The Toyota BJ70 (Diesel)
We recently purchased a Canadian Spec Toyota Landcruiser BJ70 LX which replaced our FJ60. I purchased the 70 from our good friends Jan and Gina who have joined us on a few Desert trips. It has a non-turboed 3.4 cylinder diesel motor which is known as the 3B. These motors are known to go 500,000 miles or more without a rebuild. Of course this is with proper maintenance.
Currently the 70 sits on 33" tires with a 2.5" suspension lift and a Safari snorkel. Amazingly I seem to be getting around 25 mpg which is almost 2X what the 60 or our FJ80 were getting. 
From BioJ70
Jan has offered to show me how to maintain this cool vehicle since it is our first diesel. Diesels are great in that you can run them on Bio-Diesel with little or no modifications. On older vehicles you do have to replace the natural rubber fuel lines since Bio-Diesel is a pretty good solvent and will eat into the fuel lines.
The gearing on this beast is simply amazing! It will simply crawl over anything with little or no effort. I have some more information about our BJ70 here.
Toyota FJ Cruiser
You either love the FJ Cruiser or hate it. Toyota introduced it as vehicle that was a rough and tumble 4-Wheel drive. Not quite as cush as the new 4Runners and a lot more capable than the popular RAV4s that you see everywhere.
Our FJ has been on a LOT of trips in the two years that we have owned it and has not skipped a beat. We have driven it to Moab, Baja, Oregon/Washington, Central California and of course Anza Borrego
2007 Toyota Tacoma (4 Cylinder)
Our 2007 Tacoma with the 2.7 liter 4-cylinder is a great truck. We opted for the smaller power plant to get better fuel economy and have not regretted it once. Off-road it performs reasonably well but it is is definite need of a lift and larger tires. We are still running the stock Dunlops which are junk. The stock mud flaps are a joke and it is only a matter of time before I rip them off on a rock. 
Otherwise the torque is more than adequate especially when you drop it into 4-Low and gets us out to our favorite camp sites no problem.
I do wish Toyota would have equpped these trucks with a transfer-case shifter and not the dial knob. For me the dial is a bit hard to figure out but it may be because I have always had Toyotas with the "old school" transfer-case shifter.
1977 Toyota LandCruiser FJ40 "MuMu"
Unfortunately MuMu the FJ40 does not see as much off-road time as she used to. Something about a top speed of 55 mph and the long ride out to Borrego. Someday when the old girl can be trailered out I would like to bring her back out to the desert . The above picture was at "The Squeeze" in the northern part of the park.
