Christian Wardlaw’s 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser Driving Impressions:
After a round-trip commute involving freeways, coastal highways, city streets, and residential boulevards, the 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser strikes me as a plush, sluggish compromise wearing a garish yellow Halloween costume. Maybe I’d feel differently after taking it in the dirt, but since many buyers are going to travel the same types of routes I did day after day, I suspect people won over by the FJ’s flamboyant retro styling and Japanese Hummer interior might regret the purchase after a few weeks of daily driving.

The six-cylinder is adequate to the task, torquey enough, and connected to an automatic transmission that is willing to kick down for added power when necessary. Rev the FJ, and it’ll move, though the truck’s mass and road isolation mask speed. Get above 80 mph on the highway and you’ve gotta keep a heavy foot on the throttle to maintain forward momentum – this ain’t the most aerodynamic brick on the market.

The FJ’s steering is a bit heavy and plenty slow, and the truck pitches its weight around on its 4Runner-based underpinnings. Roll, dive, and squat are the prices paid for what is a pretty good ride quality on rather quiet tires. Well, they’re quiet until you get into a turn too fast, and then they complain.

What I recall most about driving the 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser, aside from how the outward view is a combination of Hummer H2 to the front and Isuzu Vehicross to the rear, and how the side mirrors offer an extremely limited view of what’s happening at the sides of the FJ, is its heft. You’re constantly aware of how heavy the truck is. I would have preferred a stiffer suspension and serious tires – the FJ deserves an authentic SUV ride and handling mix to complement its authentic SUV design. Out of the box, it feels more like a creampuff.

Thom Blackett’s 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser Driving Impressions:
The hardest thing about driving the 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser is being seen in this monstrosity, and the school-bus yellow paint on our tester certainly didn’t help. Since the FJ is still new to the streets, it draws plenty of stares, few of which seem to coincide with positive thoughts. However, get behind the wheel and there’s more about the FJ worthy of praise.

Among the pros are a strong V6 engine that does an admirable job of scooting 4,295 pounds from a dead stop, a five-speed automatic transmission characterized by smooth shifts, and rack-and-pinion steering that’s dialed in nicely, especially for a four-wheel-drive truck that competes with the wandering 2006 Jeep Wrangler. Throttle response is immediate, allowing the engine to run clear to redline quickly and easily, albeit loudly as the exhaust drone has a tendency to become overbearing. There’s also lots of wind noise around the front glass and doors. Braking is effective, though there’s a dead spot in the pedal upon initial application. Out on the open road, the ride is subdued and controlled, so bumps are well absorbed and there’s none of the bucking found with some SUVs and pickup trucks. The flipside is that the FJ is soft in the corners. Yet any deficiencies unveiled on the road are quickly forgotten when this Toyota hits the dirt.

We found a new off-road trail near the office that offered some aggressive uphill sections, a shallow creek with boulders to cross, a few mudholes, and plenty of narrow, rutted areas good for testing clearance and suspension articulation. While this wasn’t exactly rock-crawling territory, there was more terrain here than a traditional crossover SUV could handle. The FJ Cruiser took it all – the ruts, the steep uphill that had been torn all to hell, the small boulders – with the result being only one light scrape to the skid plates. Drop the transfer case into 4-Low, pop the tranny into low gear, and the FJ will have you thinking it’s unstoppable, assuming you’re OK with the grinding and buzzing of the traction control system scrabbling for grip. There’s also the wide body to keep in mind on those tight trails – only by the grace of goodness did we motor away minus major scratches.

Brian Chee’s 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser Driving Impressions:
This is the un-Toyota Toyota. The 2007 FJ Cruiser lumbers about like a Hummer, complete with poor visibility and an ungainly width that makes it a hassle to drive in tight spaces. It’s as if some executive at Toyota got himself a picture of the H3, went down to the engineering department, and said: Hey – build a Toyota version.

Which is what they did, the bad with the good. As mentioned, sightlines are limited to the point of a joke, just like the Hummer H3 – but there are huge rearview mirrors that assist drivers with changing lanes. The FJ has gunsight windows, just like the H3 – but they aren’t quite so squat. The FJ Cruiser gets poor gas mileage, just like the H3 – but not as bad as the Hummer. The FJ Cruiser feel like a clumsy, lumbering ox on the road, just like the H3 – but at least this ox has some power behind its horns. Here we go again, damning the H3 for its five-cylinder engine. So sorry, but it’s true: the H3 squeals like a school girl when you drive it up a grade, while the FJ Cruiser acts much more mature, with almost 20 more horsepower and more than 50 lb.-ft of added torque.

Power is plentiful, and delivered on command by a five-speed automatic or a six-speed manual, as opposed to the four-speed transmission that manages output for the H3. It makes a huge difference to the driving experience, being able to access the available power in a smooth and timely manner, a definite plus with the FJ Cruiser. Make no mistake, though. It is a lumbering ox – if you’ve ever had a ride on a lumbering ox, you know what I mean – the thing plods, careens and is about as subtle as a mother-in-law with a bad attitude. Sitting behind the wheel for my typical commute was a tiresome experience, partially because I never felt comfortable but also because the road just felt so darn far away, the steering was numb and slow, and the SUV handled clumsily.

Russ Bartlett’s 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser Driving Impressions:
Driving the 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser was the most fun I’ve had in a truck-based SUV. While it drove nicely on the highway I felt like I was walking a Labrador on a leash -- the FJ Cruiser was meant to get out in the open and have fun. Its 239-horsepower V6 engine was more than adequate and the five-speed automatic transmission was surprisingly smooth. The suspension was expectedly stiff but I never felt like I was going to be thrown into the passenger seat when I hit a pothole, and the steering and turning radius were impressive for a vehicle that seemed so big. The leather-trimmed steering wheel stayed firmly planted in my hands over the occasional bumps and dips of city and highway driving.

With its tall but narrow side-view mirrors, small rear window and blind spot-laden interior design, the FJ makes for an exciting lane-change experience. I might have actually kinked my neck double-checking my view out of the rear windows to make sure there was no one next to me before switching lanes. The interior road noise level was exceptionally quiet given the primary use of rubber-type materials inside, but the constant exhaust noise takes some getting used to. Low rpm exhaust noise reminded me of a 1970’s converted Baja bug. Given the growing likelihood of $4.00-per-gallon gas, the FJ Cruiser’s EPA-estimated 17 mpg city and 21 mpg highway ratings make this an expensive ride.