Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition

Blingy limited edition Cruiser from the UAE dealer confirms my worst fears

By Shahzad Sheikh

Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition

Believe it or not, I’m a fan of the Toyota FJ Cruiser. I say ‘believe it or not’ because you probably won’t by the end of this essay.

That is because the subject of this discourse is the Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition having been introduced by UAE dealer, Al Futtaim, to try and drum up some interest in an ageing product line, probably on run out, despite its predicted doom having been denied.

Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition

However the only good part of all of that is that it’s a ‘limited edition’ which means that thankfully there won’t be too many of these to sully the great rep and credibility the FJ has rightly earned itself over seven years of emulating the greatness of its ancestor – the Land Cruiser FJ.

The FJ Cruiser Street has been introduced alongwide it’s butch off-road brother – the Xtreme. Both retain the standard 4.0 V6 drivetrain. Imthishan has been taking Xtreme off-road and will be reviewing it. That costs AED149,900 ($41k), which is considerably more than the base FJ Cruiser (which it is based on) price of AED115k ($31k), but seemingly sensible when compared to this Street edition’s price tag of AED164,900 ($45k).

Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition

What do you get for your AED165k?

What do you get for that load of dosh? Lots of blingy bits, enough in fact, to outshine the ever lit-up boulevard in Downtown Dubai outside the Burj Khalifa, where the progenitors of this monstrosity no doubt imagine will be its natural cruising habitat.

There’s a chrome grille that resembles that of the long-extinct Hummer H3 – probably not the comparison the venerable FJ wanted to draw – and there’s shiny stuff on the wing mirrors and door handles as well as the exhaust tip.

Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition

Oh and there are those mirror-finished 20-inch wheels that are so crass they might as well have spinning plates on them. But it’s not just that the wheels are way too big for an FJ; compound the poor wheel/rubber selection with the fact that the car has actually been lowered significantly, and despite the fact that the regular FJ is one of the smoothest cars in its segment – on or off-road – the ride quality on this thing is ruined.

How it goes

It’s seems to jiggle along on the plain tarmac, show it so much as a bump and if the thud from the front springs takes you by surprise, the crash and jarring rebound from the rear will leave you booking an urgent appointment with your chiropractor, or perhaps your friendly local torturer because a session on the rack would be more preferable, and you’d save tons on headache pills.

Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition

As such, and despite still boasting all the locking diffs and low ratios, this FJ is no longer the legendary off-roader that it should be. It’s as if this old favourite of the dune-bashing brigade has had its dangly bits lopped off.

Not so wicked interior, innit?

But this is the Street innit? It’s dab ling, so inside it should be like aight yea? And sure enough there’s some silver on the dashboard and the steering wheel. Plus it gets the boot-mounted boom box, which distinctly fails to boom anything in this particular car. Not that I could be sure as I was left resorting to sampling only the radio since it doesn’t have Bluetooth.

Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition

Yes that’s right, no Bluetooth – just scroll up again and check the money we’re talking about. No don’t bother. I’ll save you the effort and repeat it here: AED165k! And for that you get a manually-operated A/C (no climate control) and cloth seats.

There are only three downsides to the regular FJ (apart from the fact that it is really getting on a bit) and that is it’s Jabba The Hutt-like width, that it has the turning circle of a Maersk Triple-E, and a rear view that shows you less than Saudi TV. Nothing much can be done about the first two without major reconstruction, so surely, at the very least, they’ve added a reversing camera to this car? Nope. They haven’t.

Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition

Verdict

Quite frankly the Street just illustrates what I’ve always said about cars when it comes to customisation and modification: leave well enough alone. Engineers and designers have finished cars the way they have for a reason. Even when a dealer starts to dabble in modifications, it can badly mess up what remains even today an excellent off-road SUV. You see, I am a FJ fan.

Anyway, that’s your answer, just buy a base or middle-level FJ Cruiser, and if you really must customise it, do it yourself. Tastefully.

Video Verdict

2 responses to “Toyota FJ Cruiser Street limited edition”

  1. rashid alamiri says:

    The base fj is the only one I will buy m/t that is but I 130 plus k for a jeep that I cant even remove the top ? And no cruise controll ? Why im I paying 134k . I had thid debate a year ago over the fj base and the wrangler sport . Ultimately I choose the jeep and cant be happier . Cruise controll . Climate control . No bluethooh but I dont need it . Plus I can remove the freaking top whic makes driveing way more better and all of that for 100k (I got a good deal)

    • John says:

      yep, Wranglers are great for on road escapades & beach visits. Dont get me wrong, they are good offroaders but you need to heavily reinforce them before you get those tires real dusty.

      FJs are great off road & on road but the FJ street is a limited edition Monstrosity…

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