Warning, the owner of this vehicle will experience high school crush-like infatuation typically resulting in excessive, compulsive buying of additional components and long, hard gazes at the vehicle randomly throughout the day. Other side effects include and are not limited to; drawing hearts containing your own name & the pet name of the vehicle, revolving credit limits spent to their maximum, loss of concentration & productivity at work, increased frequency of visits to forums dedicated to the vehicle, selective memory loss typically starting with a spouse & offering to run errands for people you don't know.
I've never really been into cars at all. I had a brown '74 Ram Charger that I got just to play with on the beach back in high school & college which my girlfriend at the time totally despised. I loved that truck & still love that model. I thought it looked like a Jeep on steroids. I had a soft top for it & later bought a hard top at a junk yard...guess what color....white! I'll get around to getting another one to work on one day.
Anyway, I've really never seen a truck I
really liked since. Had a few cars in between but really missed that Ram Charger and wanted to get something like that again. Didn't really like Jeeps, 4Runners, Hummers...so I just sat & waited. Wound up getting a Montero Sport out of complete necessity in '02 because I was broke, needed to tow my stuff cross country and they were having a deal I couldn't pass up.
One day the unique look of an FJ caught my eye. It wasn't love at first site but I liked it because it was different. I asked a friend about it to make sure it wasn't a chic car & told me that they were rated just under a Jeep for off roading so that piqued my interest further. So I've been eyeing & test driving FJs for a while but held off buying one just waiting for the new vehicle kinks to be ironed out and also wanted to make sure no major changes were being done. I had my heart set on the Hummer HX but I'm not sure of its future anymore & didn't feel like waiting it out any longer in my Montero Sport 2WD. I know, I know...I bought it in Vegas, there were no 4WD on the lot and couldnt wait for one to be shipped since my other car was dead in their lot & was trading it in.
So last October when gas prices were at their height and all the rumors circulated about the major companies cutting SUV productions, I finally started looking seriously at some used FJs. I was suprised as well as disappointed to see how firm some dealers were on their prices. I figured it would be easy pickins out there. I originally shopped silver and black but ultimately decided on black being that my Montero was silver. I finally came across a place who was looking to deal that had a late 2007 base model with just over 30k on it selling for $21k. When it was said & done, I got it down to $18k with the roof rack & nerf bar thrown in plus an extended 4 year warranty with the money back option if not used for another $1200. Most importantly, I got $3500 trade in for my truck which wasn't worth more than $1500. In all, I walked out with a big smile.
I have never really been a big fan of the white roof. I think it looks ok on the colored models but I'm just not crazy about it on the black or silver. So a week later, I painted the roof black for about $500. I've never seen a TRD model live, nor knew what one was actually until I started doing my homework here. Needless to say, I'm extremely happy with how it looks.
So yeah, I'm completely in love with my FJ & experience all the side effects listed above. All I do now is look for things to buy for it. Originally I didn't want black because of how dirty it can look but I found that I love how it looks even when it's dirty.
As if I needed fuel to get more amped about my FJ, then I came across this site. This forum is amazing. I am constantly in awe of the knowledge in this place. Thanks to this site, I haven't known so much about a truck since college. This place has also saved me a ton of aggravation & money.
So a big thank you to all & here's to a long life of the FJ.
