A friend of mine spotted an FJ cruising past his house in Cali today...

http://pictureposter.allbrand.nu/pictures/larrytt/hondaelement/misc/front+view.jpg

http://pictureposter.allbrand.nu/pictures/larrytt/HondaElement/misc/sideview.jpg (http://www.shareyourpix.com/inc/i_importimage.aspx?u=356&a=554&i=8722&w=600&h=368)

That's a nice Rig.....
I have been watching the postings on the Toyota Landcruiser forum and
there is a lot of talk about it..

Not sure how this one got on the street.
My understanding is that the Vehicle is not released yet
but I could be wrong...
May be a Toyota exec..???
Anyway I hope to see one at the Orlando Auto show
Next Weds.
If anyone is interested I will report on what I see.

I Also should see the Element in all its colors I hope....

Ron D

You're killing me...a silver FJ Cruiser...I really like silver vehicles.

The only thing that has taken the wind out of my sails so far is the rear leg room which is probably measured in microns.:-x What looks to be a roomy vehicle has sh!t for rear seat placement judging by some photos I've seen.

WTF is this for room?

Good point on the rear leg room...

Ron D

That's a nice Rig.....
I have been watching the postings on the Toyota Landcruiser forum and
there is a lot of talk about it..

Not sure how this one got on the street.
My understanding is that the Vehicle is not released yet
but I could be wrong...
May be a Toyota exec..???
Anyway I hope to see one at the Orlando Auto show
Next Weds.
If anyone is interested I will report on what I see.

I Also should see the Element in all its colors I hope....

Ron D

He said a whole bunch of them drove by his place. My friend works in the automotive industry and they could have driven by his place on purpose but he didn't say they did,

WTF is this for room?
It was designed for Leiutenant Dan.

It was designed for Leiutenant Dan.

Well he certainly won't be hauling too much shrimp in the back seat either......

looks like they never consulted our boards about our complaints about the seatbelt being on the rear suicide door and not the seat, other than that they have the element interior down to a T! (minus the functional aspects)

It was designed for Leiutenant Dan.
Who is he?:confused:

If you watch the movie "Forrest Gump" you'll understand.:D

Well it looks as though I'm not the only one disappointed with the interior, check this site out (http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000567062560/) and what people are saying about it.

I'll still go and take a look at it when it hits the dealerships, but Toyota really fell short of the mark with that crappy interior and the tailgate that swings sideways.

Dammit...I was really hoping the FJC would have been everything I wanted...oh well.:sad:

Man. I've always loved the FJ40. My vote is take the back seats out and use it for gear. For what I'd want the FJ for I wouldn't care if anybody's in the back or not! Need to see it live but already I have the "I must have one" feeling!

Ken

Cool idea.

I like the triple wipers, little light thingys on the mirrors, and the overall look,
but piss-poor execution on a few few details.

That's a lot less rear leg room than I expected.
They didn't show one picture of the cargo room behind the rear seats.
I'm starting to wonder how small it is inside.:|

Side swinging tailgates are a pain in the @$$, particularly ones with a heavy tire hanging on it.:rolleyes:
Just try to open/close the thing when the vehicle's sitting at an angle.
They should have went with a separate lift glass and tailgate.

And they totally punked out on the tires.:x
I bet your gonna have to cough up the dough for the TRD version to get anything resembling off road tires.

I'll reserve final judgement for when I see one, but it's starting to look like an overstyled Wrangler with a hard top; and crappy tires.

And they totally punked out on the tires.:x
I bet your gonna have to cough up the dough for the TRD version to get anything resembling off road tires.


Aren't the stock tires BFG TA KOs? They strike me as a good compromise between highway traction and off-road use. MT tires could be better off-road but tend to have poor highway manners.

paulj

Cool idea.

I like the triple wipers, little light thingys on the mirrors, and the overall look,
but piss-poor execution on a few few details.

That's a lot less rear leg room than I expected.
They didn't show one picture of the cargo room behind the rear seats.
I'm starting to wonder how small it is inside.:|

Side swinging tailgates are a pain in the @$$, particularly ones with a heavy tire hanging on it.:rolleyes:
Just try to open/close the thing when the vehicle's sitting at an angle.
They should have went with a separate lift glass and tailgate.

And they totally punked out on the tires.:x
I bet your gonna have to cough up the dough for the TRD version to get anything resembling off road tires.

I'll reserve final judgement for when I see one, but it's starting to look like an overstyled Wrangler with a hard top; and crappy tires.


Yes the tailgate is one thing that turned me off .
Haven't got a handle on pricing yet but that may be a turn off also.

Ron D

P.S. Love the "E's" Tailgate set up....Just perfect I think....
Maybe the rear seats are forward for child seats ease of use?
A lot of complaints on here about the child seat and sucide
doors don't go well together. But that's not an issue for me.

Aren't the stock tires BFG TA KOs? They strike me as a good compromise between highway traction and off-road use. MT tires could be better off-road but tend to have poor highway manners.

paulj

That's what they showed on the production prototype,
but these pics of the supposed actual production version have wimpy street tires....

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/9745/production3ow.jpg

I assume you'll probably be able to upgrade but that leads me to seriously doubt all the hype about pricing starting at under $20,000.
The recent write-ups I've seen are now saying to expect 23-25k, even more optioned out.
As I suspected.:roll:

IF the FJ had an Element style tailgate, where would they put the spare?
paulj

IF the FJ had an Element style tailgate, where would they put the spare?
paulj

It's possible to make a swing away spare that moves out of the way,
then have a normal lift hatch/tailgate combination.

All they'd have to do is make the mounting assembly for the spare lock in the open position to avoid it accidentally hitting the open tailgate.

I've seen it before but I can't remember where.
I want to say the old Pathfinders, like late eighties, had a swing away spare and a rear gate that lifted up once the spare was swung out of the way.
I'm not certain though.

Regarding the tires, I was working from the SEMA 2005 pictures, and spec list from Truck Trend via this Expedition Portal thread:

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=320&page=1&pp=10

It is possible that the base model will have different tires than the fully equiped one, especially if it is 2wd.

paulj

Talking from the off road ability of the FJ take in consideration of the tire size. If it is like the Jeep lets say Liberty your tire choices of size isnt going to be very big a larger tire will not fit in the spare location due to the fact that they are intigrated into the back door. If you look at the Wrangler you can only get a 33-12.5 on the stock rack and that is pushing it if you have 35sor even the popular 37 now for the off road industry you need to go to a larger carrier or a custom one. These cars or SUV's are designed for the soccer moms and dads that go to the store not the trail.

Mark

Look mom, its an Element on steroids!

I am surprised Toyota copied the Element rear doors.