2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser Road Test
It's undoubtedly an accomplished 4X4 but regardless of what others say, I say it's Toyota's ugly duckling. When it comes to the automobile, looks are only tin deep. It's what lies beneath the sheet metal that really matters, so I'll not comment any further on the FJ Cruiser's appearance other than to say it's based on the historic FJ40 Land Cruiser, a tremendously rugged 4X4 built by Toyota from 1960-1984. I must however mention that when handed the keys today's FJ, I was surprised not to see a key fob attached to the ring. After manually unlocking the door and starting the rig, I spent a considerable period of time looking for the power mirror controls, eventually determining that the side mirrors were manually adjusted from outside the vehicle. Fortunately once queued-up their large size provides excellent visibility. A huge blind spot between the front and rear side windows can make reversing into a parking space or changing lanes very mirror-dependent.
