Having had let go of my dearly departed '87 ExtCab 4x4 22re pickup, I SO miss having an off road worthy Yota.
I have since moved to Santa Ana, CA and am driving an 06 Acura TSX and am so bored it. Don't get me wrong, it's a great car, but obviously no good off road.
I want to get back into a Yota with some off road prowess, but need some reasonable MPGs. That automatically takes the Land Cruiser and Rav4 out of the running.
One gets gallons per mile, and the other I don't know I would trust off road. There's some trails in Orange County nearby, but I want to head on some road trips to some off road playgrounds (maybe Moab?)
In any case, this would also be a daily driver with 50/50 city/hwy miles. Which gets the better MPG and is easier to live with, while also make a great weekend warrior?

 

if you are looking for decent MPG's that eliminates your 3 choices all of them get about the same mileage

 

GO with the Tacoma.

 

I have a few questions.

1) Why is the Land Cruiser eliminated because of MPG? The three that you mentioned get 12-22 based on the EPA rating and the Land Cruiser is 10-18 based on the same score. You'd be surprised how many people sacrifice 2-6 miles per gallon for a vehicle that's in a completely different class than the Tacoma, 4Runner and FJ Cruiser.

2) If you're shooting for MPG, why pull away from the Rav4? The Rav4 is suitable for overlanding, fire roads and camping. People put lift kits, 31x10.50 tires and RTTs on them all the time. I wouldn't take it to the Con or Fordyce, but it'll smash around in the woods or at Pismo while getting 20+ MPG.

3) You didn't list the Tundra, but why not? 2000-06 Tundras are fantastic trucks. My uncle had one for 300k miles with only replacing the belts, alternator, plugs, radiator, hoses, starter and rear end. He eventually sold it and bought a brand new 08? 09? Limited Tundra and still has it to this day with zero issues.

4) I didn't see the Highlander listed, so i didn't want you to forget about this one. It's built on the Camry chassis but lift kits and tires are still a thing plus it's available in AWD. Again... capable crossover/suv that gets decent MPG with the ability to smash fire roads, Pismo and other easy trails to satisfy that camping fix.

5) I just want to mention this truck because as of lately, it's growing in the offroad community. Why not the GX470? This is basically a 4th gen 4Runner that's built on the prado chassis and brings a bunch more luxury to the table that the 4Runner and the Land Cruiser of the same year.

I have a 2010 Toyota Tacoma Xrunner w/ the 1GRFE and a TRD supercharger. I've set it on the economy tune and adjusted the pedal commander and at most, in a 2wd truck, it gets 22 on a long road trip.

Anyway, hope this helps.