Hello all,
I'm a newbie with a 2026 250 we bought south of Salt Lake City for the equipment and price; we live about 3 hours north of there. We just sold our one owner 2012 FJC with 86,000 miles because we were not using it; and the 2019 Power Wagon with 90k is pretty gas-hungry.
We got the 250 in December 2025, it just got the 10,000 mile oil change today.
Being it is Wyoming roads, we already have 2 chips in the windshield and we go through about a gallon of bug-balanced washer fluid every 1000 miles; so today I said, let's get on the forums and see if there is an effective bug-deflector. And so here I am.
I have been on the FJ Cruiser forum dot com since 2008, when I got my first FJC; had that one and later a 2012 Trail Teams we just sold, and a Taco in the mid 20-teens I sold my Performance Package 2015 Mustang with the Turbo 4 for. (It was faster in the quarter mile than my 1994 Pontiac Super Duty Formula 4 speed, believe it or not.)
So yes, I guess that makes me a boomer car guy with very catholic (hey, it means "universal", look it up) tastes.
Let's list my cars, as a 66 year old American, not in the order I owned them:
-73 Bronco. Dude. "Regerts", as the famous tattoo says. What a ride for a college guy. Lost it in a marriage/divorce thing.
-84 diesel 4x4 Suburban. Don't take it above 6000 feet. Otherwise, a tank with great steering and capabilities you could sleep a family of 4 in. Literally, inside. BTDT. . Factory locker was cool.
-84 Shelby Charger 2.2. The year before the turbo. Best 100 to zero times I have ever experienced; superb handling; could not beat a K-car in a drag race. Decent mileage. Enlistment in the Army bonus got me my first new car.
-85 grey market BMW 728 - the 7 series Beemer with the european 2.8 liter engine. A taxi, basically, underpowered, cloth interior, etc; but fun. Manual tranny and a BMW. Outstanding.
-97 Grand Cherokee Orvis Edition. Wow. What a rig. Did Fins and Things at Moab with only one minor bumper scrape. Stock. Came down Black Bear into Telluride, with zero scrapes. Stock. 318 Chrysler. Would tow 6000 lbs. Same width as the TJ Wrangler. And as comfy as a cadillac. I took that thing all over the national forests of Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. One of my top 3 favorites of all time.
-A couple of 2000 - 2004 Grand Cherokees with the incredible 4.7 liter V-8 Chrysler engine. I still have the 2004. We call it the "Adventure Jeep". 107k miles and it just starts and goes. 22 years old. It can buy a drink at a bar.
-A Fiesta and a Sorento from the early 2000s. For work. Wife was a nanny. Blah.
-A 2003 Super Duty F-250 with the 7.3 liter diesel. What an incredible road vehicle. Would tug the hinges off the Gates of Hell.
-Replaced it with a 2001 maxxed out with every option including the Dana 80 rear end (yes, a Dana 80) "camper package" Dodge 2500 Cummins with the 6 speed. Not the rig for bumper to bumper traffic, unless you like "leg work", but hook something up and get out on the road and it would tug it just fine.
-2008 FJ Cruiser, Sandstorm. Fantastic vehicle. But then in 2012, we were driving down an interstate and saw.... a.... completely red one, on a transporter truck going the other way. The 2012, limited edition Trail Teams version for 2012. Dang. So we got that one.
-2015 Mustang with the Performance Package (which was far more than different wheels and some stickers; it went from suspension/frame/spring rate / shock upgrades to steering upgrades, to height changes, seats, turbo boost, and much more) and the 2.3 twin turbo. Sub 13 second quarter miles in a heavy US "muscle car" that braked and handled like . . . like a dream. 100 mph was not very different from 65, while cruising. Incredible machine.
-Had to trade that stang in on a 2016 Tacoma so the wife could accommodate the boss's third kid. I found the taco to be . . . boring but adequate. Had no soul.
-2019 Power Wagon. Just shut up. Factory : Long arm front suspension; 4 wheel coils; HD brakes, all discs; 2 inch Factory lift and 33s from the factory (35s fit just fine, ask me how I know); swaybar disco at low speed in 4Lo; 1 ton axles and diffs; the interior won awards for comfort, and the truck got the most comfy vehicle in the country award. It goes down an interstate like a big purring cat; and when you get to "turn around the Grand Cherokee" huge ruts in a Forest Service road, just hit the Disco button and use the mechanical shifter for the T-case to go into 4 lo, and the passengers don't even notice the 26 inches of articulation up front. A 4 door Wrangler Rubicon only gets like 12 to 16 inches; a stock wrangler gets 7 inches of articulation. Twenty six inches in the Power Wagon.
-And now the Land Cruiser with a swaybar disco, and all the other great stuff that made me buy it. I have not even tried to wring it out yet, not had much time this year; June saw 3 nights that it did not freeze here. Weird weather.
Honestly, it was the wife's choice to go with the Elsie, it was her turn after I got the Power Wagon in 2019. But I do love this Toyota. Averaging between 22 and 25 MPG highway (there is not a stop light in my very large county so not much city time). The hybrid thing took some adjustments, I tend to leave it "on" after parking because the engine is not running.
In the snow (and our average snowfall is like 140 inches a year) it is superb. Though the stupid 3-season tires it came with were ridiculous; any snow at all and they became billiard balls. But the Falken Wildpeaks are fantastic, better even than the Power Wagon with Toyo three mountain rated ATs. In side by side tests in some slippery and deep stuff, Elsie whips the ram.
The LC (we named her 'Elsie' for good reasons - El Cee = L C) is a pussycat on the highway as well, a great highway cruiser. In this neck of the woods, it is pretty much all either hiighay or gravel to dirt roads. t
Biggest minuses to this old guy are the number and level of nanny sentry systems, warnings, alerts, sudden wheel grabbing by the car, braking by the car, etc. It is ridiculous, and at times, dangerous; when the car grabs the wheel, that is not a good thign. Much less the unexpected braking.
The level of tech geekiness in this supposed offroads oriented vehicle is actually hilarious.
I counted. There are over 700 pages in the owner's manual.
Not the Shop Manual.
The Owner's Manual.
And you , the owner, are supposed to have read and be acquainted with all of them. Right?
There are like 70 pages of the manual devoted to....
wait for it.....
The cameras.
Seventy pages of owner's manual on the cameras on your car.
I just shake my head.
But That Is The Way with all of them, nowadays. Elsies no more or less than Camrys, Fords or Chevies, or Jeeps, I reckon.
Anyway if you actually read this far, it is good to be here on this forum, , and thanks for the knowledge base! I already ordered a Japanese bug deflector because I tire of going through a gallon of washer fluid every 1000 miles. I appreciate yalls' experience, wisdom, and commentary!
I'm a newbie with a 2026 250 we bought south of Salt Lake City for the equipment and price; we live about 3 hours north of there. We just sold our one owner 2012 FJC with 86,000 miles because we were not using it; and the 2019 Power Wagon with 90k is pretty gas-hungry.
We got the 250 in December 2025, it just got the 10,000 mile oil change today.
Being it is Wyoming roads, we already have 2 chips in the windshield and we go through about a gallon of bug-balanced washer fluid every 1000 miles; so today I said, let's get on the forums and see if there is an effective bug-deflector. And so here I am.
I have been on the FJ Cruiser forum dot com since 2008, when I got my first FJC; had that one and later a 2012 Trail Teams we just sold, and a Taco in the mid 20-teens I sold my Performance Package 2015 Mustang with the Turbo 4 for. (It was faster in the quarter mile than my 1994 Pontiac Super Duty Formula 4 speed, believe it or not.)
So yes, I guess that makes me a boomer car guy with very catholic (hey, it means "universal", look it up) tastes.
Let's list my cars, as a 66 year old American, not in the order I owned them:
-73 Bronco. Dude. "Regerts", as the famous tattoo says. What a ride for a college guy. Lost it in a marriage/divorce thing.
-84 diesel 4x4 Suburban. Don't take it above 6000 feet. Otherwise, a tank with great steering and capabilities you could sleep a family of 4 in. Literally, inside. BTDT. . Factory locker was cool.
-84 Shelby Charger 2.2. The year before the turbo. Best 100 to zero times I have ever experienced; superb handling; could not beat a K-car in a drag race. Decent mileage. Enlistment in the Army bonus got me my first new car.
-85 grey market BMW 728 - the 7 series Beemer with the european 2.8 liter engine. A taxi, basically, underpowered, cloth interior, etc; but fun. Manual tranny and a BMW. Outstanding.
-97 Grand Cherokee Orvis Edition. Wow. What a rig. Did Fins and Things at Moab with only one minor bumper scrape. Stock. Came down Black Bear into Telluride, with zero scrapes. Stock. 318 Chrysler. Would tow 6000 lbs. Same width as the TJ Wrangler. And as comfy as a cadillac. I took that thing all over the national forests of Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. One of my top 3 favorites of all time.
-A couple of 2000 - 2004 Grand Cherokees with the incredible 4.7 liter V-8 Chrysler engine. I still have the 2004. We call it the "Adventure Jeep". 107k miles and it just starts and goes. 22 years old. It can buy a drink at a bar.
-A Fiesta and a Sorento from the early 2000s. For work. Wife was a nanny. Blah.
-A 2003 Super Duty F-250 with the 7.3 liter diesel. What an incredible road vehicle. Would tug the hinges off the Gates of Hell.
-Replaced it with a 2001 maxxed out with every option including the Dana 80 rear end (yes, a Dana 80) "camper package" Dodge 2500 Cummins with the 6 speed. Not the rig for bumper to bumper traffic, unless you like "leg work", but hook something up and get out on the road and it would tug it just fine.
-2008 FJ Cruiser, Sandstorm. Fantastic vehicle. But then in 2012, we were driving down an interstate and saw.... a.... completely red one, on a transporter truck going the other way. The 2012, limited edition Trail Teams version for 2012. Dang. So we got that one.
-2015 Mustang with the Performance Package (which was far more than different wheels and some stickers; it went from suspension/frame/spring rate / shock upgrades to steering upgrades, to height changes, seats, turbo boost, and much more) and the 2.3 twin turbo. Sub 13 second quarter miles in a heavy US "muscle car" that braked and handled like . . . like a dream. 100 mph was not very different from 65, while cruising. Incredible machine.
-Had to trade that stang in on a 2016 Tacoma so the wife could accommodate the boss's third kid. I found the taco to be . . . boring but adequate. Had no soul.
-2019 Power Wagon. Just shut up. Factory : Long arm front suspension; 4 wheel coils; HD brakes, all discs; 2 inch Factory lift and 33s from the factory (35s fit just fine, ask me how I know); swaybar disco at low speed in 4Lo; 1 ton axles and diffs; the interior won awards for comfort, and the truck got the most comfy vehicle in the country award. It goes down an interstate like a big purring cat; and when you get to "turn around the Grand Cherokee" huge ruts in a Forest Service road, just hit the Disco button and use the mechanical shifter for the T-case to go into 4 lo, and the passengers don't even notice the 26 inches of articulation up front. A 4 door Wrangler Rubicon only gets like 12 to 16 inches; a stock wrangler gets 7 inches of articulation. Twenty six inches in the Power Wagon.
-And now the Land Cruiser with a swaybar disco, and all the other great stuff that made me buy it. I have not even tried to wring it out yet, not had much time this year; June saw 3 nights that it did not freeze here. Weird weather.
Honestly, it was the wife's choice to go with the Elsie, it was her turn after I got the Power Wagon in 2019. But I do love this Toyota. Averaging between 22 and 25 MPG highway (there is not a stop light in my very large county so not much city time). The hybrid thing took some adjustments, I tend to leave it "on" after parking because the engine is not running.
In the snow (and our average snowfall is like 140 inches a year) it is superb. Though the stupid 3-season tires it came with were ridiculous; any snow at all and they became billiard balls. But the Falken Wildpeaks are fantastic, better even than the Power Wagon with Toyo three mountain rated ATs. In side by side tests in some slippery and deep stuff, Elsie whips the ram.
The LC (we named her 'Elsie' for good reasons - El Cee = L C) is a pussycat on the highway as well, a great highway cruiser. In this neck of the woods, it is pretty much all either hiighay or gravel to dirt roads. t
Biggest minuses to this old guy are the number and level of nanny sentry systems, warnings, alerts, sudden wheel grabbing by the car, braking by the car, etc. It is ridiculous, and at times, dangerous; when the car grabs the wheel, that is not a good thign. Much less the unexpected braking.
The level of tech geekiness in this supposed offroads oriented vehicle is actually hilarious.
I counted. There are over 700 pages in the owner's manual.
Not the Shop Manual.
The Owner's Manual.
And you , the owner, are supposed to have read and be acquainted with all of them. Right?
There are like 70 pages of the manual devoted to....
wait for it.....
The cameras.
Seventy pages of owner's manual on the cameras on your car.
I just shake my head.
But That Is The Way with all of them, nowadays. Elsies no more or less than Camrys, Fords or Chevies, or Jeeps, I reckon.
Anyway if you actually read this far, it is good to be here on this forum, , and thanks for the knowledge base! I already ordered a Japanese bug deflector because I tire of going through a gallon of washer fluid every 1000 miles. I appreciate yalls' experience, wisdom, and commentary!
