Random only partially Land Cruiser related thoughts

[Markarian421]

Various thoughts after a weekend in part spent off-road (in my FJ):

Every time I drive my Heritage Blue FJ I think I should get a Heritage Blue Land Cruiser. People complement the color all the time, one said he'd never seen it on an FJ before (only the final US year special edition had it). Then I drive past a Trail Dust Land Cruiser (off road no less) and think I should get that instead. (Pic from the dash cam.)

It's really nice having E load tires on a bad road with lots of pointed rocks and not having to worry about it.

Related, my FJ with E load Duratracs averaged around 18.5 mpg on this trip. It will annoy me if I get a Land Cruiser and it does worse than that while also having a 1 gallon smaller gas tank.

Bronco Raptors are too wide to be on most off-road trails. Or maybe just any roads.

From the dash cam:

 

[MSLCFE]

I miss my FJ!

 

[trek805]

Dont expect a LC to get much better than 18 mpg as a tank average. I think most people who are being honest are getting around 19 mpg. Especially if you put bigger tires etc.. on it

 

[bryan24J250LC]

14.5 mpg driving like a grandma on 35's.

 

[jenos96]

Dont expect a LC to get much better than 18 mpg as a tank average. I think most people who are being honest are getting around 19 mpg. Especially if you put bigger tires etc.. on it

Reeaaalllly depends on your driving environment. Expect abhorrent economy in cities like Tucson. Expect great performance on country/state highways (40-60mph with few stops). Expect another dip in expected economy on high site interstates (70mph+). I get 17-18, 21-23, and 19-21 respectively

 

[Markarian421]

Reeaaalllly depends on your driving environment. Expect abhorrent economy in cities like Tucson. Expect great performance on country/state highways (40-60mph with few stops). Expect another dip in expected economy on high site interstates (70mph+). I get 17-18, 21-23, and 19-21 respectively

That's similar to the FJ in overall trends. This trip (getting there and back) was mostly local highways and there's where it does best. Things really plummet on the interstate due to aerodynamics (or a lack thereof) just as with the Land Cruiser.

The Land Cruiser's unexpectedly poor mpg (vs. Toyota's early claims of ~27 mpg) and resulting range would be the only thing keeping me from putting E load tires on it. I really wonder what went wrong between that 27 mpg prediction and what we ended up getting. I wouldn't care so much about the mpg if they hadn't put in a fuel tank for something they expected would get 27 mpg.

 

[Markarian421]

VENTURA COUNTY SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM 1 "So Others May Live"

Further off topic: we were in Joshua Tree on Monday Veterans Day which was a free day in the national parks. The local search and rescue folks were gathering donations at the gate, we ended up talking to one of them for a short while about the FJ!

 

[jenos96]

That's similar to the FJ in overall trends. This trip (getting there and back) was mostly local highways and there's where it does best. Things really plummet on the interstate due to aerodynamics (or a lack thereof) just as with the Land Cruiser.

The Land Cruiser's unexpectedly poor mpg (vs. Toyota's early claims of ~27 mpg) and resulting range would be the only thing keeping me from putting E load tires on it. I really wonder what went wrong between that 27 mpg prediction and what we ended up getting. I wouldn't care so much about the mpg if they hadn't put in a fuel tank for something they expected would get 27 mpg.

My uneducated guess would be that the battery ended up tuned more towards power in the end.

Ive harped on this elsewhere but I still can’t fathom why they didn’t hatch-mount the spare and use the extra space for more fuel and more cargo space and/or clearance. Just such a bizarre choice especially since the LC250 rear end isnt very attractive

 

[DaChronisseur]

For what it's worth, I put E rated 33s on ours and had fuel economy slip to 21mpg from 22.5. It gets driven on back roads and 60mph highway almost exclusively.