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SUV of the Day: August 29, 2015; Kyosho '11 Toyota FJ Cruiser
Topic Started: Aug 29 2015, 12:48 AM (809 Views)
Dean-o-mite
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Muscle Car

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Today's car of the day is Kyosho's 2011 Toyota FJ Cruiser.


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Wikipedia
 
The Toyota FJ Cruiser is a retro style SUV with styling and off road performance reminiscent of the original Toyota FJ40 Land Cruisers. Introduced as a concept car at the January 2003 North American International Auto Show, the FJ Cruiser was approved for production after positive consumer response and debuted at the January 2005 North American International Auto Show in final production form. The FJ cruiser is built by Toyota subsidiary Hino Motors in Hamura, Japan since 2006 and shares many structural underpinnings from the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. The FJ Cruiser features a short wheelbase, stocky frame, and grille/headlight arrangement much like the original FJ40. Other throwback design cues include a nearly vertical windshield with three windshield wipers for maximum surface area coverage. The FJ Cruiser is also Toyota's only current vehicle to use the name "Toyota" spelled out across the grille instead of the corporate emblem which has been in use since 1990, another reference to the FJ40 and other older Toyota trucks. The FJ's body features rear opening access doors that give a unique look to the SUV. Special high strength steel was used to give the vehicle side impact protection without the need for a door pillar.



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For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Toyota FJ Cruiser


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I learned something new while getting this submission ready for today. I knew the FJ Cruiser had been a North American model, but didn't know that it had later been introduced into the Japan lineup, as well. For years, I had wanted the FJ Cruiser in small-scale, and believed it was a vehicle unique enough to be worthy of being replicated, but -likely due to the North American exclusive thing- nobody made it in 1/64 during its first few years. Jada had a pre-pro tooled up, but it never made it to production (Jada did release the FJ in 1/24). Majorette finally covered the FJ, but they are not easy to come by (I've only got the yellow Majorette, despite asking my regular trade partners to keep an eye out for others). Tian Du also made an FJ, but they have proven impossible for me to acquire. Then, in 2011, Tomica released their casting of the FJ. I thought it was an odd choice for them, as a North American Toyota, but Tomica had been branching out with non-Japanese market cars, such as the Euro Civic hatchback, so it made sense in that light. Then Kyosho also released their FJ. Well, now that I've read the Wikipedia article that the FJ was finally brought to the Japanese market in 2011, the Tomica and Kyosho models are no-brainers. I can't believe I didn't know that before!


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Wikipedia
 
The FJ cruiser was primarily developed for the North American market but has been sold in small numbers globally since its launch. On 25 November 2010, Toyota announced sales would begin in right-hand drive form for the Japanese market. Sales began on December 4, replacing the outgoing Hilux Surf and selling alongside the Land Cruiser. Japanese produced right-hand drive models have a different rear bumper to North American models with the license plate located on the bumper as opposed to under the tailgate door handle. In addition, right-hand drive versions have the side indicator markers located on the fender panels, rather than located on the side-view mirrors used for left-hand drive production FJ Cruisers. Sales of right-hand drive model began in Australia and New Zealand in 2011 available in 4 wheel drive automatic only. The 4x4 FJ Cruiser has 9.6 inches of ground clearance, 34-degree approach and 30-degree departure angles, and a 27.4-degree break-over angle, with 8 inches of front and 9 inches of rear suspension travel. The FJ is also designed to ford up to 27.5 inches of water and has a 5000 lb towing capacity for both 4x4 and 4x2 variants. On road, the FJ accelerates 0-60 in 7.8 seconds and has .69 G of lateral grip tested with stock Bridgestone Dueler tires.[



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pjedsel
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Muscle Car
:toy: Always nice to see the models from Kyosho. It is not a brand I have in my collection but do like what I see from the various models that are shared on the board. This is a winner and thank you Dean for the background information on the real model - that is always a bonus to our collecting of little cars - to learn more about the real ones.
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Dean-o-mite
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Thanks for looking, John! It appears this one is pretty much regarded as a dud by everyone else.
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250 TR
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Not by me! This one will likely get my vote for the week. It ticks just about every box on things I like. The real FJ Cruiser is a capable off-roader, a great design, and a throwback to one of my all time favorite vehicles, the original FJ40. And the Kyosho is a great model of it, nice detail, the color choices were perfect for it and it's something just a little out of the ordinary for them since they haven't done but a handful of SUV's. As popular as the real vehicle is, I'm surprised Hot Wheels or Matchbox never tackled this one.
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250 TR
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It's also the vehicle that made me hold onto hope for Toyota as a brand. The vast majority of their modern cars I'm not a fan of, as they are too bland and boring, and I feel they rested on their laurels of having such a devoted customer base to not stay as competitive as they could have been. When this came out, it was the only thing on their lot that had a hint of enthusiast appeal. The Supra's were gone, the MR2's were gone, just Camry's and Corolla's. As a brand, they have rekindled my interest with cars like the FT-86, Lexus LFA, etc. and so I will always like the FJ Cruiser for that fact.
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JeepXJLover
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Minivan
Actually looks better than the real thing IMHO.
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Hobie-wan
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SUV
250 TR
Aug 30 2015, 12:21 AM
As popular as the real vehicle is, I'm surprised Hot Wheels or Matchbox never tackled this one.
Indeed, especially since we got the Vehicross from HW in 3 colors.
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corvairjim
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Fullsize
I'm generally not into SUVs, but the FJ Cruiser is an interesting sort of vehicle. I think Toyota did a great job in giving it a mix of old and modern design cues. You'd never mistake one for the other, but the family resemblance is definitely there. To top it off, the model is very accurate to the 1:1 FJ. Nice job, Kyosho!
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Stampede
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Team Canada
:drool: Love this model and it's real life counterpart!

Definitely a model to grab in the future; thanks for the pictures and write-up!
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toyotageek
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Japanese Minicar Maniac
Been a busy weekend so I'm just seeing this now.

Love this model, and have several color variations. Dean, who's calling this a dud? I wanna have a talk with them! :lol:

I agree with 250TR's comments about Toyota being bland - yes, I did say that. As much as I love the brand, they really need to kick it up a notch. And the crazy thing is, even as popular as the FJ Cruiser is (was), it's being discontinued. WHY!? Why, oh why would they discontinue this cool SUV. I hope they have something else (just as nice) in the works.
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