your opinion is not justified by the reality.
Search the google for Toyota&Nissan&etc problems.

Be reasonable.



Again, you have no reasons to claim this. 98+ vehicles are
relatevely new. In 5 years, only good 2gens will still
be around, and again somebody will complain that '3gen
rodeos are less bulletproof than 2gen' becouse some bad
3gen will be around. Do you really believe that there are
no lemon 4Runners around ?

From what I personally know and according to my personal
preferences, 2gens are better engineered than 1gen (engine,
suspension, wheelbase etc).

Whenever you buy a second-hand car, you always take
chances. If the previous owner did not maintain the truck
properly, you will have to put some cash into the vehicle.

Regarding the fuel pump: you never know what the 1st owner
did to the fuel system. If it's been never cleaned, if the
fuel filter has never been replaced, if the 1st owner
used to run with semi-empty gas tank often - than you are
supposed to have problems with the vehicle, no matter
which brand it is.

Oleg

i know of two personally. a 1995 4runner that blew the engine, it broke a rod and the cylinder head smashed the spark plug. and the other can't keep his out of the shop. neither of them ever off-roaded although one of them pretended to (he got all-terrains and a "4runner off-road team" sticker <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/oink.gif" alt="" />)

One of the reasons I bought my Trooper was because of the reliability reputation. I've known plenty with 100-200,000+. I'm '01 Trooper with 60,000 miles - many off road - Disney,OK - Moab, UT - various other places... no problems to date, and it's hammer down all the time. I've had good luck with toys too, and my dad, brother and I have 4 Land Crusiers between us. But you pay for it.

A little disapointed with the mileage, but I figure if a 4 runner (which is definately smaller) got 5 miles more per gallon, it'd only take 250,000 miles to make up the difference in price. Heck, for what a two year old 4 runner costs, I could buy two troopers, or one and a heck of a lot of parts.

Hey, you could have spent $35,000 on a trail blazer like my dad's that's been in the shop for mis programed computer and half a dozen other issues, and he's been notified that they screwed up something in the engine and it could seize at any moment with no warning and they won't fix the effected models, and it knocks at start up like a VW beetle with 250,000 miles on the engine. Cars are certainly pick your poison, you pay on the front end or the back end, but you'll pay and pay and pay and pay........

I believe I am definately being realistic with my view of Isuzu.

Yesterday on CNN Headline news they had a story about repeat buyers. It was conducted on the basis of "willingness to buy another vehicle by the same manufacturer".
First Place - Toyota
Second Place - Honda
41st (Dead Last) - Isuzu

Search anywhere on Edmunds, Car Review.com, Consumer Reviews ect. and you will find Isuzu's ranking well down the list in reliability.

In no way am I cutting down Isuzu. I still love isuzu, because they allowed me to have an awesome vehicle for less than any other brand our there.

But I also realize Isuzu's quality is not up to par with most of the other Japanese brands. This is more than understandable considering the absolute over the topness of the QC measures in place at Toyota/Honda. But when the company ranks far behind Chevy/Ford/Dodge/Jeep in reliability of their vehicles it becomes questionable.

A few months ago my dad recieved a TSB for his 96 Toyota T100 (years out of warranty). He can take his truck to any Toyota Dealership to have the headgasket replaced for free because a of a seal leak in a small percentage of the 3.4L produced. On the other hand literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of people have roasted their 3.2L DOHC Isuzu engine because they did not know about its oil consumption problems. I almost did when I first recieved my Isuzu. I checked the oil when I got it and drove it for a month and for some reason decided to check it again for safety and it was about 1.5 quarts low. This was before I found this site. If you search on google (planetisuzoo.com and suv.com have several as well) you can find countless horror stories of car-ignorant people driving their Isuzu without oil in it because of they did not know or expect that kind of consumption out of a newer vehicle.

I realize they made a mistake in the designing of the engines but they should have corrected the problem on every vehicle not just the ones still under warranty.


I still love Isuzu and an never lose site of being thankfull for having such a cool vehicle, but that doesnt cause me to deny their underachieving reliability.

I will try to keep my Rodeo in good health as long as possible, but if it keeps up with these little nick-nacks or comes down with major trouble I may just cut my losses and make do.

Again thanks for the responses - this forum is invaluable to any Isuzu owner.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Never, ever believe anything you see on CNN. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> They have as much credibility as Consumer Reports... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" /> Honda and Acura put their name and reputation on Isuzus. I know of no other comparable relationship in the automotive industry. Can you even dream of Toyota Putting its badge on a Ford ?

sorry to hear about your problems.. I own a 97 Rodeo and so far with 121.000 miles on it I have noticed slight oil consumption especially after day of wheelin', I check my oil level religiously once a week if not more often, also I have bought it with 80.000 on it and so far I have only replaced water pump, fan bracket (bearing noise drove me nuts) and starter solenoid (talk about lot of work if you don't have body lift). all I can say is that I love my Rodeo, and want to see how much more I can get out of this engine (hopping for another 100.000+... change your oil at 3000 miles, change oil filter at the same time, and add some of that fuel inj. cleaner (I buy Lucas for $2-3)... also I change all the fluids in diffs, tranny, tcase and fuel filter once a year. take care of it, and it will be good to you. hope this helps, just my $0.02 Adem

I have to say that our 88 trooper lasts WELL. For people with absolutely zero money most of the time to even consider spending on repairs, it holds up WELL. A few dents, some squeaks, but it runs well. I love it.

I should write a testimonial..

If you havent run accross this yet http://planetisuzu.com/articles.htm/108,
than read it & think about it this way:
If Isuzu wasn't as tough as they are, it would've never worked.

I beat the crap out of it every single day. Driving in NYC potjoles at speedes not realy healthy to the truck & it still holds together (i did manage to to break my a-arm mounting point on the frame once, but the jeep driving behined me fliped over in the same hole).

I'm not saying Isuzu is the best engeneered trucks out there. I hate a lot of things they have done, but comparing them to other makes, Isuzu's are ussualy overbuilt.

Just my $.02

That is a good point, actually. When Honda/Acura came up short on their own SUV platforms, they chose to contract with ISUZU to produce SUVs for their nameplates. Not Toyota, nor Nissan.

But, at the same time, ISUZU, Honda, and Subaru entered into a joint production agreement sometime back, and this may have ultimately lead to the reliability issues being referenced.

I don't include ISUZU NA in the same breath as ISUZU JP though. I think ISUZU NA has totally dropped the ball in the US market, otherwise, as the original poster put it, ISUZU wouldn't be 41st place in the repeat buyer's market which is absolutely tied to brand name recognition and the nameplate just isn't out in front at the dealerships.

I don't have a new ISUZU - but two issues that crop up constantly are:

Valve-tick issue - 3.2

Oil consumption - 3.5

Alternator placement - 3.2

There are other aggravations, but those seem to be the big three I see threads on. Does that mean they are inferior to say, the other imports. Don't think so.

Visit the other brand related boards and I bet you'll find each make has their own set of headaches. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

Buying a used auto is always 'buyer beware' irregardless of the used car dealer type. OEM or storefront or even CarMax. You NEVER can know for sure how well a vehicle was cared for in it's previous life. I bought mine with 20K miles on it and I always had a nagging doubt in the back of my mind on when the first big 'break' was gonna happen. I'm now at about 165,000 miles still waiting..... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You may indeed need to cut your losses, but you'll not find many detractors here of the ISUZU, new, old, or otherwise - but judge wisely the other nameplates as well.

Sorry for your troubles, call St. Charles on the fuel pump, or consider a salvaged one from another source.

Cheers,

I like my Rodeo, and I too beat the crap out of it, my Rodeo has 99,000 mile on it with only one real issue/problem being the rack needing replaced about a year ago. I like my Rodeo but there are some issues (questionable reliability) that are know, in addition to the ones listed above the second generatoin Rodeo/Amigo also have fuel gauge problems and steering rack issues. My wife and I thought that soon we would replace the Rodeo with a newer Amigo/Rodeo Sport for a fun vehicle, however, I hate to say I donÆt think that will happen, I have been seeing to many problems with Isuzus lately, there isnÆt real good customer support and that will probably only get worse with the semi-demise of Isuzu NA.

I do not think of cars as an investment, i run tham as long as they are reliable, but it is also a little bothersome that on edmunds.com the top 3 SUVs with the worst re-sale value are:Rodeo, Acender, RodeoSport and the Axiom is #5. That is not good!