Motoring Middle East: Car news, Reviews and Buying guides

Our FJ arrives – and then leaves – and then it’s back again

by Imthishan Giado

1st Feb – 15th Feb (Weeks 1-3)

I think it’s fair to say that there was no car I drove last year that gave me pause as much as this FJ Cruiser did. This exact car, in fact; when I picked it up for review, it had just 250km on the clock and one short trip around the block was all that was needed to know that it would suit me very well indeed.

You know how sometimes you get into a car and everything – from the seating position, to the way the controls fall to hand – seems just perfectly suited to you? This FJ gave me that vibe, big time. Driving around with that loping torque, easy gear shift and chunky window sill – it even had me reconsidering my recent purchase of the 86. Perhaps there was also residual emotion at play – I had just sold my much-beloved Land Cruiser V8 and was missing a big Tonka Toy truck to play with.  So when the kind folks at Al Futtaim called up and asked if I would like my FJ back for a two month special, I had no hesitation in saying yes.

Turns out though that all was not well in FJ town. The day the FJ arrived I took it for another spin expecting to transported instantly into truck nirvana – but it didn’t happen. Something was terribly off; gearshifts were crunchy, the clutch biting point was suddenly impossible to find and the formerly meaty V6 felt like it was down about 50bhp. A brief sojourn into the Sweihan sands proved that the FJ was still a redoubtable offroader, but the power seemed rather effortlessly than before and I found myself stalling everywhere.

Clearly something was wrong. A brief call to Al Futtaim and the FJ went back tail between its legs to the service centre. A week later, it returned – the diagnosis was a clutch that needed readjustment, which is well short of the full clutch replacement that I initially feared.

Is it really fixed though? For the most part yes. But – and there’s a big but – it’s going to take some time to get used to shifting a truck in traffic again. After driving the 86 for so long, I’m used to whipping off quick shifts and using plenty of throttle. Try the latter in the super-torquey FJ and you’ll be going right into the back of the nearest taxi cab. And there’s just no way to rush the FJ’s shifter – its long, lopey action defiantly resists hurried movement.

There’s another bug bear on the horizon…the cost of fuelling this beast. But you’ll have to wait until next week to hear about that one.