Toyota FJ cruiser. Shouldn't or shouldn't not

[Cyst]

Happy Monday my chinas.

I currently have ownership of two vehicles. One a Honda Jazz that the lady of the house uses and the other one a vehicle that is supplying me with it's intended purpose 100%.

I have an itch in the back of my sides that causes me start looking around for a new vehicle every once in a while.
This time the toyota FJ cruiser is the vehicle that has been taking attention from me for the last couple of weeks.

From people who own, or have owned one of these machines, how was your experience with it?
1. How bad is the mileage? Like how many kilometers could you get off a tank?
2. How tricky are those passenger back doors if you have a childrens in the back? Do you have to plan ahead when finding a parking spot so you can open the doors?
3. What irritated you the most that you just couldn't get over.
a.How many times have you almost driven over another car in your blind spot? Is it fairly easy to overcome the apparent massive blind spot on this vehicle?
4. How was the insurance on this?

My idea is to swap the Jazz for the FJ. If the missus doesn't like the FJ, she's more than welcome to use my other car. We both drive around only about 5 to 10 kms a day.
The idea is that I have an offroader that is still capable of hi-way speeds. I already have a diesel, so I would like to go for a large petrol engine this time.

What I like about the cruiser is
it's looks.
It's short stubby nature.
It's headroom for the driver.
It's 4.0 litre V6 engine.
That it's reliable (toyota)
It has funky back doors that's different from anything I've had before.
It's a really good offroader.
It's good at freeway speeds.
It has big wheels.
It feels like I'm driving a tank or some other military piece of equipment.

Please change or re-affirm my decicion to be obsessed with this.
If you have one or know someone who want's to sell one, please also let me know.
If you have one and you don't want to sell it, can I come and have a look at it and talk about it?

 

[RexTrueform]

Have you ridden an FJ?
I really didn't like the drive tbh.

 

[MSI1104]

Only if I got petrol for free...and I think its a shitty drive too but then I only looked at it when it first came out.

 

[RexTrueform]

In my opinion it's an unstable mess let alone that god awful looking "wooden" finish inside.

 

[Cyst]

So I did a test drive the other day out of curiosity and I think from the feedback it's a personal thing because I absolutely loved it. I'm not a person for fast cars at all, so there's that.

I know that it's going to be heavy on the juice, but I don't drive 100 kms a day, so it's not that big of a deal yet.

@RexTrueform , what wooden finish are you mentioning? I didn't see it or they have different interior options. Everything inside was hard plastic (which is good for this vehicle because if you go offroading then it cleans a lot easier). Maybe the Prado has this, but the Prado is not on my watchlist at the moment.
When I was a little boy, my parent had a Prado with the same engine as this and that was a joy to drive around.

 

[AAAH NUUU BRU]

Not sure if they are better now than when the first ones came out but the company car i drove for 2 years where i use to work was the very first FJ cruiser that got sold, my boss had ordered it a few months before it came out and traded the hilux i was driving in for it, imo worst trade eu.

1. How bad is the mileage? Like how many kilometers could you get off a tank?
I drove to moz once a month in it, in the hilux i use to drive to the border, put in fuel and then only need to put in again when i got back to sa, in the cruiser i would need to put in at the border and then twice in moz and again when getting back in sa.

2. How tricky are those passenger back doors if you have a childrens in the back? Do you have to plan ahead when finding a parking spot so you can open the doors?
The door takes a bit of getting use to, it doesnt really open further than i normal door does to it uses about the same space. Getting in and out of it was a pain, if you need to put your kids in a car seat or something like that you will struggle just about as much as you would with a 3 door car

3. What irritated you the most that you just couldn't get over.
I hated the interior, felt too empty haha. Then i use to pull a bike trailer with me most places, you cant see shit when trying to reverse with a trailer.

a.How many times have you almost driven over another car in your blind spot? Is it fairly easy to overcome the apparent massive blind spot on this vehicle?

We put these weird mirrors on that had a blind spot mirror on them

4. How was the insurance on this?
No clue i didnt pay it.


On the positive sides, this thing was a beast for driving over sand dunes and on the beaches and a fairly comfortable and quiet drive. I also loaded a lot in it and it took the weight with no issues.

How ever i would not buy one in a million years, would rather get the prado any day

 

[SuperC]

I'm also planning on upgrading my diesel fortuner to an FJ sometime next year. I must say once you've driven an FJ in the dunes, there is simple no going back to a diesel. However I won't get this a a primary car, simple isn't economical, 5- 6km/l makes it quite expensive. I doubt insurance will be too bad, not a high risk car.

It looks like a tank, it drives like a tank, it's basically a tank that can still do 180.

All and all it's a very nice & expensive toy. Will I buy one if I have the cash? Definitely!

 

[RexTrueform]

So I did a test drive the other day out of curiosity and I think from the feedback it's a personal thing because I absolutely loved it. I'm not a person for fast cars at all, so there's that.

I know that it's going to be heavy on the juice, but I don't drive 100 kms a day, so it's not that big of a deal yet.

@RexTrueform , what wooden finish are you mentioning? I didn't see it or they have different interior options. Everything inside was hard plastic (which is good for this vehicle because if you go offroading then it cleans a lot easier). Maybe the Prado has this, but the Prado is not on my watchlist at the moment.
When I was a little boy, my parent had a Prado with the same engine as this and that was a joy to drive around.

The one I drove had nasty platic wood everywhere, it was hideous.
The drive as well just didn't seem stable on those big tyres, not what I expected.

 

[souljazk]

I'd rather put the $ into my bond or savings if I were you. If its burning a hole in your pocket, go on a holiday

 

[Cyst]

I'd rather put the $ into my bond or savings if I were you. If its burning a hole in your pocket, go on a holiday

Pfffft, next time you'd like to upgrade your PC then rather put that money into a bond or savings.
Some people like Pc's (or gaming), some people like big ass 4x4 V6 four litre offroad supertrucks

 

[souljazk]

Pfffft, next time you'd like to upgrade your PC then rather put that money into a bond or savings.
Some people like Pc's (or gaming), some people like big ass 4x4 V6 four litre offroad supertrucks

As you'll see I'm rocking a old 4th gen PC, not a 30k 8th gen beast Difference goes into savings Also 30k doesn't touch ends ona bond as > 100k would. Anyway, enjoy which ever ride you decide on.