Greetings

I have been a yotatech member for years and owned 93 (totalled by a DD), 96, 98, S/C'd 99 and 2003 V8 4runners.

My current ride is a reasonably well sorted 98 Limited. I also have a very swanky 2000 Audi S4.

Recently, I have decided to sell both vehicles and get one to replace them. They key is, whatever I drive must be a daily driver, be 100% bulletproof to get me to the mountains for my part time job at the ski resort in winter and above all else, be more comfortable than the 4runner in daily driving.

The Audi and 4runner both give me fits with headroom. I am 6'2" but seem to have a lot of torso height. I sold my 2003 as I originally bought that to be my one vehicle and the seats and headroom sucked and the non VVTi V8 had lousy torque.

I have some test drives lined up but welcome your input on whether a nicely equipped FJ could fill the role as a daily commuter vehicle, a winter ski resort commuter vehicle and an occasional off road vehicle...I know it will do the last two, is just how it does the first one I am interested in from long term owners.

Thanks for listening....

David

 

throw up some pics....

 

 

David, this new section here is chalk full of FJ info, and most who own one will agree with me it is a fantastic rig.

I can tell you a few things I dig about mine.

1. It is made for off roading out of the box, and does it very well.

2. The seats are super comfortable, and waterproff, perfect for skiing.

3. The 4.0 is a monster of an engine.
Very quick off the line, and ticks off the little ricer cars who love to show off at stoplights.
Lotsa tourqe too.

I commute daily with it to work, and truly dig it.
On the few times it has been off road, it has not let me down.

Take a look at the first two stickies in this section too for some ideas, and some good facts in the second sticky.

 

the one problem im going to see you running into , is your height , not that you wont fit in it very well , becasue the seats adjust pretty nicely , but the windshield height is a bit to get used to , i am only 6 feet tall, and i have to stop back from stoplights a bit to be able to see the lights change. i dont wantto deter you from getting a fjc, because it is a great vehicle. so definitly take it for a test drive, and dont jsut drive the automatic , try out the stick also. i have taken my fjc to the mountain for snowboarding a few times this year , and it peformed awesomely, i even got onto a completely iced road ( thanks to yahoo maps) on my way to mt bachelor this year , and ended up on some snowmobile trails until it took me back to the road i needed ( obviously yahoo only travels during the summer LOL)
it worked great, and i got to check out how that vsc works LOL
not to mention i ve had some snow covered roads to travel to and from work and havent had a problem. i have recently , jsut before my trip to bachelor, had my tires sipped, and i do thin kit makes a differnce on icy roads. i traditinoally would have run studs in the winter , but couldnt afford them this year , i may jsut end up skipping the completly with the sipped tires.

another thing to consider is fuel economy, these are not the gas sipping vehicles some might be used too. espeiccaly when you start adding alot of weight , winch, bumpers , lift with larger tires. but if your not afraid of high gas prices and can get the seat adjusted correctly , i would get one in a heart beat, especcally for the winter traveling youll be doing.

airrikk17

 

David, to see what kind of mileage you can expect with the auto tranny and mods done to it, here is my MPG recored I have been keeping since day one with it.

http://www.pnw4runners.com/index.php..._mpg_maint.xls

You can see the mileage slip a bit after the mud tires were put on, then again after the bumper, winch, and lift.

Surprisingly though the MPG jumps back up a few entries back.
That is because I ran the tank down to 1/8th and racked up more miles between fill-ups.

I normally fill up when it is on 1/4 or so.

Feel free to snag the spread sheet if you want, and just erase the entries and start fresh when you get a new rig.

The maint. side of the sheet still needs work done to it to make it nice.
Got the sheet from a member here.

 

Thanks all.

Mileage is not a concern as my 98 Limited is dreadfull. I am running 32's and a front bumper and obviously have a larger front area with a lift and a rack.

I replace the 02 sensor and it improved a hair but 14 mpg round town is good for me...

I would have the MT out of choice.

I will go drive one really soon but I have the same issue in my 98 of having to strain forward to see stop lights. My neck is still bad after my 93 was totalled when I was hit head on about 12 months ago by an uninsured driver on a suspended license who fled the scene and as of today, has never been located....

Here is my 93 which I had spent 4 months getting near perfect just 3 weeks before it was totalled..




Anyway, enough nostalgia, head room and driver comfort are absolutely critical.

THanks

David