2012 unlimited or Toyota fj

[outdoors]

Dodge has the cummins...

Too bad Ford doesn't offer the cummins engine in it, For "longevity" and durability Dodge got it right there.. Funny I've seen many Cummins trucks over the years with over300K on them.
Seriously, did you have Ram 2500, 3500's..? or were they 1500's.
Don't get me wrong, I use to be a Fotd blue oval guy until I bought my first and only Dodge Cummins. My cousin has a ford dually one ton 6L diesel 4x4 Fx4 pkg with 56K on it and the high pressure oil pump went out to a tune of $3300 dollars.
A lot of "other" guys have left for the cunnins as well.
That's what saved Dodge Trucks in the late eighties.

For the record I have a cc 97' 12v pretty much stock with only 212K.

 

[monkeyplunger]

Too bad Ford doesn't offer the cummins engine in it, For "longevity" and durability Dodge got it right there.. Funny I've seen many Cummins trucks over the years with over300K on them.
Seriously, did you have Ram 2500, 3500's..? or were they 1500's.
Don't get me wrong, I use to be a Fotd blue oval guy until I bought my first and only Dodge Cummins. My cousin has a ford dually one ton 6L diesel 4x4 Fx4 pkg with 56K on it and the high pressure oil pump went out to a tune of $3300 dollars.
A lot of "other" guys have left for the cunnins as well.
That's what saved Dodge Trucks in the late eighties.

For the record I have a cc 97' 12v pretty much stock with only 212K.

We mainly purchase trucks with gas engines. The diesels of any brand cost more to operate and have higher maintenance costs. We have had many 1 ton, 3/4 & 1/2 trucks of ford, gm, dodge. Heck if you look at the border patrol, the majority of their trucks are ford 250/350. Those guys drive off road chasing people. I have seen how they run their trucks and they treat them just as hard.

 

[K2ZJ]

Too bad Ford doesn't offer the cummins engine in it, For "longevity" and durability Dodge got it right there.. Funny I've seen many Cummins trucks over the years with over300K on them.
Seriously, did you have Ram 2500, 3500's..? or were they 1500's.
Don't get me wrong, I use to be a Fotd blue oval guy until I bought my first and only Dodge Cummins. My cousin has a ford dually one ton 6L diesel 4x4 Fx4 pkg with 56K on it and the high pressure oil pump went out to a tune of $3300 dollars.
A lot of "other" guys have left for the cunnins as well.
That's what saved Dodge Trucks in the late eighties.

For the record I have a cc 97' 12v pretty much stock with only 212K.

It's not the Cummins that is the problem, it is the rest of the truck. Don't forget they are not without their expensive repairs, injector pumps are pricey!

 

[elias]

Jk > fj

In 2007 I bought an FJ Cruiser. I loved it. In 2008 I traded my 2007 FJ for a JK Unlimited Rubicon. I love it too. FJ is better on the road or fire roads at higher speeds. JK is better on the more technical terrain. The difference is small either way. IMO, not really worth talking about. I doubt there's a place one can go, and the other can't.

Both have poo mileage.

The JK interior is tougher. FJ interior is more refined.

Test them both and get the one that feels like more fun.

I traded for more room, 4 full doors and solid axles. Really tho, both are great and you'll have a good time either way.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

In 2007 I bought an FJ Cruiser. I loved it. In 2008 I traded my 2007 FJ for a JK Unlimited Rubicon. I love it too. FJ is better on the road or fire roads at higher speeds. JK is better on the more technical terrain. The difference is small either way. IMO, not really worth talking about. I doubt there's a place one can go, and the other can't.

Both have poo mileage.

The JK interior is tougher. FJ interior is more refined.

Test them both and get the one that feels like more fun.

I traded for more room, 4 full doors and solid axles. Really tho, both are great and you'll have a good time either way.

There are many places an FJ cannot follow a JK, it's so funny it's not even worth talking about.

 

[Rayholio]

There's one simple reason that my JK has no equal.. Doors, and tops off.


Like most people I spend 98% of my time on road. I think there are a number of vehicles that will -work- for overlanding maybe not rock crawling (which the JK has no stock equal)... and those other vehicles usually have better on-road charicaristics... And probably also work better as campers.


Despite the fact that I'm on the road almost all of the time, and the rest of the time overlanding (very rarely rock crawling) I get a LOT of enjoyment out of having the doors off of my jeep. a lot. And there's nothing else in the same price range which has removable doors, and or top.


So I can't part with the JK.


-Ray

 

[SJEEPER]

There's one simple reason that my JK has no equal.. Doors, and tops off.

-Ray

Really, that is one of the reasons why I don't want a wrangler. After seeing what they look like in a roll over, forget it. I will never put my family in one of those.
My next vehicle will be a Tacoma or Ford equivalent if they ever make a 4 door Ranger in the states.

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

Really, that is one of the reasons why I don't want a wrangler. After seeing what they look like in a roll over, forget it. I will never put my family in one of those.
My next vehicle will be a Tacoma or Ford equivalent if they ever make a 4 door Ranger in the states.

Hence the only truck with an internal roll cage and 24 air bags.
The reason I have my family in two!!
D

 

[elias]

There are many places an FJ cannot follow a JK, it's so funny it's not even worth talking about.

Sorry man, I owned both and don't agree. I am not a rock crawler. I've taken both vehicles to interesting, technical trails. I do feel like the jk is more robust but I have never had an issue getting the fj to where i wanted to go. In the spirit of overlanding, which is what this forum is about, both vehicles are quite capable.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Sorry man, I owned both and don't agree. I am not a rock crawler. I've taken both vehicles to interesting, technical trails. I do feel like the jk is more robust but I have never had an issue getting the fj to where i wanted to go. In the spirit of overlanding, which is what this forum is about, both vehicles are quite capable.

Sure, both can tackle dirt roads, but so can't a Subaru....I spend enough time in Moab and on other trails to know how weak FJC's are, not to mention their friggin huge blind spots. 2 weeks ago we had an FJC in our group in Moab to run Kane Creek, he had invested about $8k into his rig and still had a very difficult time keeping up with the rest of us, I even still have open diffs. Let's just say that he now has an excuse to tell his wife he needs to spend a lot of money on a rear bumper after tearing half of his off.

 

[Ford Prefect]

This is a fairly old thread, so I don't know if perhaps you have made up your mind already, but I thought I would add a few thoughts...

First, you can rent both of them from Avis. I HIGHLY recommend doing that for a weekend, and then go put a ten hour one way trip under your belt. See what you think in the city and on the HWY.

I have done that, and I like the trucks well enough. I liked everything about the FJ except one thing, Ray Charles could drive the thing with ease! By that I mean it has so many blind spots on that ruddy vehicle that Ray Charles would not be any worse off than the rest of us. Beyond that it is comfortable, and enjoyable, but again REALLY REALLY bad blind spots all over the place. Further you can hardly get a GPS to work in the thing because you have to stick it so far forward on the dash just to get a signal, at least you do in the Mountains. The power output of the engine was, well, it was alright. You certainly will not win any races, but it did not feel like it had any lag, just lug. It was a slow truck; at least the thing did not make a ton of noise and then do nothing, it was a quiet nothing. The last real complaint about the thing is I would NEVER want to have to do a car seat in the back of this thing, nor do I EVER want to be the poor sucker to have to ride in the rear. I climbed in there to see what it was like, and, well, the Mazda 3 I just rented has as much leg room and comfort in the back seat as this thing has. (very little) The thing does have that optional camera in the rear mirror, wow that is a nice touch for sure. (especially as you can't see out of the truck without it.) I really liked that thing, and now I want one in all of my vehicles! Some have said they are not strong off road... I think they do just fine, they are what they are, and for a stock truck you can't get much better. (but you can get better, just not much)

The Unlimited, it was kind of ungainly in my opinion. I drive a WJ, and so I have that to compare it with (and a few dozen rental cars from all of my business travels.) It rides ok, but it is a wrangler, so ok is what you expect. The top down is wonderful, of course, and easy enough to do. I guess I am being overly harsh on the jeep, it really did ride nice enough, but it felt like it needed more power. A nice V8 or peppy torque filled diesel would be great in that thing. The ambient noise level was certainly higher in the Jeep (IMHO) than in the Toy, which makes sense, the jeep has no insulation, even the hard top does little to keep out the noise, it is intended to come off, not stay on.


Both vehicles have a nice shallow rear overhang, which is a very good thing.

Well, anyhow, my thoughts.

Best of luck, rent both and narrow down the odds.

Brian


PS, To Black ZJ up there... oohhh dang! Wow that really sucks. It also has to be fairly hard to do! I have done Kane a few times, it is a fairly easy trail all things considered...