FJ Cruiser eats up some tough terrain without cracking a sweat.
The FJ Cruiser rolls easily over rocks, tree stumps, sand and mud.
Some who have seen the FJ Cruiser wonder whether it's all show and no go; just another wimpy suburban SUV dressed to look like it can do the deed off-road. So here comes the moment of truth.
Driven has taken Toyota's newest off-roader to the Jeep Woodhill 4WD park northwest of the city to see whether it really is fit for more than the school run.
Despite its name, the park welcomes all makes and has some of the toughest tracks around. One of them is staring us in the face right now, and we're staring back, wondering if we dare give it a go.
"I've seen lots of vehicles better than this not get up here," says park manager Roger Winslade, who has come for the ride. Thanks for that confidence builder, Roger.
The track is narrow, rutted, steep and loose. Two-thirds of the way up it's crossed by thick pine roots and the ground in front of them has eroded, creating, on one side, a nasty pit. This is what gets many vehicles; they roar up the loose track, then lose traction right here. It is, to use the term made generally acceptable by the famous Toyota TV commercial, a "bugger".
We're already in the powerful low-range gearing and the FJ's computer has automatically put the drivetrain into a mode that optimises the electronic traction control for off-roading.
As an added precaution, I engage the FJ's secret weapon, a rear-differential lock. This turns the two halves of the rear axle into a solid unit, so that if one wheel loses traction, as it almost certainly will against the root, both wheels will keep on turning. I put the five-speed automatic into third, grit teeth, and drive forward with what is hopefully the right amount of momentum ... and wait to get stuck. What an anticlimax, the FJ sails up without a hint of trouble. The park boss is impressed, and so am I.
We'd spent the best part of a couple of hours scouring the park for increasingly tougher obstacles to conquer. Some tracks were only for winch-equipped vehicles on huge tyres, and were bypassed. There's no point in asking for trouble.
Although the FJ Cruiser's ground clearance is good it's not outstanding, and although its wheel travel and articulation are nothing special, its ability to keep going is impressive, largely due to the superbly developed electronic traction control - so good that the locking differential was rarely needed.
The FJ's styling is possibly its major off-road shortfall; a lack of outward vision. Side windows and the rear window are small and there are big blind spots. And the driver sits too low to get a good view over the bonnet, making it hard to accurately place the vehicle on a trail, especially at the crest of a hill.
That aside, the FJ Cruiser rocks ... and trees, and sand, and mud, too. Crumpy might have wanted to swap his Hilux for one.
Limited Appeal
The FJ Cruiser was designed for the American market, a retro-styled SUV built on a lengthened short-wheelbase Prado chassis, to pay homage to the original 1970s FJ Land Cruisers that muscled Land Rovers aside in many of the world's harshest places.
It's powered by a 4.0 litre 200kW 380Nm V6 that's not too thirsty and is sold here only with an automatic transmission.
At $69,990, the set-up represents fairly good value in today's market, but although almost 100 have been sold since it became available early this year, the styling assures more limited appeal than Toyota's other 4WD products.
