One reason why some people skip the Toyota FJ Cruiser in favour of a 4×4 with four proper doors is that they see the FJ as a car with two doors, with the rear-hinged back doors there only for show. Hence it will make a bad family car. However, we managed to use it as one just fine.
The 2015 Toyota FJ Cruiser TRD made its debut last weekend at the annual Gulf News fun drive event. The FJ Cruiser is the latest model to get the TRD treatment which already includes Aurion, Corolla, Yaris sedan, Yaris hatchback and the 86. A Fortuner TRD is also available.
Some loser managed to scrape the front bumper on our Toyota FJ Cruiser while it sat in the parking lot, running away without even leaving a note. Luckily, it looked like our truck left more damage on their car than the other way round.
How does a fuel-tank range of 1000 km sound? It sounds great, especially if you don’t know your car even had that capability. You see, The Toyota FJ Cruiser has been around since 2006, and reached the Middle East in 2008, but it’s always suffered from a pathetic 72-litre fuel tank. However, in 2013, Toyota quietly added an 87-litre secondary tank to the FJ, effectively doubling its petrol capacity to 159 litres.
There’s a lot of stories in the air about Toyota’s future plans, so when we got the opportunity to have a chat with Takayuki Yoshitsugu, the new boss at Toyota Middle East & North Africa, we asked him some direct questions, two of which were about their 4×4 line-up. There’s good news.
The first time I drove the Toyota FJ Cruiser, it was late 2007, I was only 6 months out of college, I owned a 1990 junker, this site was still growing, and I was barely getting any invites to automotive media events. Fast-forward to 2014, and I’m married, I own three cars, the site is a successful behemoth…and I’m still barely getting any invites to automotive media events. That’s how long the FJ has been around. But I digress. The Missus just got her driving licence after a month of lessons, and a manual one at that. As with any noob driver,
The last time we drove a Toyota FJ Cruiser, it was 2007 and the recession hadn’t hit yet. Fast-forward to 2014, and that recession has become a footnote in history, but the FJ Cruiser is still around, not looking any different than when it first started out. Now, depending on which rumours you believe, the FJ is on its last legs, and the UAE dealer has created some special models to keep interest alive. One of those models is the FJ Street, a pre-pimped offroader that’s intentionally more about style than about offroading.
The Arctic Trucks-modified “Xtreme” version of the Toyota FJ Cruiser had been vaguely around before, for the past couple of years, sold on a custom-order basis while the Toyota Land Cruiser Xtreme got all the limelight. Now Toyota’s UAE dealer, Al Futtaim Motors, is offering the FJ Cruiser Xtreme as an official addition to the local line-up.
While idly trundling around the net, we came across what appears to be a pimped-up 2014 Toyota FJ Cruiser. It seems the accessorised model is called the FJ Street Limited Edition, and is offered exclusively by the Toyota dealer in the UAE, Al Futtaim Motors.
Al Futtaim Motors, in collaboration with Arctic Trucks, officially introduced the expanded Xtreme product range during the recent 2011 Dubai Motor Show. Alongside the 2012 Land Cruiser Xtreme, there are now the FJ Cruiser Xtreme and the Hilux Xtreme.