Shopping for a car from a defunct producer is usually a crapshoot, as elements availability could also be sketchy. That makes at present’s Good Value or No Cube Trooper a little bit of a raffle since Isuzu is lengthy gone from the U.S. scene. We’ll need to resolve if its worth is a guess we’d gladly take.
“You gotta give ‘em that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang,” You recognize, perhaps if VW had named its 181 the “Thang” right here within the U.S. as an alternative of the “Factor,” it will have been extra common. We’ll by no means know. What we do know is that, at $12,000, the 1974 VW Factor we checked out yesterday wasn’t too common round right here. That was evident within the 57 % No Cube loss it acquired.
Are you aware what’s common? That’s proper, SUVs and crossovers. Automotive consumers seemingly can’t get sufficient of them. That’s been the case for the previous 30 years or so, ever since Ford launched the wildly common Explorer.
It’s unusual, then, that Isuzu, an organization with a mannequin line steeped in SUVs and an extended historical past of truck constructing behind them, couldn’t make a go of it in such a market. Perhaps it was unhealthy luck or a voodoo curse, however Isuzu’s speedy decline from a car-maker to a vendor of badge-engineered vehicles made by others to finally pulling up stakes is a tragic and sorry story.
On the brilliant aspect, the corporate constructed some stable vehicles alongside the way in which, and we have now a type of to debate at present. This 2000 Isuzu Trooper rocks 152,500 miles on the clock, and whereas it reveals some dents and scrapes for these miles, it appears to be like to be in fairly good situation total.
In keeping with the outline within the advert, this Trooper:
has had no accidents, runs and drives very properly. It’s been cared for in and out. Clear California title, simply smog licensed and lately serviced. The tires are practically new, there are not any warning or service lights on. It’s very good and able to go wherever!
Mechanically, this is without doubt one of the greatest Trooper fashions to purchase because it has the later 3.5-liter DOHC V6 making 215 horsepower. That’s paired with a company elements bin 4L30E four-speed automated, Borg-Warner “Torque On Demand” 4WD system, and a tow bundle.
All the pieces appears authentic right here, proper right down to the two-tier manufacturing unit stereo unit and funky ’90s sample on the mouse fur-upholstered seating. For these demanding a minimal of ostentation, there are energy home windows and locks, cruise management, and dealing A/C.
There’s nothing too fancy right here, though the truck does give off Vary Rover vibes with out that marque’s inherent status for poor reliability. There aren’t all that many different choices for somebody in search of a fairly roomy two-row SUV with a little bit of a unusual nature and a tragic historical past of company failure. The query for us is whether or not this distinctive beast becoming that invoice is perhaps price its $4,650 asking.
What do you say? Is that this clear, if not pristine, Trooper a go at that $4,650 price ticket? Or does that worth make this simply one other Isuzu failure?
You resolve!
Humbolt, California, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
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