Isuzu Trooper

seanreid · May 2002

The LS price was a trick by the dealership but at least the salesperson told me what was going on before I drove all the way to Rhode Island to look at it. The cars.com ad was pulled from the dealer's ad in a car selling magazine. In the magazine (no doubt in small print somewhere) the dealer states that all prices reflect a $4000 down payment. Ie: The real price was 19K plus. What BS!!! As a business person, I'd never pull that kind of thing.

The 2001 (former rental) at $15K is a contender but I've also found a silver-gold 1999 with performance package, 26,000 miles and the much-coveted stock sunroof at a dealer in rural NJ for $16,300 (so far, we're still negotiating by e-mail). I ran a car fax and this was a one-owner private vehicle that began it's road life in Kansas and somehow found it's way to NJ as a trade-in. Never a rental, never went to auction, etc. It's under warranty only until July 2002 but I love the color and the sunroof. I also like the fact that it wasn't a rental and I'm willing to pay a bit of a premium to have that sunroof. Why the strong attachment to the sunroof? I'm a motorcycle guy and with that roof open, it's almost like driving a convertible SUV. And my fiancee's six-year old daughter absolutely loves that giant sunroof. (This is a kid who, after her first motorcycle ride, said: 1) Let's take the long way home. 2) I never want to ride in a car again.) So, I'm showing our car at lunch today and then I may shoot down to Newton, NJ on the bike this afternoon to look at the Trooper. Anyone on the list live down in that area? Wanna go grab a beer or give a second opinion on the truck?

Cheers,

Sean

seanreid · May 2002

On the Troopers, is the towing package just a frame-mounted receiver or is there also special tansmission cooler, etc..? Any reason not to go with an aftermarket hitch on a Trooper? Is the mounting different?

Thanks,

Sean

paisan · May 2002

Sean! I live near NJ, so let me know when you'll be down there e-mail me mike@iace.com and I'll send you my cell number.

The towing package is a frame mounted hitch. The best one I've found so far is the Hidden Hitch and JC Whitney sells it for about $125 + $25 for the wiring harness. Total install time is about 40 minutes max. I've towed 5500lb car trailers with it and today my dad is towing my boat from NYC up to the Adirondacks with it @ 3200lbs. for the boat.

I'm heading up there after work, but if you are in the NY/NJ area in the evening I'll be around.

-mike

sbcooke · May 2002

but should the Isuzu Ascender topic be moved into the owners club?

paisan · May 2002

I would think so, we must embrace change.

-mike

sdc2 · May 2002

A guy from corporate Isuzu brought an Ascender to Moab. At the banquet he acknowledged the fact that nobody at ZuZoo V liked it (understandable, given the event), and talked about the fact that the Ascender was never intended to be a replacement for the Trooper, it was just a coincidence that it came out when the Trooper died, and that the Trooper is a 10 year old model that was not anticipated to be around this long anyway.

He did mention there is a replacement for the Rodeo coming out in 2004 (2005 model), but never mentioned an actual replacement for the Trooper. :-(

paisan · May 2002

Did the Ascendor go on any trails?

My biggest issue is with the GM build quality.

-mike

tetonman · May 2002

Probably too late given the holiday weekend, but what about going to the M'Lady website:

http://wwwheels.com/cfapps/specials.cfm?custid=384

Print the ad (sorry it only mentions the S, not the $10k offer) and bring it to dealer to see if you can drive the pricing down a bit, even on the Neptune Dealer's Trooper? Just a thought...

Hope you find what you want soon....

Good luck.

jimmyp1 · May 2002

I was thinking about tat the other day, and, maybe I'm dreaming, but all these partnerships don't exclude Isuzu from coming out with their own "new Trooper", do they? That would be sweet, kind of a MB G500 fighter for, say, $42k list, and $35-37k street price, maybe approaching $40k loaded. I'd be there. Oh, and a V8, or turbo V6, or, if I must include it, a turbodiesel.

(just not a big fan myself)

Jim

boxtrooper · May 2002

They better hurry, IMHO the Ascender is not a suitable "flag ship" for the Isuzu line in the USA. Isuzu needs a flag ship model to keep interest in the product. Magazine test drives for instance will test the GM Trailblazer, put it on the cover call it SUV of the year, and all that will be said about Isuzu is a little sentence or two that it is the same with a different name.

I am planning to buy my next vehicle in 2006 or so, and I want it to be an Isuzu SUV, fun and off road able like the Trooper but with a turbo diesel hybrid configuration that gets 35 MPG and can still tow 5000# over a mountain (10 to 15 MPG while towing). I think this high MPG SUV will exist, but I am not confident that Isuzu will exist in the SUV market.

paisan · May 2002

hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Isuzu is basically in the wind-down phase of it's life as an SUV maker. There will be a next gen rodeo that will get a diesel engine, but I have a nagging feeling it may be a clone or near clone of a GM vehicle. The trooper is gone, and no replacement in sight, especially because they are re-tooling the plant in Japan to produce the D-max pickup for the Asian market for a year or 2 and then it's slated to be converted over to Med-duty truck production.

-mike

boxtrooper · May 2002

What does GM have left that could be cloned and named Isuzu Rodeo? The S-10 is replaced by the Trailblazer. The next smaller thing is the Suzuki/GM Tracker. Tracker is much smaller than Rodeo.

GM just bought another Korean company, maybe the clone will come from Daiwoo or whatever company they just bought.

paisan · May 2002

My guess would be that GM will come out with something to compete in the small-mid range SUV market. This will replace the XL7, Rodeo, etc and put itself up against things like the Escape. Unless the worst case scenario....

Aztek rebadged....

a fate worse than death!

-mike

elopez99 · May 2002

sounds like you've had some pretty good luck at least locating the troops in your area. I'm in the L.A. area and looking for a decent 98-00 trooper to replace my aging (but quite capable @147K mi) 1990 4banger trooper. Anyway, was up around San Jose, CA earlier this week and looked at this 99 trooper.

(It's on page 5)
http://www.fhdailey.net/inventoryvpc.html

Price was a bit high I thought, but i was in the area so decided to check it out. Im pretty sure it had the performance package (factory sunroof, folding mirrors etc). But I noticed under, tons of rust which I later found out after running carfax was due to its midwest pedigree. Sorta turned me off a bit. I know they have long anti-corrosion warranties but just knowing it's under there would give me an uneasy feeling.

So I'm still looking.... couple of decent looking ones in the papers the last few days, but no time to look cause I'll be taking the ol' troop up to the Sierras this weekend. Hope you finally find your trooper!!

Paisan... Do you (or anybody else) know when was the last year they offered a Silver Trooper? Not the champagne silver of the past couple of years but a real "quarter" looking metallic silver. I'm thinking the 98s.

Sorry for the rambling, but can't help it, these troops are the real deal!

-eric

paisan · May 2002

Eric, I think the champagne colored ones were from 92->02, starting in 00-02 you could get the Moonmist Grey colored ones. I like the Bright Silver color of the rodeo and my dealer thought that was the color of the Trooper I was getting but I knew it would be the champagne color.

-mike

elopez99 · May 2002

Paisan, I'm pretty sure I once saw a bright silver trooper in the store parking locally. Had the black side molding strip so I thought it was a 98. Maybe I was dreaming cause it was at night, but I've never seen another one. Oh well, was probably the lighting : (

My current trooper is bronze(champagne) so i want to go with something a little different.

If I go new, definately a Moonmist Gray, used...I don't know yet. Probably will be determined by the condition of the vehicle for sure.

-eric

paisan · May 2002

I love the moonmist color, but the only one available with the Grey interior is the Champagne color one and some white ones. All others get near-white carpet and very light interior, which I'm not a big fan of, or I'd have ordered the moonmist instead of the champagne.

The one you saw was probably either re-painted or was the lighting.

-mike

jimmyp1 · May 2002

comes up with a bunch of Troopers, but, someone correct me if I'm wrong, you can't narrow the search down to the area in which you are willing to travel to buy.

Jim

paisan · May 2002

I used to be able to set a radius of which you want to get.

-mike

elopez99 · May 2002

Agree with you there! I guess it's light silver metallic for me then. I was very close to purchasing a new one exactly one year ago that was light silver metallic with gray interior. Just didn't pull the trigger!

Are you sure about the 4WD 2002's S without TOD? That would be a shame cause I've seen the 4WD 02 S at the local dealers around 23K.

-eric

elopez99 · May 2002

The LA Times has a link in their classified to cars.com where you could type in a zip and mile radius. Should be the same.

-eric

paisan · May 2002

about the S not having TOD in 02. Lemme see if I can find a link.

-mike

seanreid · May 2002

Took a look at the 1999 you mentioned and it seems to be very similar to one I'm interested in (in NJ). For comparison, "mine" is currently at $16,300 and has 24,000 miles. As for rust, if its just surface rust I wouldn't be too concerned (an inspection by a good mechanic/body shop will tell you). Up in Vermont, every vehicle I've owned has developed surface rust on the underbody from road, salt, moisture, etc.. I've never experienced anything rusting through from that; mostly it just makes it difficult to loosen nuts etc. Rust-through almost always begins on the inside and works its way out.

As for my own little shopping soap opera (and feel free to stop reading now...) A private buyer looked at my vehicle today and is very interested. She'll likely decide tomorrow morning if she's buying or not. Once that's sorted out, I'll head to NJ to look at this silverish Trooper.

Cheers,

Sean

bawbcat · May 2002

That trooper that you checked out in the bay area is defintely priced too high. Check out the target prices here on Edmunds, and you can also look at kbb.com and nadaguides.com. If you're shopping used, be sure to check out both autotrader.com and cars.com. Both allow you to enter a search radius, at least if you go the advanced search page.

paisan · May 2002

TOD is optional on the S but requires the AT. But you can get it w/o the TOD and have an AT.

http://carpoint.msn.com/autopricer/Tool.asp?Year=2002&Make=Isuzu&Model=Trooper&Trim=S%25204WD

-mike

elopez99 · May 2002

bawbcat, I had a printout with me of the used values and pretty much lowballed my initial offer just to see where they would come back. It had a tagged price of $16,990 and they said the lowest they would go would be $16,500. When I told him he was a bit off, he pulled out his nice little kelly blue book printout that had a price of $18K. Now I KNOW that's too high! His printout had $ values associated with power windows, door locks etc....all things that come standard. A little too much itemizing I thought. I'm sure I could've brought him down much lower, but because my heart really wasn't in it, just said thanks and went on my merry way.

I've been scouring the cars.com and autotrader websites everyday, but I'm finding that many used troopers are purchased at dealer auctions from returned leases. Not that the auctions are bad, in fact, I'm talking with an autobroker right now that I could go through to get to these Isuzu auctions. Would rather spend a few hundred for a broker fee than a few thousand to a dealer for the same car.

-eric

elopez99 · May 2002

Thanks for the info paisan, the 02s ive seen with 4WD and AT have had the TOD. But If I go the new route, i'm definitely going to pay attention.

-eric

paisan · May 2002

And one of my best buddy's is an Isuzu Salesman and I cross-checked the TOD on the S model with him as well. Just beware of extra-low prices on S models they may be come-on ads.

-mike

seanreid · May 2002

In my searching I've discovered that the vast majority of 2001s out there were used as rental vehicles and then went to auction. Some have been in great shape and some have really been beaten.

Sean

guill · May 2002

Since I can't seem to get the search function to work on this board would any Trooper owners share their experiences with aftermarket shocks? Particularly interested in Monroe shocks as I don't really want off-road shocks, just some to firm up the ride a bit and reduce lean and nose-dive.

mkaye · May 2002

I believe you have posted before, sorry no one replied. I don't recall anyone using, maybe one post on, Monroe shocks in the Isuzu forums.

Most here seem to have either used the Rancho RS9000 or the Old Man Emu shocks. Both have high marks. I use the RS9000's because of the adjustability. Crank them up for real off-road, medium for on-road and soft for washboard dirt roads. I think they are fantastic. Great pricing at http://www.hotrodoffroad.com, about $250.00 for four. Sometimes Rancho has a buy 3 get one free deal.

Some have used the Edelbrocks but have noted a few problems with reliability (leaking shocks). I have Monroe's on my car since that was the only aftermarket available as a strut, however, they are fine. They are not the "sensa-trac" or "reflex" shocks.

I think most would agree that any shock is a vast improvement over stock. So, if you choose the Monroe's, likely you'll be happy. I think some have noted on various forums that the Monroes or Gabriels may not have the durability as some other shocks, that may be the most inexpensive versions.
The Ranchos carry a lifetime warranty.

My friend has Bilstein's on his, great for on road but very stiff. On rough roads, causes a lot of vibration in the vehicle. Are about $50 each for Trooper.

Tokiko (trekmaster) is another manufacturer for shocks. The stock shocks are Tokiko's, but are not gas shocks. The aftermarket Tokiko are also a good choice, from the posts. There has been a lot of good press on the Trekmaster and Trooper. Overlander recommends Tokiko for Trooper, however, it is part of an overall suspension kit.

Here are a few good links:
www.overlander.com
www.shox.com
www.explorerprocomp.com
www.gorancho.com
www.edelbrock.com
www.bilstein.com

One of the 4wd magazines just did a review of shocks for trucks. Probably could find it in the library or somewhere.

flyinlow · May 2002

I never noticed this before today (wife's Trooper LS is 4 months old): the quasi-mirror rear side glass, though ugly, works great to check for complete coverage when applying sunscreen. I know this is a big advantage to the typical outdoorsy Twoopah ownah. You could also make sure your hair is combed before going in to that big interview.

bluedevils · May 2002

Isuzu uses some Troopers at its U.S. HQ in southern California. After a year or so, these Troopers are typically sold at Isuzu dealer only auctions. I've heard paisan explain this on the board, and I've heard a couple different dealers briefly explain the process to me, so I think it's probably accurate.

Anyway, I think this is a great way to buy a Trooper, or any vehicle. I'm assuming a corporate fleet vehicle does not endure the abuse of a typical Hertz/Enterprise-type rental vehicle.

We bought our 98 Trooper (1 year old and 7,000 miles) this way and saved about $4k off the best price on a new 99.

Just wanted to point out that some of the Troopers you guys are seeing that were purchased by dealers at auctions may have been corporate fleet vehicles, not rental vehicles.

seanreid · May 2002

I bought the 1999 Champagne S + Performance package that was at the NJ Honda dealer. Reasons:

1. Exterior and interior colors were exactly what I wanted
2. It has the wonderful stock moonroof
3. It is in exceptional shape, 26,000 miles, one owner trade in (verified by Car Fax) non-lease, non-rental
4. VG front tires, new rear tires
5. Everything worked, no wind noise from moonroof
6. It was time to conclude this search and just buy one, free time is getting scarce

Final price was $15,900. Not a bargain but not bad. I can live with it.

Rode down from VT to NJ on the bike yesterday afternoon, inspected the Trooper, drove it, signed papers, left truck there, slept, rode home. That I escaped the net of the gendarmes is a wonder and a blessing! Now we're going camping (if you can call a small RV camping). Tues I deliver my vehicle to the new purchaser in NH and then hopefully we'll go down and get the Trooper next weekend. In between I need to get a ton of tour research work done for Honda. Zoom, zoom, zoom...

If anyone's still looking there's a very nice 2001 grey S (25K, $15,500) in NH. It's the one I discussed previously and interested people can call me with questions (802-436-9853). As you know I'm not the seller and have no connection with the sale. But...it is a nice trooper and maybe someone here wants it.

The Hidden Hitch seems to be rated for 3500 lbs. using a conventional ball, did I read wrong? Is there another model I didn't see.

Thanks to everyone on the list who helped with my little oddysey. I've got maintenance questions for next week after I first go through archives.

Sean

savvas_e · May 2002

Congratulations on the new baby! Hope it gives you many happy miles of adventures.

kjmcgirl · May 2002

Sean,

I just bought and installed the Hidden Hitch on my 2001S about 4 weeks ago - I had tips from this group. I purchased mine at JCWhitney, my understanding was that their Class III was rated at 350lb tongue, 3500 trailer with a normal hitch hookup. If you install a weight distribution hitch, it increases to 500lb tongue, and 5000lb trailer.

The weight distribution hitch moves the weight to the front of the truck.

The Hidden Hitch I installed had 5 bolt holes that matched up to the frame, the directions also recommended you drill a 6th hole in the frame. I didn't as I'm only hauling a utility trailer, but I would if I was going to be pulling a 5000lb load.

-Kevin

katgre · May 2002

I must say this group has really helpful once again! I'm going today to get the oil changed (18k)switching from regular to synthetic since so many people on this board praises Mobil1 I will give it a try. I haven't been keeping up w/the post lately but after reading numerous messages I feel I have something wrong w/my Trooper. Since Jan. my truck has been back to the dealership 4x's due to the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. The O2 sensor was replaced and tweaked several times. Now, my problem is that when I push the TOD button in @ 40mph my lights flash-then the red check button comes on. Before I pulled over I pushed button out-turned vehicle off, pushed button in & turned vehicle back on TOD worked fine. If I remember correctly when I first purchased my Trooper I could push the TOD while driving am I correct? I even pulled the sun visor down to make sure I was using the correct procedures. I always drive in 2WD but I wanted to test different drive levels since I still don't know enough about my Trooper.

I will be taking the truck into a new dealership because I feel that the service dept have done 1 too many tweaks.

Thx

kg

gprodick · May 2002

I have a '99 Trooper with 265/75-16 Scorpions. I have about 11k miles on them. I am very happy with their performance and appearance.

They handle better than the stock 684's, ride great, but are a little louder. It is noticeably slower off the line than with the smaller tires, but you get over it. A pleasant surprise, it seems to climb high speed freeway type grades better, because you can put it in 3rd gear where it will comfortably run at 65-70 or more due to the higher gearing. This eliminates the searching between gears that you get when in Drive. The speedometer is off a bit, but you get used to it(not a big deal - a non-issue). The gas mileage seems to be pretty much the same. And it LOOKS GREAT! These tires make the truck look soooo much more beefy.

Problems? Some.

You will need to get a suitable spare tire. This means that the stock plastic cover has to go. No great loss in my opinion. I think it looks better with no cover. I traded my unused 684 straight across for a good used 265/75 when I had the tires installed. They were happy to have a new tire.

Be careful on sizing!!! A number of people on this board are considering larger size tires, even larger than 265/75. You're gonna have problems! Although my tires have no problems in normal driving, I have zipped the drivers side tire on the inside fender flare a couple of times off road. This has happened when I hit an unexpected hole and compressed the suspension all the way. It doesn't hit hard enough to do damage to the tire or flare, but it does get your attention.

Some have considered going to tires as large as 285/65 or 305/70. With tires this size you are going to run into some potentially serioius problems. Simply jacking up the t-bars or adding stiffer t-bars will not help. The vehicle will still compress to the same level. It may take a harder hit to do it, but it will, nevetheless. It is going to compress until you hits the suspension bump stops or the tire, whichever comes first. In order to avoid this problem and retain full suspension travel, I believe you would need a body lift. That is not an option for most.

It's hard for me to imagine that anybody running 285/75 or 305/70's on a stock Trooper, as has been reported, has driven on anything rougher than a freeway without problems. If you go larger than 265/75 or possibly 275/70 (slightly shorter, I believe), you're going to have a serious degradation in almost all performance categories, with performance gains in none. It's going to be a SLUG with poor mileage and driving characteristics. Although you will have more ground clearance, you won't be able to take advantage of it without damaging the tires and fenders. But, it will look mean.

If I had it do all over again, I would definitely go with the 265/75's again. I might look at the 275/70's as some have done. I have not seen these on another vehicle, however. I would never go larger!

guill · May 2002

I definitely agree with your posting gprodick.

When I posted in the modifications thread I wasn't advocating going with very large tires, simply I was just informing others that it is possible to mount tires larger than 265s on a Trooper. I know when I was trying to decide what size tires to put on my Trooper, the assistance of others really helped me out.

As far as fit and performance issues I can only attest to what I've been told. I do have 265/70s on my Trooper and power loss is barely noticeable. I'm really picky in this matter as I had a Jeep before and hated the performance with tires too large. They looked great but performance sucked. Many others on the 4x4 wire forum are running larger (than 265/75) tires. Most are running a lift while a couple of guys are at stock height. I would agree that there would have to be some rubbing with 285s or larger as 265/75s almost look a bit tight to me.

My two cents would be to go with the 265/75s. 265/70s are great but still look a bit too short and power loss with the 285s would be more than most people would like. And the only gears that I've seen for sale, to regear the axles to adjust the ratios for larger tires, are sold through a company in Iceland.

sbcooke · May 2002

good info. It confirms that 265/70's are really the size I want. I am definitely upgrading the spare too, I wonder if I can get a trade? that is another good idea. I was just going to keep all 5 and put them back on someday in the future. I am even thinking about eventually get an extra set of wheels and have a whole set to swap on an off?

savvas_e · May 2002

So what came first, tyres or tires?

My choices have boiled down to either the Bridgestone D693 in 265/70 or the Pirelli Scorpion A/T in 245/70. I don't want to go to a 75 series, so that rules out the larger Pirelli as it isn't available as a 265/70.

The 265/70 Bridgestone costs less than the 245/70 Pirelli here in Aus. But then again, that little Scorpion looks cute!

Not that I want my truck to look cute. Did anyone see the game last night? (Grunt)

paisan · May 2002

I fit them under FULL compression on my truck. They definitely outperform the stockers, and accelerations is barely any slower.

On and off-road the extra 30mm of tread definitely helps.

-mike

paisan · May 2002

I believe that any hitch put on the Trooper requires a weight distributing hitch over 3500lbs. I've trailed a 5500lbs car trailer several times at least 300-400miles w/o problems. I did notice after putting the OME rear coils that it sat and handled better.

-mike

seanreid · May 2002

OK, just ordered the Hidden Hitch from JC Whitney's site. Does the trooper have a trailer wiring socket in place near the rear of the vehicle? If, not, what's the simplest way to tap for lights? I'll be putting in a seven-round for lights plus electric brakes. Thanks,

Sean

boxtrooper · May 2002

Does anyone know if the later than 1995 model lifter tick proof heads will bolt on to a tick prone 1995 SOHC? If I keep the spark plug wires (not try to use the wonderful direct ignition you 3.5L guys enjoy), can I leave the 1995 engine computer in place?

How hard would it be to swap an entire used 3.5L engine into my manual 5 speed Trooper? Would the new 3.5L engine computer play nice with my manual transmission and other accesories?

I just had another attack of the tick. It makes me mad when it happens. I control it by changing oil, drive 500 miles, if still ticking change oil again... When the problem is gone it stays gone for maybe 10K to 20K miles. When it happens I get real unhappy and want to do something to make the tick go away forever. I don't think $3000 (installed) for new parts of the same design is a good value.

Thank You
BoxTrooper

emiura · May 2002

This year I had OME coils and shocks, so I could make good comparison with the stock Trooper I had last year.

I was following Steves (sdc2) Trooper on Elephant Hill (3.5). As Steve mentioned in his post, this is as far as I want to take my almost stock Trooper; however, it was doable, and I was quite amazed by how Trooper performed on the trail. I just wished I had larger tires like Steve had for crawling rocky sections and ledges. You can see Steves actions in my picture link below.

Dome Plateau (3). This was easy trail with beautiful scenery. No problem at all with stock vehicle.

Fins n Things (3.5 rating) had many steep up/downs. I ran this trail with complete stock Trooper last year (even with almost worn out original Duelers), so I knew I wouldnt have any problems. But having extra 1.5 of lift and stiffer springs/shocks made a big difference. Ive noticed that my front bumper/rear hitch receiver did not scrape where it did last year, and I had fewer bottoming out on the trail, also.

Link to my pics:

http://community.webshots.com/user/eiji_miura

Eiji

savvas_e · May 2002

I don't know if the swaps you are talking about would work. Installing the 3.5V6 I believe will be a big effort. Especially as you will need to understand all the electronic implications before starting out. There is a manual trans for the 3.5, but I don't know if it is a carry over or not from 1995.

Can't the ticking simply be eliminated by adjusting valve clearance back to factory spec? This should be the simplest and cheapest option.

paisan · May 2002

The 3.2 and 3.5 blocks are the same. Pretty much the same engines so a swap is definitely possible.

-mike

tkevinblanc · May 2002

For those checking prices, I purchased my Silver 98 S+Perf.Package (TOD, sunroof) about six months ago with 25K for $16,500. I thought I got a fair deal. Discontinuation is really striking hard at the value of a used Trooper now...

I purchased my Hidden Hitch from - where was it - Advanced Automotive? someplace on Paisan's Trooper link page - for $125 and $7 shipping. Really cheap. I think, though, they misquoted me on that - everyone else seems to have paid more.

sbcooke · May 2002

looks like good fun. Thanks for sharing.

Isuzu Trooper

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