Introducing the Toyota FJ Cruiser

Darr and I saw one of these beasts on the road this afternoon when returning from the dog trainer's with Beauty the wonder dog and I immediately thought Hey, look! Our future car!

It is now several hours later and I have learned much about the FJ Cruiser that is expected to land at local Toyota dealerships in May 2006, and possibly in our driveway a few months later. For starters, this vehicle is gargantuan when compared to our Sophie (for those of you who don't know, we drive a Mini Cooper). The FJ Cruiser is reasonably priced (base price for a 4x4 manual transmission without any options was just over $22,000) and is best described by Ezra Dyer, writer for the NY Times, as "the freakiest thing to come out of Toyota since the engineers locked management in a broom closet and built the Previa, a supercharged egg-shaped midengined minivan." (Click here to read the full review.)

We're going to need a larger vehicle soon. That's what happens when you adopt a dog and start thinking about the possibility of attempting to try and add another human to the family, right? (No, we aren't trying.) Besides, the funky retro look is what we gravitate toward. Clearly this gas guzzler would only hit the open road, or open mountain given those big ass tires, on the weekend. But just think of all the beer, uh, soda, we could cram in the back. (Don't worry - we'd drive, park, and then drink.)

I mean, if we were concerned about getting a real commuter car we'd buy a Tango. (See pic at right. Aren't those cars frickin' hilarious!) Just think of all of the available parking downtown if everyone drove these babies.