Location: Bethlehem PA, Washington DC, Manaus Brazil
Posts: 471
Re: 2008 Last year of the FJ?
Quote:
TexasCabledawg previously said:
I wonder how long it is going to take before the dreaded "soccer moms" figure out that they made a bad choice.
hopefully soon, i can't tell you how many moms look at me like i'm retarded when i wave at them from afar
plus i feel like an idiot when i wave at them
__________________ 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser Trail Team Edition 6MT 4x4
The mod bug.. Sucks when you get bit. But feels so good to itch it. Flick photos FJ Bruisers
Location: Oh mommy I ain't no commie I'm just doing what I can to live the good all American...Way
Posts: 2,100
Re: 2008 Last year of the FJ?
True...hahahahahaha.. Same when I drove a Jeep..LOL.. Ron
Quote:
logan9967 previously said:
hopefully soon, i can't tell you how many moms look at me like i'm retarded when i wave at them from afar
plus i feel like an idiot when i wave at them
__________________
08 SS, SS valve stem caps and exhaust tip
Rapper standing on the corner, wrappers flying in the wind... And in my quite reflection, I wonder why..
Sales:
THe FJ is a quality product at an affordble price, and it is for that reason they are very popular. No company would stop making a product that is selling well and bringing in profit unless compelled to do so by heavy outside pressures, ie: government. Those who need (or want) the FJ and can afford to pay for fuel will still buy it.
Costs:
Even though some internals are shared with other vehicles in the Toyota family, factory and component tooling for a new vehicle costs hundreds of millions of dollars if not more; and there will be no plugs pulled until that is recovered and the company begins to see a retun on it's investment.
If they continue w/the FJ, why don't they come out w/a regular gas model w/better gas mileage and a bigger gas tank?
It was never clear to me why the FJ engine "required" premium, but runs ok on regular. A better marketing plan in this day and age would be to increase the tank size (MAF proved you can add 19 gallons more under the rear) and run it on regular in a detuned (or hybrid) engine that gets better mileage to increase range and lower fuel operating costs.
Just my 2 cents on the topic.
I bet most people (soccer moms included) would love a hybrid FJ, by simple virtue of the fact that most of their driving is urban. It would have to retain it's superb off-road abilites to please the mudders and crawlers though.
Location: Bethlehem PA, Washington DC, Manaus Brazil
Posts: 471
Re: 2008 Last year of the FJ?
i'm still dreaming of looking out my windshield and seeing streams of black smoke blowing out the hood mounted stacks... mmm
__________________ 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser Trail Team Edition 6MT 4x4
The mod bug.. Sucks when you get bit. But feels so good to itch it. Flick photos FJ Bruisers
Toyota tends to put customer incentives on models they have trouble moving in the volumes they would like.
Note that there are no Toyota to customer incentives on the Cruiser.
P.S. I sure like the FSJ15. Then again, I'm not a soccer mom who bought it because it was 'cute' and she looked good in it... and chose not to thoroughly check it out to see if it fit her day to day 'lifestyle' and is now whining about how 'inconvenient' and 'impractical' and 'uneconomical' it is.
Confession: When I was a high school and A.Y.S.O. coach, I drove a 2 dr. VW. sedan, so what do I know.
__________________
TLCA member
'7 FSJ15, Cherry, 4x4, auto, locker, ft. skid, tow pkg., air bag pkg.,All Pro sliders
'8 Xterra, Solar Yellow, 4x4, auto, air bag pkg., tow
'7 Forester Sports XT, World Rally Blue
In Memory: 96-1FZ-FE 80, auto, f&r lockers,tow pkg., damage multiplier, Hella fogs
I doubt that a sudden spike in gas prices is going to doom a new model. They may concentrate production on small stuff until prices subside (and they will, eventually). According to the people I talked to at the stealer, alot of FJ's are being traded in, not because of the MPG, but because people got them because they were trendy, retro, cute (shudder) etc, and now that the new has worn off, they don't want to deal with the tradeoffs of owning and driving a real-ish 4x4.
I'm another member of the diesel faithful, and I really hope the 3.0 from the prado will arrive stateside at some point. The new low sulfur standards really hurt diesel importers, but the Germans have got it figured out, I'd think the Japanese aren't too far behind. It'll take longer for Toyota because they chose to develop their hybrid technology ahead of diesel, but the oil burners will catch up eventually.
I'd love to see a 3.0 crate engine, if I could get a diesel I'd be really happy with this thing. I'd do a cummins 4BT, but that'd entail a full drivetrain swap, probably.
__________________
"Got to keep working to support this lunacy. It's absolutely ludicrous. No sense in it whatsoever."--Les Judkins
Its worthy to point out that with newer diesel technology that they tend to get better gas mileage then their gas counterparts... so diesel may be more expensive (in some places) but all other things being equal it'll get better gas mileage as well.
What they need is an FJ Hybrid, which would solve the gas sucking problem AND allow deeper excurisions into the backcountry with less need to carry gas! Further, with Toyota being the "master" of the hybrid, and GM already having an SUV hybrid, this makes a lotta sense!
BTW, what mileage is everyone pulling on average? I'm running a pretty consistent 15-16 mpgs.
Last edited by FJCryptographer : 05-16-2008 at 02:17 PM.
Linear Mode
