Yes,it's April;my roomate has a subsciption.

 

Finally got mine today. Interesting article. I did notice however the FJC was one of the prerelease models that was driven around here in the US. Wonder if that could be why the FJC suspension was suspect on the road. They praised the 4R numerous times for it's great road manners, so I find it interesting that the FJC, which uses the same platform and suspension, could get bad grades. I seriously doubt 4 inches difference to the wheelbase would suddenly make it unstable, but rather an incorrect setup from a test model????

 

bulldog-yota, I think you're right. It's true that longer wheelbase gives your better stability on the road, but we are talking 4" in 110" (4Runner). It's 3.6% drop. This shouldn't affect this much. Another thing that FJC might have different suspension parts such as coils and shocks. As far as I know FJ doesn't have XREAS. All above mentioned doesn't affect much when they are counting one by one, but in combination of those factors may affect driving.

 

They did like the FJs obviously not production wheels since they do agree that the oversize wheels on SUV fad needs to go away.

 

I think it is more an issue of the FJC that was tested had a suspension that was not quite "dialed in" correctly. Typical for a test vehicle where they take over various road surfaces and calibrate the production suspension accordingly. I guess we will find out once people are getting their hands on the final FJCs, and a good reason to wait a year or 2 before buying a new model. Prices go down and you get a better vehicle. Take the 4R as an example, I got one of the first 4th Gens in Nov 02, now in 06 model you can get it cheaper that what I paid (more room to negotiate) and you get more features and improved styling IMHO. I think the FJC will be the same, you will get a lot more for less money in a few years.

I still wish they had used the Prado 3dr platform for the FJC. Raise the roofline slightly adn you will have a minimum sacrifice in innterior space, but your dimensions for wheeling would have improved drastically.