The Detroit Newspapers's view

The 2010 FJ Cruiser is the anti-Toyota.

Its style outweighs its function and it can go places most Toyotas can only think about treading.

During a week-long test drive of the new 2010 FJ, which included the Trail Teams Special Edition Package — a $6,695 set of off-road options — I found myself dreading highway driving and longing for big hills and mud.

That’s because the FJ isn’t much fun around town.

Sitting inside this big vehicle is like looking out of a German pillbox. The visibility is awful; there’s just a gun slot of a windshield. A high riding position typically opens up lanes of sight, but the way you sit in the FJ, the windshield is up and away from you, making it difficult to see over the front end, much less the passenger side. And parking the FJ is more of a guessing game than anything else if you don’t have the optional backup camera.

While most Toyotas have very clean lines of sight, the FJ has hardly any. You can’t see out the back window and you can’t see very well out the front.

Most Toyotas offer a smooth, clean ride, but the FJ will bounce you around like flubber. The standard 32-inch tires tend to float at highway speeds. They’re fantastic for trail riding, but they’re terrible for open highways.

Stylish inside surprises

Off road, the FJ is simply fantastic. The powerful 4-liter six-cylinder engine cranks out an impressive 259 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque. That’s more than enough to lug this vehicle’s 4,000-pound body up the steepest of trails.

On road, the power-assisted steering feels numb and loose. Off road, it lets you crawl over rocks easily, never twisting in your hands. The more you drive off road, the more you realize the FJ’s true purpose.

The FJ doesn’t feel like a typical Toyota inside either. While Toyota continues to offer comfortable car interior packages, few, if any, blow a driver away. They’re complete and boring. I’m certainly not the first person to break this news: Toyota is falling behind many of its competitors on interior offerings. The FJ, however, boasts a very stylish inside.

The Trail Teams Special Edition includes beige fabric seats that match the exterior, all-weather floor and cargo mats that include special badges, and colored plastic trim that pulls everything together. Overall, it looks nice.

There are loads of features, such as the aforementioned backup camera (with its display screen in the rearview mirror), simply a must-have on this vehicle. A remote keyless entry and a display screen on the center stack are among the other features.

There are, of course, various comfort options a buyer can select to wash away some of the harshness of off-road camping. They include the 115-volt outlet in the back for a blender. There also are different running boards, exhaust kit, roof rack, auxiliary driving lights and even a towing package to pull up to 5,000 pounds of stuff to base camp. It’s that customization ability from the dealership that makes this vehicle so appealing to some people.

Strange combination

The biggest dilemma with the FJ is its purpose when you’re not in the woods or on a trail.

While the second row offers plenty of room, jumping into the back row is awkward and uncomfortable; the small, forward-opening doors can only be opened when the front doors are open.

The gas mileage is just 17 miles per gallon in the city and 21 mpg on the highway for 4×4 with a five-speed automatic transmission (which means this is one of the few Toyotas that could start to get expensive as a daily driver). The six-speed manual 4×4 gets worse gas mileage: 15 mpg in the city and 19 mpg on the highway.

It’s a strange combination and perhaps that’s the appeal of the FJ. It’s fantastic to romp through the hills at Silver Lake, but getting there would be a bear. Most Toyotas would be exactly the opposite.

sburgess@detnews.com (313) 223-3217