Is The Toyota FJ Cruiser A Land Cruiser?

When it comes to enthusiast-favorite Toyota models that fans would love to see brought back, the discontinued FJ Cruiser is probably at the top of the list. Coming in amidst the wave of retro designs in the 2000s, Toyota sold the FJ Cruiser in America from 2007 to 2014. Today, more than a decade after the last new one was sold, the Toyota FJ Cruiser remains a popular cult classic.

Given its name, one might be curious as to where exactly the FJ Cruiser fits into the greater Toyota Land Cruiser family — or whether it's even considered a Land Cruiser at all. The answer is both yes and no. The FJ Cruiser was a distinct model separate from the Land Cruiser, but it took its inspiration directly from the Land Cruiser's lineage, all while sharing some of its underpinnings with Land Cruiser models sold overseas. Let's dig in a little further.

Unveiled in concept form back in 2003, the FJ Cruiser took both its name and its styling from the FJ40 generation Land Cruiser, an iconic off-roader and the vehicle that helped launch the Toyota brand in America during the early 1960s. Aimed at younger, more active buyers, the FJ Cruiser took the trendy 2000s retro appeal of cars like the Mini Cooper or the 2005 Ford Mustang and threw in some real off-road DNA, making for a hyped-up new 4x4 to put in its showrooms alongside the 4Runner and Land Cruiser.

Though the FJ Cruiser was heavily inspired by the Land Cruisers of the 1960s, the Land Cruiser itself had evolved greatly in the 40-plus years since the FJ40. The U.S.-market Land Cruiser that was on sale at the same time as the FJ Cruiser was a larger, more luxurious, and much more expensive SUV. The FJ Cruiser was a smaller, simpler, and cheaper vehicle, closer in spirit to a Jeep Wrangler than it was to the big Land Cruiser.

Despite not being a Land Cruiser, there is a fair bit of international Land Cruiser DNA in the FJ Cruiser. The FJ was built on the same platform as the Toyota 4Runner and used the same 4.0-liter V6 engine. And that same 4Runner platform was also used by the Land Cruiser Prado, a smaller version of the Land Cruiser sold overseas and offered in the U.S. market as the Lexus GX.

Ever since the FJ Cruiser left the market in 2014, enthusiasts have been begging for Toyota to bring it back. While the FJ Cruiser itself hasn't yet been revived, the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser can be considered a spiritual successor to the old FJ Cruiser in many ways. Though it's larger than the FJ was, the latest Land Cruiser is smaller and cheaper than the 200-series model it replaced and has lots of the same heritage-inspired styling that defined the FJ Cruiser back in the 2000s. To put it another way, it does a great job of finding middle ground between the FJ's fun-loving retro vibe and the Land Cruiser's reputation for refinement and comfort.