The truck even made a hit with my girlfriends dad who, let's just say is well into retirement years. He wants to take it to the deer lease.
This is one aspect that continues to surprise the mainstream is how well Toyota does with new vehicles across the spectrum of consumers.
Scion xB was a hit with folks way out of target demographic and FJC is proving to be following the same course.
More to come.
AutoworldDavid
Could you comment on the basic utility of the vehicle to you, to your girlfriend, to her dad, and anybody else who you show it to. Lots of whining about the suicide doors on this forum. But how big of a hassle are they? My dad is 73 and stepmom 60ish and they have an Element. They don't play frisbee on the beach or go mountain biking to collect stickers. They just love the Element's versatility, washability, fold up seats, fold down tailgate, and roominess for two - suicide doors are a non-issue to them. My pre-teen daughters fell in love with the back seats, the rear sunroof, and its funky looks. It would be great if you got some first impressions from various age ranges.
Just how roomy is the back cargo area for stuff like ski/snowboard gear (even boards), beach baskets, towels, and coolers, luggage for 2/3 people? Can you get a piece of furniture in there, like a kid's desk, or an antique setee from the flea market. Not all of us on the board are headed to Moab from the dealership. My FJ will see plenty of dirt roads, a few fire roads, the occasional tricky parking spot at the ski resort, and a bit of New England off-roading, though likely more campgrounds. Day to day will be mostly highway driving and around town showin' off. To me the biggest selling point is curb appeal with a close second being true off-road capability.
And I agree, the Scion xB baffled Toyota on target demo. So did the Element I would argue. And a lot more women are buying xTerras would be my guess.
The FJ has love it or hate it styling. My daughters are thrilled daddy's getting a new cool car. I've no doubt the suicide doors aren't going to be an issue around my household. Then again I don't have an infant or child seat issues anymore. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Replying to some of the questions asked-
Cheap flimsy plastic is the first thing a lot of folks notice when getting a closer look. I will ask the tech this weekend on that subject and I am hoping that Toyota has improvements planned for final production units.
AS to body colors, I am sure they are targeting what they think Gen-X or Gen-Y consumers will be looking for. I am not sure purist FJ folks are their target demographic here but I have not been able to sit in on a marketing presentation yet. At the auto shows (the ones I have attended) they have only brought a tech person from the Gulf States region.
The tester I have comes with carpet floor mats to protect the hard surfaced flooring. I will be loading up with fishing gear this weekend and will offer cargo capacity impressions following that.
More later, thanks for the interest and keep 'em coming.
AutoworldDavid
Thanks David,
Where did you (or Toyota) get the carpeted flooring? That sounds like just the ticket. As for the plastic bumper: I assume Toyota expected off road users to replace the front bumper anyway, if you would ask them if this was the case. One more question. There have been concerns about c rash test ratings due to the spare tire location among other things. Do the engineers know anything about that?
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Titanium Metallic '07 Option 2 with rack, Goodyear MTR's, semi automatic grill mounted 9mm, Heat seeking missile launcher, Smoke screen, tire shredder, ejection seat, rear mounted even spray oil spreader, satellite communication interface, bullet proof glass, and a tire cover.
Park it in your driveway, crank up the FJammer with the subwoofer on, and see if you can hear/feel the base inside your house. Also, maybe not a good indication since it's prepro, but does the subwoofer rattle the interior plastic?
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"Oh you just keep on using me, until you use me up..." Bill Withers
First 5 photos from my run to East Texas this morning are up in members gallery - AutoworldDavid.
Had a blast. The truck ran great and even though I do not like manual trannies as much as I used to I had no problems with the FCJ.
I even got to test out the clutch start override on a hairpin uphill turn.
Glad the truck comes with skid plates, I put some of those to good use.
Even with all-season/all-terrain street tires, this FCJ had no problem with crawling and climbing in the East Texas dirt and rock.
Trail conditions were loose for the most part with some water in low areas (I took these too slow, I know, truck is still too clean).
I stayed away from anything TOO technical on this first outing with the FJC but am overall impressed with the vehicle both onroad and off.
Some road noise above 50-60mph, mostly coming from the rear of the vehicle, but easily overcome with FJammer sound system. Bass from subwoofer not overwhelming, but for the size and offset location of the unit in back it works well.
Tech interview is on Sunday.
More later.
AutoworldDavid
I will plead ignorant on the headliner speaker issue.
There are 6-1/2 or 7s in the front doors, tweeters in the corners of the top of the dash and rear fill in the C-pillars. Sub sits in back right.
I cannot detect any speakers in the headliner.
AutoworldDavid
Attn: Kansas Law Dog-
Regarding cruise control question- Had no problem driving with cruise on and in sixth gear. Ran about 70-75 all way out to East Texas and back, both Interstate and back country highway. Lots of hills and dips and turns to test the powertrain and never had a problem.
This pre-production asks for premium fuel, which was 2.59 a gallon - OUCH!
I got the bottom end of the barrel on rated fuel economy - 16mpg highway driving, not much wind, no A/C and solo driver occupant with no extra weight inside.
Production units may be tuned differently though, I will ask tech guy on Sunday.
AutoworldDavid
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