Towing with a Toyota FJ Cruiser? Or simply driving one? - Page 2 - Escape Trailer Owners Community
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×

Go Back   Escape Trailer Owners Community > Escape Tech > Towing and Hitching
Click Here to Login
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 12-04-2013, 09:36 PM   #21
Senior Member
 
JohnB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2012 15A
Posts: 398
My brother had a FJ for a few years. One complaint I heard from him was the difficulty of getting in and out of the back seat. If no one is riding back there then it is not an issue.
JohnB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-04-2013, 11:22 PM   #22
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Wetaskiwin, Alberta
Trailer: 2014 Escape 21
Posts: 90
Another complaint I've heard is the near vertical front window. Rather than glancing off, rocks tend to leave their mark. Cracked windshields are par for the course if you drive on gravel roads.
bpjod is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2013, 07:25 AM   #23
Senior Member
 
cpaharley2008's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
Cracked windshields are par for the course if you drive on gravel roads.
Only if you are following someone too closely…….
__________________
Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
cpaharley2008 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2013, 08:17 AM   #24
Senior Member
 
Dave Walter's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 2013 19' & 2013 15B
Posts: 2,634
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpaharley2008 View Post
Cracked windshields are par for the course if you drive on gravel roads.
Only if you are following someone too closely…….
Following someone closely is not the only way your vehicle can suffer windshield damage. If you travel gravel roads or paved roads in winter conditions where the road crews use gravelly sand for managing slippery conditions, it is quite common for oncoming vehicles to throw gravel particles into the opposing lane. You have absolutely no control over this type of windshield damage. Around here, winter is the very worst season for incurring windshield damage.
__________________
2013 19' \ 2013 15B, 2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD Offroad

"It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it." - 1907, Maurice Switzer
Dave Walter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2013, 08:51 AM   #25
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 1979 Boler B1700
Posts: 14,935
Quote:
Originally Posted by ice-breaker View Post
Following someone closely is not the only way your vehicle can suffer windshield damage. If you travel gravel roads or paved roads in winter conditions where the road crews use gravelly sand for managing slippery conditions, it is quite common for oncoming vehicles to throw gravel particles into the opposing lane. You have absolutely no control over this type of windshield damage. Around here, winter is the very worst season for incurring windshield damage.
I agree.

I have had to replace several windshields over the years - and should have replaced many more according to safety recommendations - but never due to a rock from a vehicle directly in front of me. Opposing traffic and vehicles ahead in other lanes are the problem. Big trucks tend to be particularly bad because their large tire tread grooves grab large stones, but any vehicle can be the source.

Vehicle designs vary in their vulnerability to this damage. It's not just the windshield angle, but that's part of it. I would guess the FJ would be bad for this, but I don't know.
Brian B-P is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2013, 08:56 AM   #26
Senior Member
 
cpaharley2008's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
I normally do not travel on gravel roads but the last 3 windshields were due to trucks traveling in my direction but traveling without proper flaps. It would not seem probable for an opposing truck to throw an object since their opposite direction would tend to throw it in the same direction I'm traveling. Either way it is a consequence of commerce and driving.
__________________
Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
cpaharley2008 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2013, 09:06 AM   #27
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 1979 Boler B1700
Posts: 14,935
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpaharley2008 View Post
It would not seem probable for an opposing truck to throw an object since their opposite direction would tend to throw it in the same direction I'm traveling.
And yet it is common. The rocks can be flying at nearly right angles to the road direction, and hit by the windshield of another vehicle - this is particularly an issue at highway speeds. A couple years ago, I lost a side window to a stone from a vehicle passing in the opposite direction.
Brian B-P is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2013, 10:24 AM   #28
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Wetaskiwin, Alberta
Trailer: 2014 Escape 21
Posts: 90
Funny (or is it sad, really) that us Albertan's seem to be the experts on cracked windshields...
bpjod is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2013, 09:17 PM   #29
Senior Member
 
Dave Walter's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 2013 19' & 2013 15B
Posts: 2,634
Like any vehicle, the FJ has some aspects which could be improved on, biggest being the large blind spots and a propensity to incur rock damage on the windshield. It is also not a great family vehicle as access to the back seat can be challenging at times. But there are many features that make this a great vehicle including its unique styling with the triple wipers and suicide doors. After three years with mine, I can honestly say that it is as fun to drive now as the day I brought it home. The engine produces plenty of horses, and the FJ is unstoppable on hills, mud and snow. It performs exceptionally as a tow vehicle for my 19' Escape and has no difficulties pulling the Escape on everything from long steep and winding mountain roads to flat prairie terrain.

Here is a photo of our FJ and Escape next to the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies (Mt. Robson).

__________________
2013 19' \ 2013 15B, 2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD Offroad

"It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it." - 1907, Maurice Switzer
Dave Walter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2013, 11:08 PM   #30
Senior Member
 
Devil Dog's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Steveston B.C., British Columbia
Trailer: 2012- 17'B.... 2016 Tacoma SR5 TRD
Posts: 504
A few years ago on a trip to the Yucon 9 hits in the front windshield and several on the body mirrors and ect. Don't tell icbc where it happened because they dont cover glass out of Prov. Just say a local Hi-way. Or so Ive been told by some dude at a local glass shop.FYI
__________________
I've almost been everywhere man.
Almost been everywhere.....
Devil Dog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-06-2013, 12:07 AM   #31
Senior Member
 
gbaglo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
I lost my windshield in the RAV when I was passed by a VW on the Coquihalla, a four to six lane paved highway. I told the guy at the glass shop where it happened ( he needed that for the insurance claim ). I told him he wouldn't believe where, and he said he gets lots of business from that highway because they use pea gravel on the road in the winter instead of sand.
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
gbaglo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-06-2013, 06:33 AM   #32
Senior Member
 
escape artist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: St. Thomas not BVI., Ontario
Trailer: 2014 Escape 5.0TA / 2016 Ram Eco Diesel 4X4
Posts: 8,035
Hi:gbaglo... I lost my W/S in the Fronty less than 2 mi. from home. We were towing the trailer at the time, and I'm sorta glad it was the W/S and not the front of the 5.0.
Tanker heading the opposite way threw a bullet and I ducked as it would have hit me "Right between the eyes".
As for an FJ I'm not that fond... "Form follows function". Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
__________________
Quote Bugs Bunny..."Don't take life too seriously, none of us get out of it ALIVE"!!!
'16 Ram Eco D. 4X4 Laramie Longhorn CC & '14 Escape 5.0TA
St.Thomas (Not the Virgin Islands) Ontario
escape artist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-06-2013, 07:11 AM   #33
Senior Member
 
cpaharley2008's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
Dave,
Your FJ compliments your Escape, nice coordination.
__________________
Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
cpaharley2008 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-06-2013, 08:52 AM   #34
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 1979 Boler B1700
Posts: 14,935
Quote:
Originally Posted by Devil Dog View Post
A few years ago on a trip to the Yucon 9 hits in the front windshield and several on the body mirrors and ect. Don't tell icbc where it happened because they dont cover glass out of Prov. Just say a local Hi-way. Or so Ive been told by some dude at a local glass shop.FYI
This certainly does vary by location, making it difficult to objectively assess the vulnerability of a specific vehicle model.

I recently rented a car in BC, and the guy at that agency - which rents mostly for insurance-paid replacements during autobody repair - said their customers are not allowed to take the cars into the BC interior or even up the Sea-to-Sky Highway... and explicitly not on the Coquihalla. The reason was windshield damage.

For those who might not know, "icbc" is, ICBC, the mandatory BC government auto insurance company.
Brian B-P is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2013, 03:13 PM   #35
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19, 2008 FJ Cruiser (it's like sitting in a prozac tablet)
Posts: 44
Soon, another Escape 19 with an FJ Cruiser as the tow vehicle..

Sure it has its downsides, but its a tough, reliable and enjoyable vehicle to drive...

I've done many miles in the back seat, and its comfortable, access is not too much of an issue and the suicide doors make a pretty neat changing room when I get back from Mountain biking... The mirrors are huge and that mitigates the issue of the "blind spots" for me. I drive with caution, and due care and I hope I never have a problem. Its a good vehicle off road, as I've found out in the Chilcotins, about 5 hours north of Vancouver. Each to his own. After 20 years of driving Land Rover Defenders, defecting to Toyota was made much easier by this funky vehicle.

DavidF is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-30-2013, 10:37 AM   #36
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Waterloo, Illinois
Trailer: 2006 Viking Pop-Up
Posts: 4
I have a 2010 FJ Cruiser. Get 21 mpg empty. 18.8 mpg pulling a pop-up and small boat. 65K miles and not a problem. Has "DUAL" Variable Valve Timing. Means the exhaust valves vary also. Tacoma's have "Single" VVT-i (intake only). Jumps the horsepower up by 24. BUT, they rate it at only 4,700 lbs towing and the Tacoma at 6,700 Wheelbase? Just replaced the tires with identical OEM ones. Had Tacoma's since the 70's. The increase in the Tacoma's size made me start all over. Bought an FJ because it did not require a new $1,800 camper shell. There's not much interior space. Miss my Tacoma!

@DavidF: let me know how your experience works out. I'm retiring next August and need a hard sided rig well before then. Looking for a 19'. Live near St Louis. Considering a new Tacoma 4x4 V6 Long Bed and the 5.0 dually. That'd be sweet! I'm full-timing it upon retiring.

rpriest500 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-30-2013, 11:39 AM   #37
Senior Member
 
cpaharley2008's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
Welcome to our Escape World, rpriest500
I have a FJ 2012, the specs are 500/5000 with the higher hp motor, going to tow my new 21' soon and will report back.
__________________
Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
cpaharley2008 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-30-2013, 11:51 AM   #38
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Waterloo, Illinois
Trailer: 2006 Viking Pop-Up
Posts: 4
I'm looking at trading for a 2014 Tacoma 4x4 V6 SR5 Four-Door Long-Bed for $29,800. I REALLY like the 5.0 Fifth Wheel. Have no problem with my FJ. Had it for 2-1/2 years, 66K. Just won't hook to a fifth wheel and rated at 2,000 lbs more towing ability. Wish I knew how to post a picture. When I click that "picture" icon above, it asks me for a URL? Why can't I just transfer it from a file? Rick
rpriest500 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-30-2013, 11:55 AM   #39
Senior Member
 
gbaglo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
You can post pix from your hard drive. At the bottom of the message box is "Go Advanced". Click on that and you will see a paper clip at the top of the message box. Click on that and a box pops up that allows you to browse your computer, select a pic and upload.
I generally click on Preview ( at the bottom of the message box ) to make sure all went as it should.
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
gbaglo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-30-2013, 12:16 PM   #40
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Waterloo, Illinois
Trailer: 2006 Viking Pop-Up
Posts: 4
Picture posting?



Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing.
If this occurred unexpectedly, please inform the administrator and describe the action you performed before you received this error.
rpriest500 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off




» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Escape Trailer Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:41 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright 2023 Social Knowledge, LLC All Rights Reserved.