Why it’s wrong to call Toyota Land Cruisers “FJs”

Hey Bro… Nice FJ!

I’m not sure where it started, but I’ve been hearing a lot of people calling our beloved FJ40s, FJ60s, and other models of Land Cruiser “FJs” these days. While it doesn’t bother me terribly, I do feel like it’s my duty to try to help folks from sounding, er…uh…well, dumb, when they refer to a Land Cruiser. Here’s why it’s technically wrong, or at least confusing to call all Land Cruisers, “FJs”.

What’s the F?

The “F” at the beginning of many Land Cruisers’ model name is an engine designation. “F” specifically means that the Land Cruiser came with a 6 cylinder petrol (gas) engine. There are other designations, “B” 4 cylinder diesel, “P” 5 cylinder diesel, “H” 6 cylinder diesel, “U” V-8 gas, and more. All of the Land Cruisers sold in the united states before 1998 were FJ somethings, but worldwide, FJs are the minority of Land Cruisers.

J is for J@$P

The “J” doesn’t stand for anything anymore but may have derived from the original “Toyota Jeep“. Toyota abandoned the word Jeep early on, and today, the J just means that it’s in the 4 wheel drive family.

Numbers Matter

The numbers are the model and sub-model designation. “4” puts it in the 40 series, and then there’s another number to identify the sub model, which usually means a difference in wheel base, or engine type. A 40 has the shortest wheel base in the 40 series family, then there’s the slightly longer 43, and longer still 45. An FJ60 and 62 have the same wheelbase, but different engines. Spend some time learning about this, and you can become well versed in no time.

So, why is it not just an FJ?

Because the “F” is just an engine designation, Calling an actual Land Cruiser an “FJ” doesn’t make any sense. An FJ45, a BJ45, and an HJ45 might all look identical from the outside, You wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference if you didn’t open the hood. It would be more accurate to call these “45s” Toyota calls them “J45s” which is the proper way to refer to that particular model.

I’ll try to explain it in another way. You would call a pepperoni and cheese pizza, “a pizza”, not “a pepperoni”… And an Italian might look at you funny if you said “Hey, nice pepperoni!”

FJ Cruiser

Now, there was a Toyota vehicle called an FJ (Cruiser) which was built for the US market from 2007-2014. These were cool, but Toyota was very careful not to call them Land Cruisers. They aren’t even similar and not in the Land Cruiser lineage. It would be appropriate to call these vehicles FJs, if you just liked to say the phrase “Nice FJ!” which could make an FJ Cruiser owner very happy.

Just for fun, here are 3 different Land Cruisers to use to understand the differences.