With nonhighjacking intentions….This type of real world ownership comparison is what I would like to know more about. Which is preferred, better, and why? I certainly haven't owned anything else in 25+ years to make a comparison and when I ride in someone else's nonLX/LC machines I immediately notice how cheaply made they are.
To be brief, LX quality, from its burly frame right down to the anti-kink springs in its windscreen washer tubing, is in a class by itself that even other Toyotas do not match. Nearly 17 years in harsh upstate NY, but still a baby at under 100k miles. Utterly smooth and relatively silent.
The FJ is very functional, but one can see the use of cheaper parts, for example the brakes. However, I still love it for its 6-speed manual gearbox, despite the idiotic design of the transmission quill. Yes, the visibility is horrible and the suicide doors impractical, but it is still going strong at 117k and 14 years.
The 200 TLC is relatively new at 3 years, but it is a burly beast indeed, although the product of a different design philosophy compared to the 100 series. For example, the 100-series platform is designed to be field-serviceable, but the 200-series is designed to be held hostage to dealers for driving service revenue to them. I bought it over the new LX for its better looking design and the touchscreen interface. The engine is a gem, but the transmission has a few extraneous gears, just another example of legal mandates of all kinds imposing certain compromises on vehicle designs, including the hideous AIS.
Such nitpicks aside, I love them all. Even at their worst, they are much better at what they do than any of the alternatives in the US market, in my opinion.
