The FJ Cruiser sub-culture

[jhwalker]

A couple of years ago I was considering an FJ Cruiser and registered on the FJ Cruiser forum. These folks LOVE their FJs. Prices remain high, one that comes on the market gets sucked up. I passed on one because in person they were so damned BIG, too big for San Miguel de Allende streets, and they had that crazy "stressed front windshield" problem where folks were replacing tons of them and insurance companies were beginning to say things like "you get 1 and the next is on you". I guess they solved that problem, but they couldn't solve the size problem for me.

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/g ... going.html

[SonicVenum]

What I've discovered is that, pretty much, if it's got wheels, it's got a forum full of people that love/hate them.

[jhwalker]

What I've discovered is that, pretty much, if it's got wheels, it's got a forum full of people that love/hate them.

I think that there are only a few modest-buck cars that deserve their cult following. The FJ Cruiser, the Mazda RX-8 are two examples. Or, the 2003-04 Mustang Cobra. Most of the others are shit-buckets. The FJ Cruiser consistently gets highest resale value. Only 1 car can get that.

As for the Mazda RX-8, another car that I considered buying, it has a fascinating (to me) background. The RX-8ers are fanatics beyond fanatics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_RX-8

[SonicVenum]

I agree, some vehicles deserve it more than others. I just know that in my searches to fix various problems with various vehicles, I almost always end up on a forum for said vehicle type. The Chevy Monte Carlo is not an exceptional vehicle by any means, but fixing the various little problems we've had with ours has led me to a vehicle-specific forum. Mind you, GM's build quality might have something to do with that. It's funny to see how well my '93 Mustang has held up versus our '05 Monte Carlo.

[jhwalker]

Yesterday a friend wandered by the casa and sure as heck showed up in a 2008 FJ Cruiser. They must have built them right, and he takes care of it, because it looked NEW. Hmmm... Still is significantly larger than our 2009 Escape, which also looks new, and IMHO too large for the San Miguel streets.

This guy is a lawyer and is supposed to help me get the Escape, the DR-Z 400S legal, and the trailer legal.