it's time for show-off Sunday, where everyone has a chance to show off their
own car and here's this week's winner, I needed to get a new car and I really
didn't like the idea of driving off the lot and having my car immediately
depreciate, and that's when I came across the FJ Cruiser I was looking for some
that was incredibly reliable was made with common model parts, the FJ is made
with 4runner Tacoma and Tundra parts, so they're easy to get, it's very unique
it's fun, and it really retains its value because they last forever
which explains why they've been going up in value since they left the North
American market in 2014 and the worldwide market in 2018, they've
actually been appreciating and after having it for about a month I can see
why, thankfully I was able to find one with only 10,000 miles on it, and it's
practically brand new, it's unique it's over the top and I love it,
thanks to Scotty Kilmer for inspiring me to buy a used truck, in 2007 the FJ
Cruiser debuted at the Detroit Auto Show as a concept vehicle, Toyota never
intended on manufacturing the FJ cruiser but it received so much attention that
the normally risk-adverse Toyota Motors took a chance, and decided to
mass-produce it, the FJ Cruiser has its roots in two Toyota's most iconic trucks,
the fj40 Land Cruiser and the prado Land Cruiser, both renowned for their
reliability their off-road capability and just absolute durability, and to
retain this they built the FJ cruiser in the prado plant in Houma Japan and by
Hino Motors, where they also used the body-on-frame design and the suspension
of the parado land cruiser on the FJ the FJ was actually designed and tested
in Southern California which makes sense it's feels like it belongs here, it's
really great for weekend activities it excels on the sand gravel and on the
dunes, but it makes for a really good daily driver as well it's incredibly
safe, and the off-road capabilities can deal with the terribly maintained Los
Angeles roads, another great thing about the FJ is just how versatile it is, and
how many modifications are available to fit all of that versatility depending on what
you want to do with it and again Toyota did something a little
against character, the company tried something they had never tried before,
which is during the design phase they invited in aftermarket parts makers and
accessory makers to come in and take measurements, so that the aftermarket
parts would be available immediately upon release of the FJ, and this has
really created a very large market in modifications, there if you don't like
something about the FJ you can change it as an homage the FJ cruiser has a
headlight and grille assembly that is the same as the one that was on the fj40,
which was originally designed to resemble the eyelets of a samurai
warrior mask as it was built initially as a military vehicle, another
interesting note about the FJ is that it's the only model in Toyotas fleet
that actually has Toyota spelled out across the grille as opposed to having
the Toyota emblem, the hood scoop is completely non-functional but hey it
looks cool the FJ also has a very angled windshield
much like the fj40 Land Cruiser and there are three wiper blades, one of the
downsides of this setup as far as the angle of the windshield is that small
rocks and gravel might kick up and pretty much every FJ owner I've talked
to has had to replace their front windshield if not once several times in
there and they're not cheap, FJs come standard with a roof rack, it's a
really cool looking roof rack, but unfortunately it creates a lot of cabin
noise along with the very angled front windshield and it's fairly useless, if
you're doing any serious camping or over landing you'll want to get an
aftermarket roof rack, the FJ is a kind of a four-door, it's really a two-door
with two smaller or suicide doors really not convenient for backseat passengers
especially if you've got family or kids but they look cool and they swing out
really far if you're in a tight parking spot which you usually are in the FJ, unless
you're off-road or fielding a river which you can because the seats are
water resistant, the floorboards are all plastic allowing for very easy cleanup,
the FJ is actually designed to handle up to 28 inches of water with a lifted air
filter and a body designed to push water away, Akio Nishimura the lead
engineer of the FJ said the plastic might look cheap but it's way easier to
clean up in the end, the FJ comes with a traction control off button, a rear diff
Locker and the a track control which is really all you normally need, the
four-wheel drive controls are manual the engineers really wanted you to have the
feel of being in a four-wheel-drive vehicle as opposed to going with the
electronic system, and you'll notice the dummy buttons on the dash which are for
modifications, light bars etc, the FJ also has a 115 volt 400 watt power inverter
which is great for camping and power tools, the Toyota factory radios are
pretty good, it's a six disc CD changer I mostly used the Bluetooth but it's got
some good sound to it, there is a gauge for rock crawling that I have
no idea how to use, an outside temperature gauge that I also don't know
how to use cuz I live in Los Angeles, and an
illuminated compass, the driver has his own glove box in the FJ Cruiser, which
actually is good because there's no storage in the FJ so I'll take what I
can get, apparently a lot of the fj's came standard with a sat-nav unit and
that's where it's at so you could keep an eye on the road and reference to your
location, at first I thought wow they just didn't have a lot in 2012 you know
it's really sparse and simple in here and then I see stuff like an auto
dimming rearview mirror and a backup camera and I realize the other things
were actual choices they made, Toyota long before it became popular and other
similar kinds of trucks, they put a inverter in the back and you know it's
great for camping a lot people use them for refrigerators but
it's just not enough space back there for more than two people on a weekend
trip, if you have a family it's not the ideal vehicle for road trips etc but
with these two guys it's just the right size, in 2008 Toyota launched the trail
teams edition of the FJ cruiser, only 2500 will be manufactured each model
year, containing a Toyota Racing Development components such as 17-inch
alloy rims, and Toyota Racing Development brakes
Bloustein sport-tuned shocks, rock rails a skid plate running the length of the
undercarriage and various other bells and whistles to increase the off-road
performance of the vehicle even further, for the trail teams edition Toyota
ditched the iconic white hood that you'll see on most FJ cruisers and
painted the trail team models one solid color, each year a specific custom color
2012 being radiant red, and adding those accents to the seats and in the 2012
edition is the only Edition to have the accent on the steering wheel
they also blacked out several components like the mirrors and body trim pieces
when I purchased the FJ it had had the Bluestein shocks removed Fox 2.0 shocks
installed with a coil over and two inch level and lift, the FJ Cruiser
is powered by Toyotas v6 4 liter variable valve timing engine, which puts
out about 239 horsepower at 5200 RPM and 271 foot-pounds of torque, in the city
you get about 17 miles a gallon, on the highway about 22, it's not as as bad as I
would have thought it would be, I've had other SUVs that got
far worse than this, it's a fairly efficient engine and as everyone
knows it's very very reliable and hopefully will last quite a long time
the FJ Cruiser is a really unique vehicle, so there's no wonder it created
a unique enthusiast community around them, you can find a really great group
at FJ Cruiser forums.com where there are people all over the world who own an
FJ and get together to help each other out, thanks again to Scotty Kilmer for
having me on his channel allowing me to show off my new to me
2012 Toyota FJ Cruiser trail teams edition
well that was this week's video and remember to have your car video
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