Toyota’s been hitting it big with its recent concept vehicles. This year alone, we’ve seen the Japanese automaker unveil the Concept-i, the FT-4X, and the GR HV Sports Concept. Now that we’re less than a month away from flipping our calendars to 2018, Toyota introduced one last concept at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show. It’s called the Future Toyota Adventure Concept (FT-AC), and in my mind, it’s the best Toyota concept to come out this year.
Yes, I’m picking it over the GR HV Sports Concept, the sexy, taiga-style, two-door concept that we first saw at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show last October. I like the GR HV Sports Concept, but given a choice, I’d probably pick the FT-AC Concept over it. There’s something about this angry-looking SUV prototype that’s hard to ignore. Maybe it’s because of its design. Perhaps it’s because of the assortment of tech and connectivity features it has. It might even be a combination of both. The FT-AC is a concept that screams to my imagination, telling me to tell Toyota to turn it into a production model. I don’t know if I have that kind of cache, but I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to seeing it happen.
Continue after the jump to read more about the Toyota FT-AC Concept
2017 Toyota FT-AC Concept
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- Model: 2017 Toyota FT-AC Concept
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Official video
Exterior
The Toyota FT-AC is an angry-looking creation. It’s dripping with ruggedness, which I suppose is exactly what Toyota was going for when it decided to develop the concept. The front section looks especially mean with bulges popping out everywhere. The front bumper is enormous and those massive skid plates are begging for attention. The fog lights draw their own kind of attention, partly because they’re actually removable and can be used as flashlights. That’s some kind of neat trick, Toyota. Well done.
Toyota designers didn’t let up on the side profile of the concept either. The hovering fender flares look unnecessary, but they do capture the image Toyota was going for in emphasizing the concept’s off-roading abilities. There are ore skid plates on this section, put in place of traditional side skirts. Likewise, those 20-inch wheels wrapped in beefy all-terrain tires are the exact ones you’ll need when you go off the beaten path. Move to the roof, and you’ll see a safari-style roof rack that comes with LED marker lights at the front corners. Speaking of these lights, similar LEDs can be found on the back of the roof rack, helping illuminate the built-in bike rack that can be pulled out from under the bumper when needed and retracted back into the bumper when it's not used.
The FT-AC Concept is a car built for the outdoors. But it’s also teeming with vanity, probably to appease selfie-snapping millennials who care more about being “seen” in the outdoors as opposed to actually enjoying their surroundings. Regardless of the motive, there are removable side cameras sitting above the two side mirrors. These cameras can work as Go Pro-like action cams, and with the concept also featuring integrated Wi-Fi, self-serving posts on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter are never too far away.
Interior
Toyota didn’t release any information about the concept’s interior. There are no images either. These are signs that there’s nothing there to describe. The blacked-out windshield and windows are also hints that the singular focus of the FT-AC Concept is to showcase its aggressive body design. That said, Toyota did say that the concept was designed around a long wheelbase. That makes me think that as brutish as the concept looks from the outside, there’s enough space inside for the driver and the passengers to be comfortable. I wouldn’t be surprised if the interior layout is more traditional in design compared to being a full-blown concept.
Drivetrain
Like the interior, there are no details on the FT-AC’s powertrain. Instead, Toyota opted for to use the cutesy phrase “envisioned capabilities” to describe what kind of powertrain the concept could have. Obviously, a capable gas-powered engine was mentioned. Toyota didn’t even stop there, opting to add an “advanced torque-vectoring, all-wheel-drive system” that not only provides maximum traction but variable terrain-response settings and four-wheel lock functionality as well.
While we’re at it, a concept like the FT-AC wouldn’t be complete without hinting at the possibility of getting a next-generation hybrid powertrain. Toyota didn’t say what’s what exactly, but you get the point. The FT-AC is a concept for the imagination. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less.
Conclusion
I’m a sucker for concept vehicles that look like they were taken out of pages of comic books. I won’t apologize for my taste. I like the Toyota FT-AC Concept for what it is, not for what it could turn into. It’s a looker in the sense that it has this ability to make you gravitate towards it. Whether you like it or not from there is up to you. But I can’t take my eyes off it. In my head, it looks better than the aesthetic monstrosity that was the 4Runner. Admit it; as capable as the 4Runner is, nothing about its looks come anywhere close to being redeemable.