SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in Witness Wheels on Thursday December 5, 2013
Our first impression on hauling ourselves aboard the FJ Cruiser was: “So this is how Toyota would build a Jeep Wrangler.” A little harsh perhaps, even factually incorrect, but there is a common theme.
Picture a completely vertical and very plain body-coloured dash with clear, circular instruments and an almost straight and upright windscreen with three wipers. Then there are straightforward air conditioning controls; cloth seats in the standard version; a simple radio and CD player with USB and auxiliary plugs; an old fashioned floor-mounted shift lever that works through a doglegged gate marked P, R, D4, 3, L2 - for the five-speed automatic transmission - and solid, barrel-shaped door handles. All controls are designed so you can operate them while wearing gloves. And heavy-duty rubber mats mean that anybody can jump in with muddy boots without being precious about delicate and expensive carpets.
It’s the same outside: plain, vertical grille with circular headlamps; simple, square bumpers; truck style outside mirrors; huge open mudguards that should never fill up with slush; alloy wheels with 265/70R17 all-terrain tyres and a very retro plastic-coated whip aerial for the radio. On that note, because Toyota reckons this Cruiser is reminiscent of its Jeep-like FJ40 from the ‘60s, rearward hinging back doors, that can only be opened from the inside, make it look like a two-door. The idea is cute but impractical because, once seated, back seat passengers can’t reach the handles to close the doors. They need someone in front to assist with both opening and closing.
Simplicity doesn’t end there. Forget about air suspension, terrain response programs, automatic headlights and wipers, automatic door locking, Torsen differentials or an onboard computer. The transfer case that shifts between 2H, 4H and 4Lo uses a good old fashioned mechanical lever. This car’s designed to be easy to maintain and its engine is a naturally-aspirated petrol V6.
The only concessions to modernity are ABS with EBD and BA, VSC, a crawling function, artificial intelligence for the gearbox, and traction control. Even the latter is a simple system that uses the brakes to stop unwanted slippage or spinning. Obviously, you don't have to do without powered windows, cruise control and reversing camera. Six airbags and ISOFix anchors are part of the package too.
To retain its impressive ground clearance and departure angle, FJ’s spare wheel is mounted on the sideways-hinging back door that’s fitted with gas struts to make opening easier. And if you simply want to load or retrieve small items, the rear window glass can be lifted separately. Back with off-road details, the independent front and beam-axle rear suspension boasts generous wheel travel; its Wikipedia entry claims 20cm up front and 22,5cm in the rear.
We only had the Cruiser a few days, so there wasn’t time to go looking for Humvees to rescue off mountain tops (he jokes) but our regular wicked forest trails posed no real threats. On city streets and freeways, the standard Dunlop AT22 Grandtrek tyres were decently comfortable while the very compliant suspension went a long way toward making the stony provincial road to Fort Nottingham almost a non-event. In case you missed it, a European "city" SUV travelling the same road recently, rattled our fillings quite badly.
Apart from our issue with the back doors, vision outward is not great because of very long “C” pillars relieved only slightly by inset glasses near the back. On the positive side, head-, knee- and foot room for back seat passengers is generous, the car drives easily for its size thanks to a fairly tight 10,4 metre turning circle and power is plentiful.
We weren’t terribly impressed with the gearbox because it took quite an effort to induce kickdown at cruising speeds, and it generally felt sluggish and old-fashioned. On the spin side, one doesn’t want hair-trigger response while chugging through slush or over loose rocks, either.
Big, simple, slightly quirky and above all, a Land Cruiser, the FJ is worth a close look.
Test car from Toyota SA press fleet
The numbers
Price: R476 500
Engine: Toyota 1GR-FE, 3956cc, quad cam, 24-valve, V6 petrol
Power: 200 kW at 5600 rpm
Torque: 380 Nm at 4400 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8,6 seconds
Maximum speed: 175 km/h
Estimated fuel consumption: About 14,7 l/100 km
Tanks: 159 litres total
Luggage: 765 – 1869 litres
Ground clearance: 245 mm
Approach/departure/breakover angles: 34/30/29 degrees
Wading depth: 700 mm
Maximum towing ability: 1500 kg braked
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km; at 10 000 km intervals
Pics are of Sport version with exclusive black paintwork, spare wheel cover, leather seats and extra chrome trim
This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8