Used Car of the Day: 2007 Toyota F Cruiser TRD Manual

by Tim Healey

Published: November 30th, 2022

used car of the day 2007 toyota f cruiser trd manual

We at TTAC hope you're enjoying this new "used car of the day" feature. Remember, it's not meant to sell the cars, just to get you guys talking about some cool cars for sale -- even if that means you mocking a pick.

And for us older Millennials, one of the cooler vehicles of our generation was the Toyota FJ Cruiser. Divisive looks aside, it was a bad-ass off-roader available with three pedals. I spent a good chunk of my 20s wanting one.

Now, for about the price of a new Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla, I could finally take one home. I won't, for a variety of reasons, mostly related to my bank account, but the option is available.

And believe me, this one tempts. I also liked the Acura RSX back in the day, but I wouldn't have bought the one featured here a few days ago -- too much work needed. In this case, though, the owner claims no real issues beyond some minor cosmetic imperfections. The mileage is 142K, so a bit high, but not surprising given the rig's age. The driver claims he or she only does 8K miles per year, but that must be an average since the 8K miles per year for 15 years works out to 120K miles.

The presence of a stick-shift makes this FJ at least 10 percent more desirable. Save the manuals, and all that.

There are also the TRD performance bits. One major mechanical issue to note -- the control arms have been replaced, along with the battery and alternator.

I rarely want to buy any of the vehicles featured here. I make picks based on what I think you guys will like to argue about. But this one made me pause. Buy it, so I don't have to.

[Images: Seller]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

#Toyota #ToyotaFJCruiser #UCOTD #UsedCaroftheDay

Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 18 comments

Lou_BC on Nov 30, 2022

The birfield joints on these older units tend to need a rebuild and are very expensive to replace.

Like Reply
Scott on Dec 01, 2022

An excellent pick. 2007 TRD special edition was the most well equipped FJ compared to the rest. Finding a manual in these is impossible. 141 k is nothing. Whoever buys this can probably drive this another 200 k. These cars are the bitcoin of automobiles with one of the best resell values. These will easily bring in Supra like prices in a few years. Mark my word. They do not make good vehicles like this anymore.

Like Reply
- Teddyc73 on Dec 01, 2022
  
  I'm writing this down right now for future reference. Actually, it's not impossible. Here is one.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Jalop1991 In a manner similar to PHEV being the correct answer, I declare RPVs to be the correct answer here.We're doing it with certain aircraft; why not with cars on the ground, using hardware and tools like Telsa's "FSD" or GM's "SuperCruise" as the base?Take the local Uber driver out of the car, and put him in a professional centralized environment from where he drives me around. The system and the individual car can have awareness as well as gates, but he's responsible for the driving.Put the tech into my car, and let me buy it as needed. I need someone else to drive me home; hit the button and voila, I've hired a driver for the moment. I don't want to drive 11 hours to my vacation spot; hire the remote pilot for that. When I get there, I have my car and he's still at his normal location, piloting cars for other people.The system would allow for driver rest period, like what's required for truckers, so I might end up with multiple people driving me to the coast. I don't care. And they don't have to be physically with me, therefore they can be way cheaper.Charge taxi-type per-mile rates. For long drives, offer per-trip rates. Offer subscriptions, including miles/hours. Whatever.(And for grins, dress the remote pilots all as Johnnie.)Start this out with big rigs. Take the trucker away from the long haul driving, and let him be there for emergencies and the short haul parts of the trip.And in a manner similar to PHEVs being discredited, I fully expect to be razzed for this brilliant idea (not unlike how Alan Kay wasn't recognized until many many years later for his Dynabook vision).
B-BodyBuick84 Not afraid of AV's as I highly doubt they will ever be %100 viable for our roads. Stop-and-go downtown city or rush hour highway traffic? I can see that, but otherwise there's simply too many variables. Bad weather conditions, faded road lines or markings, reflective surfaces with glare, etc. There's also the issue of cultural norms. About a decade ago there was actually an online test called 'The Morality Machine' one could do online where you were in control of an AV and choose what action to take when a crash was inevitable. I think something like 2.5 million people across the world participated? For example, do you hit and most likely kill the elderly couple strolling across the crosswalk or crash the vehicle into a cement barrier and almost certainly cause the death of the vehicle occupants? What if it's a parent and child? In N. America 98% of people choose to hit the elderly couple and save themselves while in Asia, the exact opposite happened where 98% choose to hit the parent and child. Why? Cultural differences. Asia puts a lot of emphasis on respecting their elderly while N. America has a culture of 'save/ protect the children'. Are these AV's going to respect that culture? Is a VW Jetta or Buick Envision AV going to have different programming depending on whether it's sold in Canada or Taiwan? how's that going to effect legislation and legal battles when a crash inevitibly does happen? These are the true barriers to mass AV adoption, and in the 10 years since that test came out, there has been zero answers or progress on this matter. So no, I'm not afraid of AV's simply because with the exception of a few specific situations, most avenues are going to prove to be a dead-end for automakers.
Mike Bradley Autonomous cars were developed in Silicon Valley. For new products there, the standard business plan is to put a barely-functioning product on the market right away and wait for the early-adopter customers to find the flaws. That's exactly what's happened. Detroit's plan is pretty much the opposite, but Detroit isn't developing this product. That's why dealers, for instance, haven't been trained in the cars.
Dartman https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-fighter-jets-air-force-6a1100c96a73ca9b7f41cbd6a2753fdaAutonomous/Ai is here now. The question is implementation and acceptance.
FreedMike If Dodge were smart - and I don't think they are - they'd spend their money refreshing and reworking the Durango (which I think is entering model year 3,221), versus going down the same "stuff 'em full of motor and give 'em cool new paint options" path. That's the approach they used with the Charger and Challenger, and both those models are dead. The Durango is still a strong product in a strong market; why not keep it fresher?