January 2011

The thought of California beaches conjures up a myriad of images. Bikinis,surfing, beach volleyball and…Toyotas?

It was a soggy weekend in early November 2002 when 25 Land Cruisers, including a group of Canadian “cruiserheads” (who joined Rolland Gueffroy on his Pan American journey in his 1984 BJ45) rolled onto the wet sand of Oceano Dunes along California’s central coast. Among the drivers was, Jim Brantley, now more commonly known as Pismo Jim.

Jim’s inspiration to organize an event came from the great experiences he had while being attending other regional Land Cruiser events. “I really appreciated the effort put forth by the locals at these events and how they shared their favorite trails with outsiders. I wanted to return the favor to my new cruiser friends,” stated Brantley. As a result, Brantley organized a weekend of camping and wheeling at the Oceano Dunes (the surf) along with a couple trail runs located further inland (the turf). And Surf N Turf was born.

October 2006: “That is the ugliest car I’ve ever seen.”

This is a quote from my wife and her first encounter with the FJ Cruiser in Sedona, AZ where we saw convoy of them driving down a hill from a resort area. We were in Sedona with her all wheel drive Highlander, driving a popular dirt road called, Schnebly Hills Road, “unknowingly, looking for a different type of adventure.

Fast forward to December 2006 and after the grind of a busy year and our annual week off from business during Christmas. “Out of the blue”, I suggested we go look at Toyota FJ's.  Of course out of the blue is more for the wife’s sake because I had been researching them since our trip to Sedona.  On December 27th I drove one home.

Then it began.

Within a week we had found more dirt on the Four Peaks Trail. The following week, we joined a trail with another new FJ owner and christened our FJ with brush scratches. We don’t have to worry about that any longer.

At the beginning the mod bug was furious and frenzied. Without a total plan on how I would be using my vehicle, I made less then perfect choices on equipment. After months of wheeling, the plan began to form and further mod decisions, were based on experience and function.

For anyone new to the FJ or are considering it for adventure, I urge you to step away from the credit card.   There are a few things you need to ask yourself before unleashing the plastic until it melts all over the machine.

(1) How do I plan on using my truck?
(2) Is this also going to be my daily driver?
(3) How will my mods affect my gas mileage?

Ultimately, if you choose your mods wisely, they will save you from having to do them, over and over.

If you’ve been a reader of FJC Magazine for a while, you know that we’ve always strived for the best options when it comes to navigation, especially off road navigation (See Off Road Navigation Parts 1-3, April-October 2008). In our January 2009 issue we covered the Kenwood 7120 with custom topo maps loaded with about 300 of our favorite Colorado off road trails. At the time that was absolutely the best available option for in-dash navigation with topo/off road maps.

When the iPad was announced last year it was pretty clear that this device could change everything. The iPhone is a great device and can be used for off road navigation to a limited degree, but the small screen really makes it better for hiking vs off road driving. This fall the ideal solution became clear when we realized that we weren’t using many of the features the Kenwood had to offer. In reality it had become little more than a pass through for our iPhone. We did use the topo maps when offroad, but the outdated (2008) maps for everyday use started becoming an issue. The Kenwood is still a great system for those that aren’t interested in the modifications required when installing an iPad, but for us it was time to move on.

Last year, just after the iPad shipped, Scosche demonstrated their iKit, which is meant to integrate the iPad into any double-DIN dash, but that product hasn’t been released yet so we had to figure out our own parts. So we built a list of parts we knew we would need to install an iPad in the FJ. The initial intention was to find a small amplifier that would fit in the dash, which would make the install very tidy and easy to do. Unfortunately, after trying several options we could not find a suitable amp so we ended up installing the Sony Xplode amp under the passenger seat. This solution works well but does add at least an hour to the install time. Not counting the time it took for the install, the entire project ended up costing about $1,050 including all the installation hardware. This is in the same range as low-end NAV systems and about half the price of some of the new Kenwood systems that support custom maps.