Autoblog

Click image for a gallery of the FJ Cruiser Trail Teams in Detroit

While walking around the Toyota display during the last day of the NAIAS press preview, we encountered an FJ Cruiser we'd never seen before tucked iaway in the corner. Finished in white with a white roof along with black wheels and accents, it featured "Trail Teams" badging on the IP and bodywork and "PROTOTYPE" lettering on the rear window. We rang up Toyota to get the skinny, and found out that this vehicle is coming in February.

A limited edition truck in the vein of the all-black FJ Cruiser TRD Special Edition that was offered last year, 3,200 FJ Trail Teams will be built, each with the white-and-black motif you see here. In addition to the exclusive color combo, the FJ Trail Teams' standard equipment list includes 16" TRD wheels, a TRD exhaust, rock rails, skid plates, auxiliary lamps, all-weather floormats, and the contents the Off Road Package that's optional on regular FJs. Inside, white body-color inserts can be found in the door panels and on the stereo surround, and the knobs for the shifter and transfer case are metallic. Pricing for this spiffy-looking new FJ variant hasn't been announced yet, but we should know more before its launch next month.

[Source: Toyota]

click above image to view more live shots of the Toyota FJ Runner

Toyota tapped MV Designz in Santa Ana, CA, to fuse two of its most off-road capable creations into one semi-coherent package. The result is the FJ Runner, essentially a 4Runner with an FJ front clip, which Toyota describes as "ruggedness personified." We think it's the proverbial question that no one asked, but equipping the "FJ-R" with all the required gear – 20-inch alloys, Nitto Mud Grapplers, Stoptech brakes and a host of ICE – has made it a true SEMA player.

All the details and specs are posted after the jump in Toyota's press release.

The 2007 SEMA Show in Las Vegas is not for another three and a half months, but Toyota is getting its ducks in a row preparing for what promises to be a big week in Sin City for the Japanese automaker. It's unveiling not one, not two, but three vehicles at SEMA, including the all-new 2009 Corolla. The current Corolla has been around the block a few more times than Toyota had planned, but still remains a popular vehicle for the company. The new model will include the familiar sedan body type, but also mark the return of a coupe/hatchback. We'll no doubt see a TRD version customized to the nines at SEMA, as well. If the fates are on our side, perhaps they'll show something rear-wheel drive (fingers crossed).

Also present at SEMA will reportedly be a heavy duty diesel dually Tundra pickup designed to be a monster tow machine. It's only a concept and yet to be named, but the HD Tundra will be there to gauge crowd reaction to a dedicated heavy hauler from Toyota. The diesel will likely come from Hino, Toyota's commercial truck division, but Popular Mechancs reports that most of its engines are just too big for the Tundra's bay. The size issue could force Toyota to debut a new, smaller 4.5L diesel V8 that it's been working on. We'll have to wait and see what powers the Tundra concept, but we'd bet our last slot token that this particular Toyota will most certainly not be a hybrid.

Finally, Toyota plans to introduce an FJ Cruiser Convertible concept at SEMA. Reportedly sporting a removable hardtop, sources say that the concept is likely a production prototype in disguise since going to all that trouble engineering a removable hardtop for one vehicle would be silly. To get an idea of what the FJ Cruiser Convertible will look like, take a peek at the aftermarket version.

So there you have it – Toyota's 2008 SEMA lineup. Now that the information's out there, hopefully Toyota will start releasing official pics soon, as well.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

Microsoft, looking to get the message out about it's Zune doohickey, has turned a Toyota FJ Cruiser into an urban assault vehicle. The test run occured in a New York City neighborhood in the wee hours of a Sunday morning with the FJ Cruiser blaring out music at such a volume that it could be heard inside nearby apartments with the windows closed. Being young and living in the city doesn't mean you like obnoxious crap any more than anyone else. Rather than entice the general public to buy a Zune, these idiots just pissed them off. They likely all went out the next day and bought the most pimped iPods they could afford, with the full boat car install kit, iFM radio, a spiffy little case, Shure E3 earbuds, the works. I know I would. That way, I'd be safe and snug in my bed, white noise ringing in my ears (that iPod headphone amp can give you blistering tinnitus) when the FJ Cruiser puttered back around. In the meantime, there's an open letter to Microsoft at wakeupmicrosoft.com - along with documentation of "the act."

[Source: engadget]

This just in from the Department of Mundanity: Toyota hikes prices on seven models in their 2007 lineup.

Overall, it's nothing spectacular, with MSRPs rising just 0.7-percent or $136 on average. The vehicles included in the price increase are the Yaris, with a bump of $100, the unchanged and much-maligned Corolla up another $100, the other unchanged, Corolla-based Matrix MSRP moves north an additional $150, the FJ Cruiser gets another $200 tacked onto its sticker, the four-wheeled appliance known as the Camry has another $200 affixed to its bottom line (hybrid not included), the RAV4, cutish-ute comes in at another $200 higher and the Tacoma will cause you to haul in an additional $200 if you want to drive off in Toyota's entry-level pickup.

Yawn. We're going out for a cup of coffee and we'll be back with more exciting news later in the day.

If you care to endure the press release, follow along below the fold.

[Source: Toyota]

We came across Newport Convertible Engineering at the SEMA show a couple of weeks ago, and the company's FJ Cruiser Convertible immediately caught our eye. Not only does this $10,000 conversion give FJ Cruiser owners a power-operated soft top in place of the standard steel roof, but it also eliminates the FJ's giant C-pillar that creates a huge blindspot for the driver and makes back seat passengers feel claustrophobic. Of course, the sight lines are still pretty bad with the top up on the FJ Cruiser Convertible, but we would hope after spending 10 large on such a conversion that you'd want the top down as often as possible. You're also forced to sacrifice some cargo space, as the soft top's roofline slopes down immediately after the roll cage's cross bar located just behind the rear seats. It almost looks like a four-door coupe.

Newport also has experience shaving the domes off of such cars as the Scion xB (!), Dodge Charger (!!), Cadillac CTS (!!!), Cadillac Escalade (!!!!), HUMMER H3 (!!!!!) and Ford Excursion (!!!!!!).

Follow the jump for plenty more pics of the FJ Cruiser Convertible with top up and down.

John Neff reports from SEMA that Toyota's FJ Cruiser Soft Top concept is fairly cool, with its supercharged 4.7-liter V8 and removable top. But the short, Hummer H2 SUT-like bed in back seems more useful as a beer cooler than for hauling sizeable quantities of stuff. GM recently saw the limited appeal of the H2's diminutive bed and appears to have given the forthcoming H3 SUT more room for junk in its trunk. The FJ Cruiser's tiny bed is further limited by the lack of a passenger compartment pass-through.

Other features of the concept include 33-inch Mickey Thompsons on 18-inch AR wheels, TRD brakes, TRD exhaust and a droppable rear window.

(Photo gallery after the jump)

In 2007, Toyota will be bringing to market a Limited Edition model of its popular FJ Cruiser, complete will all the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) goodies.

First off, the limited edition version will be sprayed down head-to-toe, in black paint, nixing its trademarked white roof. The wheels will be coated in an anthracite finish and wrapped with uprated BF Goodrich All-Terrain rubber. To complete the exclusive look, expect the prerequisite "TRD Limited Edition" badges adorning as many surfaces as possible.

Appearance is one thing, capability is another and TRD recognizes that the base model could benefit from a few staple mods to make it a more competent off-roader. The stock suspension will be tossed and fitted with TRD/Bilstein shocks, developed for dirt duty and covered in a red finish. The new shocks are claimed to reduce squat and dive, as well as increase straight-line stability. Another mod includes mating the locking diff with the Active Control computer, which will aid the FJ when rock crawling is the activity du jour. The package will also include a TRD performance exhaust and "rock rails."

The interior will benefit with an array of airbags, including both seat-mounted and side curtain, along with a "multi-informational display" that comes equipped with a temp. gauge, compass and inclinometer.

A total of 3,200 vehicles will be made, with a $7,265 increase in MSRP on manual models and a $7,250 increase on automatic models. The $15 premium on the manual-equipped FJ is purportedly due to the "quick shifter" option.

If you want to see the new FJ in person, it'll be prominently displayed during this year's SEMA show in November.

In the following press release, Toyota also snuck in a $300 increase on its Camry Hybrid, effective October 30th.

Toyota is issuing a recall Special Service Campaign for 9,000 FJ Cruisers so that the company can inspect vehicles equipped with Dunlop and Bridgestone tires. There is concern that the inner bead may have been damaged due to a supposedly unique mounting process. This, in itself, is not particularly unusual, but what is a bit strange is how the company announced the recall campaign - with a post on an enthusiast message board.  

The message was posted on the FJ Cruiser Forum by a user with the name "TMS USA", and the spokesperson says that the automaker has not contacted the mainstream media regarding "this small volume service action", but is trying "to be a bit more proactive and provide the right information to consumers and customers via consumer-generated internet discussions".

Now, by law, automakers have to contact owners regarding recalls, but no specifics are put into place regarding the type of media that is to be used. The FJ Cruisers Forum currently has around 3,500 members, which would seem to represent an unusually high percentage of FJ owners. In this sense, it would seem that Toyota has found a tightly-focused means by which to spread the word to the appropriate parties, but it also might appear as if the automaker is making a deliberate attempt to avoid the media scrutiny that follows such announcements. Indeed, as of the writing of this post, a search of Google News returns no hits on this subject.

[Source: FJ Cruisers Forum; tip courtesy of JayC]

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Autoblog's own Stuart Waterman hipped you to a cornucopia of info about Toyota's 2007 FJ Cruiser yesterday, and the quick-on-the-ball folks over at Edmund's Inside Line are the first on the ball with a road tes...errr, off-road test.

The basic gist of the piece is that the FJ isn't just a pretty retro face, it's a serious boulder-hopping piece of kit with an impressive driveline package. The off-road prowess and throwback design cues come with a price, however: day-to-day practicality. Of course, one might reasonably expect lousy rearward visibility from a vehicle sporting a c-pillar that looks as wide as the hood.  But the cramped rear quarters and limited access (despite the rear-hinged demi doors) will make life difficult for soccer mommies looking to brandish their Extreme Sports personality credentials at the supermarket.

(Video and more after the jump. Thanks to Edsel for the tip)