Watch our OFF-ROAD review of these three SUVs here:
The fj cruiser the lexus gx460 and the toyota 4 runner are three of the most off-road ready vehicles that toyota has ever built or builds but which one’s best on road the answer of course is alexis no you’re wrong dad the answer is the fj cruiser no you’re both wrong because i think it’s the trd pro 4runner of course there’s only one way to find out let’s
Take them on the road if you’re interested in an off-road review of these three head on over to tfl offroad where we just off-roaded all of them so underneath the fj cruiser and the 4runner are pretty much identical but the fj cruiser is better because it’s more fun it’s more interesting it’s got more interesting features and gizmos now andre’s going to make
A great argument as to why the forerunner is better let’s hear him out so my first impression driving the fj cruiser i feel like a hermit crab in a very small shell i can barely see it actually reminds me of my old hummer h2 the visibility is not grand okay to the front maybe okay but to the back there’s so many blind spots no this is not a good on-road vehicle
But the fj cruiser it’s just it’s more of a laugh it makes you smile it’s got three windshield wipers you know there’s never been a boring car ever with three windshield wipers think about it the jaguar e-type three windshield wipers the mg three windshield wipers all right that last one’s not a great example but it’s just it’s entertaining if you want a toy get
An fj cruiser i mean let’s face it this is a giant tonka toy but if you want a serious vehicle that’s going to serve you and your family forget about it this vehicle is all style over substance what do i mean by that look at these doors you know the ones that open backwards they lock the rear passenger in at this point someone is probably talking about how the
Back seat is useless it is useless but luckily you don’t drive the fj cruiser from the back seat you typically drive it from the front seat if you’re carrying passengers it sucks to be them but at least they can look at the super cool inclinometer a lot of little styley bits and pieces that end up you know giving you a sense that the designers went crazy but
Somehow the engineers have left the building when it was time to actually build a vehicle that you can use as an everyday driver and i know that because they’re a boatload of these things for sale people buy them and then they lock their kids in the back the kids can’t get out and they’re like honey i think it’s time for a vehicle that is more than just a toy
But something that we can use every day to drive to and from work the short wheelbase on the fj cruiser you know make it makes it a little bit wobbly like i’m on a seesaw and of course the utility of the fj cruiser is just not there the rear seat is difficult to get into there’s clam shell doors the rear swing gate is just not a useful feature when it’s open
You always have to walk around it it’s just it’s just an older design that’s way lacking and the forerunner is way better on the outside the fj cruiser looks like well a slightly pudgy fj40 had its way with a world war ii bunker you either love or you hate the exterior design but i think it’s great it just works i love the round headlights and the white roof and
The crazy roof rack that extends the entire length and the spare tire on the back it’s just got character it’s got soul ah this is it the toyota four wheel drive suv that’s the best all around and of course it is the best on road and i’ll explain it very simply plenty of power from the v6 the transmission is just fine and there’s a reason why toyota hasn’t
Redesigned the forerunner in like 11 years or 12 years and it’s because it’s just right and finally the final reason why it’s the best on-road it’s also the reason why it’s really good off-road and it’s the suspension system and the tires toyota spent a long time many years perfecting the fox suspension with fox the tires have a lot of cushion in them and it’s
A pleasure to drive on road or off-road it doesn’t matter oh yes the toyota 4runner the kroger brand fj cruiser the i can’t believe it’s not butter version of the real deal actually i do like the foreigner a lot but um this one’s pretty expensive it’s 52 000 52 grand for a vehicle older than the pyramids you know there is an old saying that i like to think
Of when sitting in the forerunner they say that old shoes are comfortable but they stink and this 4runner is certainly comfortable and well you know the rest i really can’t think of another vehicle that has a 5 speed automatic transmission maybe the romans had in their no no they didn’t have five speeds even the chariots of course i’m joking but yeah to call
This long in the tooth would be well it would be long in the tooth because over the last several decades they have updated the exterior styling but the heart of the beast the powertrain the engine the transmission and everything else is just feeling very dated well it is very dated and you may be saying to yourself but that means roman that it’s reliable yes
But it also means that it’s exceptionally thirsty and how else should i say this exceptionally old school the interior is actually usable four huge doors lots of leg room lots of space great tailgate the interior is a little better not much better but we still have some chunky knobs and dials yeah it’s okay i kind of like the fj cruiser though more it’s got
Kind of more pizzazz in it and i can do this can you see that i can open the rear glass and boom i can have fresh air and i can wave to the people behind me hi people both the foreigner and the fj cruiser are this really cool like cement color which makes sense because these were around when they discovered cement they thought it was such a good color let’s
Just paint it that color and they did now 150 or 200 years later it still looks good but that’s why that toyota uses so many cement colors sometimes the world has moved on with vehicles like well the new jeep jl and of course the new bronco you can’t keep building the same old forerunner and expect people to keep buying it oh you know what the cherry on top
Is it’s actually the sound this trd pro has a nice beefy exhaust now because of the special trd exhaust system you know there’s another saying in life and this one’s probably even more true you get what you pay for so yeah tommy and andre i know this is the most expensive vehicle by far but it also offers you so much more let’s just kind of talk about the
Important bits and there are three of those things first you get two more cylinders so you get a big old v8 that’s bulletproof next you get three rows of seating so you can take this vehicle to work you can take it to church and if you want you could drive it around the world and of course number three you get air suspension which just makes for an incredible
Ride you put all that together and yeah you know it’s what twice as expensive as the fj but does tommy have heated and cooled seats i don’t think so does andre have more plush leather and more real wood than you would find in the typical british country club heck no now the gx460 has a 4.6 liter v8 and the interesting thing about this v8 is it makes neither
Power nor noise nor efficiency as it turns out i’m not really sure why they have a v8 in this thing to be honest because it really isn’t that quick all you hear is fan and then you average something like 16 mpg i think this is 16 the 417 combined and the fj 18 combined none of them are going to win any fuel efficiency awards and it actually doesn’t produce
That much more power 301 horsepower versus 270 in the 4runner versus 260 in the fj cruiser no this might be a luxury suv but it’s not any better on the road than a foreign guys what does this remind you of um that is actually the lexus grill yes you’re right the new gx for 2021 still has an infotainment screen from 2001. i’m not really sure what’s going on here
But it looks like they pulled it straight out of the toyota matrix i’ve designed something similar in ms paint so not my favorite infotainment probably my least favorite infotainment it is horrible i can make fun of the grill all you want but really the distilled version of the lexus gx on the road it’s just first of all boring second of all expensive so what
You pay more you get more better ride better engine better suspension and best of all a vehicle that will hold its value because let’s face it the gx has become the replacement for the toyota land cruiser this is the one that everybody wants because well it’s built just as well as the other two but it offers just so much more luxury and well just comfort and
Convenience and plushness why do we need an suv that costs 70 000 plus when you can have a forerunner at 51 or 52 000 almost 20 thousand dollar less that makes no sense i do have to say the gx is silky smooth to drive and the ride is sublime it is air suspension but unfortunately it’s not much of an off-roader in stock configuration it’s kind of like putting
Jennifer aniston in camo cargo pants and then asking her to go hunting i mean yes this one does have the off-road package so it’s got multi-terrain select and crawl control but it’s got one of the lowest and biggest front plastic ends i have seen on any vehicle the front end on this thing is just plastic and chrome galore so even though it has air suspension and
A four low and terrain response and all sorts of stuff it just doesn’t have an approach angle or doesn’t have the ground clearance with the running boards it’s just kind of silly i mean they can be made very awfully capable but you really got to get out the sawzall you know i could just keep driving because oh my god is this a cushy and comfortable car yeah
You get what you pay for and you pay more but you get a lot more all right boys now that we’ve driven them give me one word to describe each of the three vehicles starting with you tommy yes so the fj yeah gray okay red yes is alexis and the forerunner yeah it’s okay okay about you andre 4runner manly lexus plush and fj cruiser toy all right i’m going to
Go jake is uh funny duddy is that two words yes all right uh forerunner is gray it’s it’s it’s lunar green dude luna green kroger brand comfortable and of course the lexus brilliant those are three terrible words really well as always this is uh then tommy and roman and andre saying thanks for watching remember check out tfl car for more news news and of
Course real world reviews and if you want to know how these guys do off-road head on over to tfl off-road where we took them off-road ciao
Transcribed from video
Toyota 4Runner vs GX460 vs FJ – Which Of These Off-Roaders Is Best On the Road – No You're Wrong! By The Fast Lane Car