Hi mjm,
Welcome to the forum! I think the FJ auto is great for offroading. I've yet to get stuck because it didn't engage. You'll find many threads on this subject. Usually it's called "auto vs. manual" or something like that. Here's a thread that I think you might find
useful. In general, the MT with full time 4wd will use more gas. Not by much, but it does use more. Itake my FJ off road quite often and have not found the auto lacking.
