Great off-road ability, strong body, excellent acceleration, good build quality, attractive (at least I think so), trouble-free and comfortable ride (especially when compared to the Ford Explorer). The stuff you get in the Trooper is the stuff that's useful--no useless frills. I highly recommend the Trooper and am sad that it's no longer made or imported. The new Isuzu's just don't do it for me.

Biggest weaknesses are the poor gas mileage and the uncomfortable front seats (especially bad on long trips).

2000 Isuzu Trooper LS 4WD. Purchased with 6,000 miles. This is my second Trooper (also had a '99) and I've put 60,000 trouble-free miles on it. The only repair was a new starter which was replaced under warranty. Since the Trooper is gone, this is more of an eulogy than a review. I look at the Mercedes, Infiniti, Lexus and BMW's and can't imagine taking them to the rough places I've gone with my Trooper. Some people don't care for the styling -- it's not modern enough. The Trooper's looks belies what it is -- a tough, offroad vehicle that began life as a truck. It's not a car with an identity problem, but one of the last of the REAL SUV's. Anyway, since gas is close to $2 a gallon, I've thought about selling my Trooper and buying a better mileage vehicle. For weeks I've been looking around but nothing comes close. The Honda CRV is timid; the mileage of the Subaru Outback is only slightly better than the Trooper; and on and on. Who am I kidding? I love the Trooper. Just took it in today for a makeover (clean up the scratches and fix the plastic wheel guards that I scraped, etc.) The Trooper is simply the strongest, most comfortable and smoothest SUV for the price. Nothing comes close. It's probably the last real bargain in vehicles. Some people don't care for the styling -- it's not modern enough. The Trooper's styling belies what it is -- a tough, offroad vehicle that began life as a truck. It's not a car with an identity problem, but one of the last of the breed of REAL SUV's.

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Jeep Cherokee, Mitsubishi Montero, Ford Explorer.

Handling,comfort level,interior extras.

Gas Mileage 15 city, 17 Highway.Check the oil on long trips could burn a little more than normal.

I am really please with the handling and comfort level of the seats for a mid sized SUV on the 95 trooper limited 4X4.I paid $6,500. was a steal with 70,000 miles 6 cyl 3.2 LTR auto .This SUV has everthing for a 95 leather seats,seat warmer,12 cd changer,fold down seats in the rear and evan wipers on the head lights. I have researched the different type of SUV's on the market and for the money this is the best SUV I could find for a mid sized.

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Explorer,Montero,4 runner

Incredible value as a used car purchase! Awesome in the snow. Tons of interior space. Dog likes the room in the back. Starts every day and has never left me stranded.

Routine dealer service is expensive. Makes horrible knocking sound sometimes, is the oil low? Mysteriously disappearing oil. Need to add a quart about every 1000 miles. Where does it go? Occasionally stalls at idle. No diagnosis. Occasionally loses some power at low RPMs, typically in very cold weather. No diagnosis. Rear door is impossible to close with one hand due to stupid latching mechanism. Difficult to replace the rear windshield wiper blade due to big giant tire mounted to back--stupid design. Paid a lot for the extended warranty but it hasn't broken down yet so I can't get my money's worth! Drives like a top-heavy truck.

Bought used in 2002 with 44,000. Now it has 60K. It occasionally has a weird idle/stalling problem as well as occasionally losing some power at low RPMs in very cold weather, but it never actually breaks down or stops working. I took it to the dealer and these problems did not occur in the 1 minute they drove it, so they said nothing was wrong and charged me $50 for their time. Later on I called the dealer to make an appointment for the 60K mile service, they said it would be approximately $1000 and two days in the shop. For routine service! Well, at least dealers are predictable. So instead I went to the local Tire place and paid $180 to replace all the fluids (radiator, transmission, power steering, oil, etc.). You are supposed to repack the bearings every 30K, but I'm going to conduct an experiment to see how long they last without servicing instead. It drives like, well, a truck. I got the stick shift because it was much cheaper and supposedly would have better performance and gas mileage. Performance is adequate and I average about 15 MPG with an equal mix of highway and city driving. My Trooper does not have the fancy TOD 4WD system, instead, it has a 4WD button on the dash that I use about 7 days a year during the Kansas City winters. This vehicle is awesome in the snow! The truck occasionally threatens to break down with the above-mentioned problems but it never actually does. So in the end it has been a very dependable and I'm pretty happy with it. I am especially happy with the price--I was shopping for a used Altima or Saturn when I came across a used Trooper with low miles for the same price! What a deal!

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1995 Escort GT

Huge interior. Comfortable ride. Rugged construction. Lots of bells and whistles. Incredible warranty.

Susceptible to cross-winds. Very high off the ground - running boards a good idea. Almost impossible to service yourself - rear plugs require amazing contortions to extricate.

I have seen some recent reviews which absolutely panned the Trooper. I note from one person he based his remarks on an '89 model. That's pretty scientific! I have had a '94 Trooper for six years and have had this '01 Trooper for coming up on three. They have been two of the best vehicles I have EVER owned. My total expenditures on both (excluding oil maintenance) were for a rear-end oil seal and a starter motor - both on the '94 in '98. The vehicles are rugged, torquey and very low maintenance. Although not the prettiest vehicles around, they are very functional extremely conmfortable to drive. If they have a down-side it is their tall, slab sidedness which does make them very susceptible to crosswinds. Both the '94 and '01 Troopers return 19-20 mpg which I find quite acceptable for a full-size SUV. I was truly sorry to see the Troopers go and will not buy another Isuzu as, if I wanted to drive a Chevy Trailblazer, I'd go and buy one.

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Range Rover. Not a fair comparison.

always starts, roomy, 2.8 is reliable, heats up quick

Loud inside,(its my tires too beefy), rust

Even thought the trooper has only been on the road for a month It runs great. I believe some people have are used to driving really nice cars if they think the Trooper is junk. What you see is waht you get with these things. They are fun to drive and pretty reliable if you are driving the 2.8l. I'm currently looking for an 89-92 trooper that doesn't have so much rust on the frame and use my current Trooper as a parts truck. If you're handy under the hood the trooper is a great little 4x4.

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89 trooper with 4cyl

Solid body construction, Great handling and turning radius, Strong acceleration, Good engine (I-6), Smooth ride (Bilstein shocks) All around great SUV!

Gas mileage

I bought my Trooper in 2001. I've driven through snow, rain, windy conditions with no problems whatsoever. This past winter I was able to go up hills, while a lot of front wheel drive vehicles couldn't. A well thought out SUV.

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Jeep Cherokee P.O.S.

THIS VEHICLE HAS 140,000 MILES AND SEEMS TO RUN JUST LIKE A NEW ONE.EVERYTHING WORKS GREAT AND GOES ANYWHERE I NEED IT TOO GO.KIDS LOVE IT BECAUSE THEY ARE CRAMMED PACK IN THE BACK.BY FAR THE BEST SUV I HAVE EVER DROVE.IT IS NICE THAT MOST PARTS ARE GM INTERCHANGABLE KNOWING THIS BY WORKING ON TROOPERS IN THE PAST.

FINDING THE ORIGINAL TIRE SIZE IN MY AREA IN OKLAHOMA THE 245/70/16 ARE HARD TO FIND WITHOUT ORDERING BECAUSE THEY ARE CALLED A P METRIC TIRE AND THE BUTTONS FOR THE MIRRORS AND THE POWER CONTROL BUTTONS ARE PLACED IN A BAD AREA AND THE PAINT ON THE BOTTOM IS A LITTLE TO BRITTLE NEED TO DEFINITELY DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE PAINT...

1998 ISUZU TROOPER LUXURY EDITION

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1990 BLAZER SUCKED GAS AND NEVER DEPENDABLE PUT 2 TRANSMISSIONS IN IT IN 1990 AND BOUGHT IT BRAND NEW.1987 BRONCO 2 TOP HEAVY AND NEITHER ONE OF THESE VEHICLES RELATE TO MY TROOPER..

Only as a paperweight, if it doesn't rust out too fast.

It's very existance.

My wife had one of these turds when we got married, I got her a good car and somehow got stuck driving it myself. After a few months it was gone. It was unreliable, worthless offroad, slow (dangerously underpowered), handled very poorly and the brakes weren't adequate for a moped. You could count on shearing off a wheel stud every time you changed a tire. the catyletic converter was replaced 4 times the head was replaced the ignition system was replaced several times. We were well on our way with the "lemon law" documentation before they got it to stop backfiring. I would never have purchased the ugly thing but she thought it was OK, she now admits that she deserves no further input in our auto purchases.

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I can't think of anything that I would want to insult by calling "similar"

Comfortable and stable on the highway. Cruises nicely at 65-75. Interior is roomy. With the 2.8, replacing the oxygen sensor regularly is the key to decent mileage and performance. I'm getting 20 combined and 23 on the highway.

Rust! Typical for Japanese trucks of the same era.

Once I got the rear half of the frame replaced and some rust repaired, it's been great as our third car. We had to replace the radiator and water pump on the venerable 2.8 (GM) V-6. The vehicle has about 158,000 miles on it.

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We also own a 1999 Suzuki Vitara.

Got lots of power; comfortable seating; smooth ride for an SUV (and I ride on some rough roads); great large moonroof; can really get through the mud and does well on highway; gas mileage is average for this size ride--not too bad. Love the reclining backseats and the heated leather seats for cold winter use. Love it when I can lay that back seat down and haul over 600 lbs of horse feed and not worry about it getting wet. It has a lot of hauling capacity.

My biggest beef is that I don't know why they put the power button, seat heater buttons, and side mirror buttons on the console. They need to be on dash as when I put something on the console, it always mashes a button unintentionally. I would recommend cupholders that also can covert to hold the larger cups as there is only one way to do this and that's to open the back storage box above the back cupholders and put the holder there. That's fine if you're the only passenger and no one needs cupholders in back seat. The silver paint peels badly on the bottom (mine is 2-toned) and it seems that every rock peck makes that paint peel off. I keep it touched up, but that paint could use some work--put something on that vehicle on the lower area that doesn't need that type of paint---that way the road debris won't take off anything! I understand parts will be expensive. Also, can feel those high winds more in this ride as it is higher and not as heavy as my Chevy Z71 was, but that's to be expected.

I love this vehicle. I got it in 2001 from a lady who had only 10,000 miles on it and now it has over 79,000 (beginning of 2004)--road and offroad miles--and no problems whatsoever. I have the luxury/power edition and love that moonroof. I can't believe Isuzu doesn't have any Troopers on their lots around here! This is a great vehicle--I can only compare it to my Z71 Chevy Pickup as for liking the ride--but Chevy has too many problems to replace as they get mileage on them. This baby keeps going and going and going. I got rear-ended by a lady; I was stopped and she was going at least 45 or 50 mph--it only scratched the back cover on the tire and went under the vehicle and bent the metal shroud that protects the underside. It barely dented my vehicle, but demolished the lady's car and we were all fine. It looks like new now, of course, and rides and drives as well as ever. It's a tough vehicle and I got one with all the bells and whistles and have had no problems with them at all. Oh, and LOVE the way the back door opens---NEVER change that!

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Z-71 Chevy Pickup(several); Jeep Sport (too light in backend and would fishtail on wet roads); Toyota 4-runner--liked this one, but rougher ride than the Trooper; Ford F-150 Pickup--boy, did it drink the gas! Lincoln Continential--HATED IT--everything started going wrong first month I had it; Toyota Camry---a great little car, but I had to convert to 4-wheel drive for rural Mississippi and also for my job as I do alot of field work in very rural areas where I don't want to end up stuck in the middle of nowhere!