Our Toyota FJ Cruiser is a great car! We owned it for 3 years..which has been the average for us it seems. 3 years for the Passat, Titan, and Lexus RX...a little less on the 350Z and the Jetta. We love our cars!!! The FJ drove us through California and Oregon...shipped to and driven in Tajikistan...shipped to and driven in Africa...and back to California. But the limiting back seat accessibility makes it a difficult family car. We practiced putting the car seat in and out, which is quite doable, just a hassle! You had to put the front seat up first every time. So, we have been looking at another vehicle to replace the FJ. Shane would love to keep the FJ as a fun toy, but unfortunately we can't keep it AND get a family car. We are sad to see it go...
We would love to get a full size SUV, but with me not working full time right now and baby, we decided to hold off on that until Kade is older, I'm working, and possibly another addition to our family down the road. With just a little one anyway, we don't really need that much vehicle yet. I don't like the sedan style as I find trunks quite limiting. So, we found the new Toyota Venza right up our alley. It is hatchback style, but quite long, like a SUV, it's a little lower to the ground than a SUV, lots of room, comes with 20" stock wheels and we could get all the accessories we wanted in it. It has navigation, a push start button with a fob, double sunroof, automatic opening /closing hatchback door, and satellite radio. It is nice! It has as many bells and whistles as Shane's truck. With our FJ trade-in we still owed some out of pocket, but not too bad, and got Toyota's 1.9% financing on this car. I did a lot of research and contacted the dealership we worked with before in Vegas. They could get us the vehicle we wanted...so we drove there Saturday and haggled with the salesmen. And we got it done! I hate haggling, but I had my research done on new car pricing/trade-ins and we saw right through their tricks!
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| Shane at the dealership |
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| Taking military base stickers off the FJ |
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| Goodbye to the FJ , Hello to the Venza |
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| Last glimpse of the FJ |
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| VENZA |
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| Panoramic glass roof...with two sunroofs (only front one opens and vents). There is also plenty of room in the back seat...lots of leg room and the back seat reclines. Easy to get Kade's car seat in and out! |
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| Front dash interior...It is quite roomy! |
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| Back...the cover comes out for plenty of room in the back for a stroller. The back seat also folds down with a simple pull of a handle in the trunk area. We need to get all weather matting, which is one thing we will miss about the FJ. |
A great car and we are quite happy with it! Hopefully we will hang on to this one for longer than 3 years!
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