruiser brand in Canada. Then, in Late 2005, they went to to length of actually blocking parts availability through their dealer network for JDM import parts that were previously available as special order through the dealers. Then, in 2006, they come to our club with offers of event sponsorship, and want Land Cruiser enthusiasts help in flogging the FJ. Then, I get to the Rubithon, and see what I feared... Toyota offering little to the success of the event, and using it primarily as a venue for test drives.
I really hope that TLCA gets the membership numbers that they desire from FJ owners, and that this somehow makes the TLCA somehow better, and not just bigger. But at this time, all I see is Toyota getting wealthier, and the trail rides getting slower. I truly hope I am just jadded and bitter.
Peter Straub
What I really felt was per Loewenbrau's comments about Toyota's support for the event as a whole. I think of vendors like Mudrak and Marlin. Little guy outfits, that somehow manage to donate thousands of dollars in major prizes to the events, then buy hundreds of dollars in tickets, lead trail rides with thier expert experience, and provide more parts and tools and trail fixes to participants than you can imagine. Then you think of the FJ Team... nice guys, for sure. But held up more traffic than they helped, thier raffle donations amounted to a few trinkets like watches and pocket knives that were bundled with significant donations from much smaller vendors, and I was left with the bitter tastes of commecial self interest rather than a sense that Toyota was there to genuinely support the community. I would have thought Toyota could have donated a major prize to the raffle.
Now, I must confess my personal Bias about the FJ Cruiser as a Canadian. First of all, they stopped bringing in any Land Cruisers in 1989. Last year, our club was putting on the first Canadaian TLCA sanctioned event, the 2005 River Shiver. We approached Toytoa Canada, and thier offical response was that they no longer support the Land Cruiser brand in Canada. Then, in Late 2005, they went to to length of actually blocking parts availability through their dealer network for JDM import parts that were previously available as special order through the dealers. Then, in 2006, they come to our club with offers of event sponsorship, and want Land Cruiser enthusiasts help in flogging the FJ. Then, I get to the Rubithon, and see what I feared... Toyota offering little to the success of the event, and using it primarily as a venue for test drives.
I really hope that TLCA gets the membership numbers that they desire from FJ owners, and that this somehow makes the TLCA somehow better, and not just bigger. But at this time, all I see is Toyota getting wealthier, and the trail rides getting slower. I truly hope I am just jadded and bitter.
Peter Straub
