With the abbreviation ‘FJ’ then the word ‘Cruiser’ you have undoubtedly already created a division; on one side fans of the muscular little SUV and on the other side people who would rather not see one, let alone drive one.

It is divisive – although certainly not the only car to split opinions - but it’s also a car that has its own large fanbase, a car which although surviving only 9 years from its inception around 2005 until 2014 has managed to stick around.

Also a capable car, this 4x4 from Toyota was quirky and forward-thinking in its design, and features and came with a nice 4-liter 6-cylinder gasoline engine making 250 hp and 280 lb.-ft of torque.

With inspiration coming from the old FJ40 Land Cruiser in more ways than one, the FJ Cruiser had its life cut short but luckily a new one that was sat dormant found a home last year.

The FJ Cruiser Sold As Just One New Example In 2021

Toyota FJ Cruiser - side View
Via Mecum Auctions

Talking of quirks and features, the FJ was featured in one of Doug Demuro’s YouTube video reviews, and in it, you can see that he’s a fan.

It’s not hard to see why, with the chunky and divisive styling and plastic cladding, the huge rear B pillar behind the tiny rear suicide-doors, and the three windshield wipers at the front like an airplane.

As Doug points out, the styling is a little hit-and-miss but taken in its entirety makes sense to people who want something capable, bold, and, well a little different to the other drab small-to-mid-size SUVs out there including the RAV4 for example from the same company.

As Toyota revealed its sales figures retrospectively for the last year, we can see that of the 2 million vehicles sold new by the Japanese automaker in 2021, the FJ Cruiser was one lonely unit, a ghost car which finally rolled out of a dealership somewhere some 7 years after it was delivered from the factory.

It’s worth mentioning that along with the 4.0-liter engine came a 5-speed automatic or 6-speed manual, you could even get a pitch/roll gauge and compass built onto the dashboard and a reversing camera in the rearview mirror.

RELATED: Why Toyota Discontinued The FJ Cruiser

The FJ Cruiser Was A Good Car In A Flawed Time

Toyota FJ Cruiser Dashboard
Via: Cnet

The market might have taken a little time to warm to the idea of the FJ Cruiser when it was first new – although the SUV market was in full swing, the recession would have put a large-size dampener on its hopes from 2008 onwards when purses and wallets were feeling the squeeze.

As the SUV market continued to take over the auto world even after the FJ was discontinued in the US, it was still being manufactured in Japan, and used models held onto their value back in the US, similarly to how Land Cruisers always come with a hefty price tag even when they’ve been used and - hopefully not – abused.

Doug’s video from 2019 shows a snippet of some used examples asking for circa-38,000 US dollars for late-model cars with low mileage.

A quick look now on Edmunds brings up a long list of 45,000-dollar cars with around 50,000 miles on the odometer, this seems to be the trend on other sites like US News and Autotrader.

30,000 dollars gets you into a car with 80,000-100,000 miles on it and if you are willing to take on an FJ Cruiser with 150,000 miles under its belt – remember it has that bullet-proof Japanese engineering – you might only have to pay around 10,000 dollars.

For now, we have the 4Runner for our muscular SUV cravings, or if you want to turn things up a little – and if you like the FJ Cruiser you are probably one of those people – the TRD-Pro series of 4x4 vehicles being offered by the Japanese car-maker.