Toyota FJ Cruiser

Long-term update: Our Toyota FJ Cruiser has a bottomless tank

How does a fuel-tank range of 1000 km sound? It sounds great, especially if you don’t know your car even had that capability. You see, The Toyota FJ Cruiser has been around since 2006, and reached the Middle East in 2008, but it’s always suffered from a pathetic 72-litre fuel tank. However, in 2013, Toyota quietly added an 87-litre secondary tank to the FJ, effectively doubling its petrol capacity to 159 litres.

When we bought our late-2013 manual-gearbox example in the summer of 2014, we were aware of the larger new capacity by then. But we were not sure if it was offered in the lightly-used one that we were buying from the dealer. So the salesman made some calls, and returned with an answer…saying no.

We bought the car anyway, and got our first clue when the first partial fill-up cost a whopping Dhs 160. With a full tank and no trip computer, we then waited it out to see how many kilometres a tank would cover.

toyota-fj-cruiser-uae-3

And we waited. And waited. Our own cars don’t get a lot of exercise, but we were driving the fun 6-speed FJ everywhere, even for grocery runs. And the trip meter kept on ticking by, with the fuel gauge hardly budging. After a couple of months, we finally emptied the tank, at about the 900 km mark! With more conservative driving, that is if we didn’t bomb around everywhere, the theoretical range is over 1000 km, according to Toyota.

The tanks are connected, so there is no sign that there are actually two tanks. Also, the FJ is a bit of a gas-guzzler, otherwise the range could’ve been even higher. Still, it’s great not having to bother with lining up at petrol stations for months. With Dubai supposedly booming again, the lines at the pumps seem to go on forever.

Photos by Marouf Hussain.

Original Mileage When Bought: 5,500 km
Latest Mileage To Date: 7,100 km
Latest Average Fuel Economy: 17.7 litres/100 km
Cost of Latest Problems: Dhs 0
Cost of Latest Maintenance: Dhs 0

Total Non-Fuel Running Cost Since Bought: Dhs 0

Read all 2013 Toyota FJ Cruiser long-term updates

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Comments

  1. I remember the days when I used to full tank the Prado’s 180 litres tank. Used to be quite a hit on the pocket.

  2. Hey Guys,

    Are you planning to sell it??

  3. so technically its not a bottomless tank… i could actually catch the heading properly…

  4. love the fact of the 2nd tank. this was one of the major screw-ups in my 2012 pajero; i spent as much time refueling as driving..

  5. Please give us more regular updates. Crankandpiston gives more updates but their updates are only about how they used every car as a camera car. They are useless people. I like more maintenance and fuel economy reports.

  6. On my ’14 FJ, i get around 14liters/100km. I refeul every 2 months! Loving my FJ so much!

  7. So you guys live in UAE yet take months to drive 1000 km? Amazing, maybe months if you live in Bur Dubai and drive to Karama/Deira for work.

    • Maybe you should move closer to your work instead of whining?

    • Ofcourse, if you travel with family and actually have a social life 1000 km a month is still too less or use the metro

    • Working in Dubai and living in Sharjah is nothing to brag about. Get a better job so you can afford to drive less.

    • Author

      I suppose driving brand new test cars every day, owning several other high-end cars, owning my own business with freedom to set my own hours and travelling the world on media trips means I don’t have a social life. I should apologise for doing so little mileage.

  8. Hey bro, Somehow I just don’t find your long term updates very helpful. Let me see if I have this right….you bought a 2013 FJ around mid of 2014 with 5500 kms on the clock. To date the car has travelled 8200kms which means that you have driven a grand total of 2700kms in the past 7 months. Do the math and that works out to approx. 380kms per month!
    I scrolled through the updates and apart from the lengthy one when u bought it there is another talking about the bottom less fuel tank and now about this scratch on the front bumper.
    So whats the long term take on this car?….How to store it in a garage (parking lot?) in pristine condition?

    • Author

      All our cars have minor door dings. We just plan to get them all fixed once every few years. The FJ won’t stay pristine anyway, if you take it offroad.

    • Don’t listen to the idiots. Love your long term reports. You are the only one who gives costs of service and parts like the UK magazines.

    • Learned many things actually. Like how big is the FJ tank, how much smart repairs costs at the dealer and how to get the new Dubai plate. Keep them going. Don’t see what difference mileage makes. Nothing is going to break in this car.

  9. Where did you get the extra tank and where is it installed under the FJ ?

  10. Mash good job looking forward to buying an FJ. Futtaim quoted 130000dhs.

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