The seller of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe FJ Cruiser calls the truck Baby. That’s kind of weird but doesn’t mean we can’t decide what name to call this updated truck’s asking price.
Aspiration can make for great inspiration. If you want something more, or something better then you strive to achieve that. The best part of that is that the journey is as important as is the achievement.
That conviction was exemplified in yesterday’s 1979 Porsche 911SC, as that car had been elevated to in many ways 930 Turbo specs. That’s a big leap and one that should make the car wildly rewarding to master… if it didn’t kill you first.
Aspiration always comes at a price however, and in the case of that faux 930, that price was $49,870, or about half what a real-deal 930 would command. That seemingly proved pretty inspired for 54 percent of you, as that was the vote giving the little car a narrow but decisive Nice Price win.
No matter the generation, pretty much everybody remembers Porsche’s 911. That’s for two reasons. One is the iconic nature of the car and the other is the fact that the model name and basic shape continue to this day in series production. That’s perhaps not the case with each and every car and that’s why a lot of manufacturers like to create neo-retro editions of their most own iconic but out of production products. This trend has given us the BMW Z8, a modern iteration of the classic Albrecht von Goertz-designed 507, and of course, Volkswagen’s New Beetle.
Toyota’s not immune to this trend, having named their Subaru-partnered sports car the 86 in homage to the beloved AE86 Corolla range of the mid-eighties. Another of the Japanese giant’s neo-retro takes was the FJ Cruiser which sought to embody the emotional attachments people made to the marque’s venerable FJ series Land Cruisers. Time will tell whether the homage has the same sort of legs as did the original. We’re here today to look at a 2007 FJ Cruiser named ‘Baby’ to see if it may be heading off to a good start.
Toyota introduced the FJ Cruiser in 2006 and ended the model’s production run in January of 2018. Aside from some safety and minor trim details, the truck was little changed over the course of its life. Considering that its styling was a riff on the classic Land Cruiser that’s probably a good thing. Mid cycle refreshings on neo-retro cars are not all that common, nor successful.
The FJ’s underpinnings took elements from the body on frame Tacoma truck and Prado 120 SUV. Power is provided by a 1 GR-FE 4.0, which in 2007 coaxed 239 horsepower and 278 lb-ft of torque from the single VVT-i V6. Backing that up is Toyota’s A750E five-speed automatic and AWD.
As noted, this FJ’s seller has named the truck Baby. That’s weirdly discomforting and worth buying the truck for the singular reasoning that you could stop the practice.
Baby comes in two-tone white over black (Baby got black?) with an aftermarket full-roof rack on top. Cooper tires with plenty of tread wrap the factory alloys and the truck comes with both some major service having recently been completed, as well as some repairs that might give you pause. There is 155,000 miles on this FJ and in their course the alternator has failed. That’s fluky, but as such likely not indicative of broader electrical system shenanigans. It’s still kind of odd. Additional replacements and updates include a new battery, the aforementioned Cooper tires, and roof rack. The 150K service has been completed by a Toyota dealer and the truck comes with a clean title.
The bodywork here looks to be clean and without major issue. The alloys and bumpers also show no signs of damage. We don’t get to see much of the interior, just the instrument cluster to document the mileage, and a shot of the aftermarket Pioneer head unit which looks like something a bored 12-year old would design. Hopefully the factory unit is still available since it was uniquely styled to match the remainder of the interior’s faux tough truck aesthetic.
The FJ may look like a two-door but in fact does sport a second set of suicide doors in the back to ease egress. These were some of the last non-pickup trucks to rock that feature. Unfortunately, the FJ’s retro styling engenders the truck’s biggest issue which is a major lack of visibility caused by the massive C-pillars and a general narrowness to the greenhouse. The back seats also see a penalty in the design as it’s a deep dark hole in which to plop your guests.
That’s no matter to you however since you’ll be in the driver’s seat. The question however, is whether, at $13,499 you’d even want to be. As I noted at the outset, the jury’s still out on whether the FJ will follow its antecedents in value growth. Right now, they are too new and there’s too many of them on the market to gain any traction. That however, might mean it’s the right time to buy. This FJ is 12-years old and asks a little less than half its original MSRP. That’s pretty good. What you need to decide is whether that’s good enough.
What do you say, is Baby worth that $13,499 asking? Or, does that price have you actually exclaiming, ‘oh brother?’
You decide!
San Francisco Bay Area, CA Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!
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