I helped a buddy put sliders on his KDSS truck, routing the hydraulic lines under the frame just behind the driver front tire seems like a mistake. I think that happened because KDSS was added to the 4Runner in 2014, and not part of the initial 5th gen design. By comparison, the 200-series routes its KDSS lines within…

Yes, flu has a cost. That we had largely grown fine with, since it primarily impacted older people who had other health problems. Kinda sounds like covid in that regard.

Both Lewis and Max raced to a level last year to deserve a championship. One of them had to win it, it’s just a shame that for a number of reasons — the crash at Silverstone, the rain rules stupidity at Spa and of course the inconsistent implementation of rules at the final race — there was no definitive winner.

It’s crazy how well TRD Pro does, and now there’s a TRD Pro Land Cruiser and it’s not coming here.

/looks at the LC500 convertible in the garage, wondering how long it will be until they kill it then the resale market goes bonkers

And yet you can still pick up lightly used, off-lease Lexus GX’s for a fraction of what they sold for new. Search AutoTrader and CarGurus nationally, I don’t understand why anybody is buying 4Runners and FJs (which are wildly overpriced) to offroad when a ~20K mile GX can be had under $40K.

not to mention extending the pandemic

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=624801160

Not your fault, but this “comparison” is ridiculous.  A body-on-frame-with-a-transfer-case Jeep Wrangler against three unibody softroaders, none of them with real low range?  It would have been more correct to switch the Wrangler to the Renegade or Compass.

... but the video is of a Bugatti

I’ve owned and sold both a Tesla 3/Y, my next EV will likely be the Toyota BZ4X once we start hearing some of the technical details (primarily, battery management and driver aids).

You are largely right.

I live in Denver, Subarus are the biggest group at winter Cars&Coffee and during the summer months they clog the trailhead parking.

Actual carmakers aren’t big on weird, customized fleet vehicles.

There was no factory option for heated seats (for the US market, possibly for foreign markets), there were aftermarket solutions though. And the Toyota / Garmin part had such low volume that I’ve never personally seen one. The most appealing part was that it was an actual use for that cubby above the steering wheel,…

We started seeing Lexus GX’s at FJ Summit maybe 4-5 years ago, 470's at first and the 460's more these days. I think there were 50 at the last one before covid. For a while they were the secret of the Toyota 4x4 world, but the secret has been out for a while. Lexus brought the GX-OR concept to Summit in 2019:

If you bought a manual 4x4 FJ early (‘07-08), you were able to get them for about $27-28K. I know a lot of people who did. By the end, ~$32K was about as high as the non-Trail Teams sold for.  Dealers hated the manuals because they were harder to sell, fewer people know how to drive them.

I wrote the buy/sell guide on FJCruiserForums and advise dozens of buyers/sellers each year, including people buying them as investments, for free:

I can’t remember if Kurt was one of the Expedition Overland guys that I met on that run or not. I think that’s Clay from EO at the 10:55 mark, basically their group with the Toyota marketing folks joined up with us on that Imogene run at FJ Summit 2018. I don’t think they needed me for the spotting bit :-) just…

I led a bunch of Toyota marketing folks and bloggers on the 2019 TRD Pro photo shoot on Imogene Pass several years ago, you can see me (green shirt, hat) at 12:05 after spotting a TRD Pro Tundra out onto the rock: