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Toyota is known for manufacturing some iconic rugged SUVs and the FJ Cruiser is certainly one such product. But it has lived under the shadows of some other off-roading machines from the Japanese carmaker for a long time.
In a rather surprising development, a Toyota FJ Cruiser SUV was recently spotted on Indian roads. This SUV can be seen as the reincarnation of the FJ40 and is a brain child of Toyota’s product planner Dave Danzer and vice-president of sales and operations Yoshi Inaba. The FJ Cruiser came into existence in 2006 as a retro-themed mid-size SUV with off-roading capabilities. It became an instant success and people bought for its affordability and off-roading prowess. However, as the competition in the mid-size SUV segment increased over time, the production of the FJ Cruiser was halted in 2018 in the home market. Eventually, it was even discontinued in the middle-east by the end of the last year. Nevertheless, we take a look at the details of this unicorn spotted in India.
Toyota FJ Cruiser
The cherry red SUV has a white roof imposing the dual-tone effect. At the front, the SUV has a high bonnet with a contour at the front, retro-themed round headlamps with integrated LED DRLs encapsulated in a silver grille element, turn indicators on either side of the headlamps, sturdy skid plate underneath the bumper and silver finish around the fog lamps.
On the sides, one is greeted by Rolls Royce-styled suicide doors, black B pillars, muscular wheel arches, silver/white alloy wheels with high-profile tyres for off-roading adventures, and black side body skirting. The tail section is complete with a tailgate-mounted spare tyre, compact taillamps extending to the sides of the rear profile, horizontally positioned reflector lamps on the bumper and a rugged bumper. All in all, it perfectly captures the essence of a retro mid-size off-roading SUV.
Specifications:
The first iteration of the Toyota FJ Cruiser used to come powered by a massive 4.0-litre 1GR-FE DOHC V6 engine with VVT-i technology that produced 239 hp and 377 Nm of peak power and torque. These figures saw slight changes with the subsequent models. Being a proper SUV, it came with a full-time 4WD system allowing it to conquer all sorts of terrains.
