2005 ASCENDER

No experience with the Ascender but it is a GM product. It is the same as a Chevy Trailblazer or GMC Envoy.

HockNeck wrote:

In June of this year I purchased the 5 passenger vers Ascender with the in line six. We love IT!! We choseh the leather upholstery and moon roof with all the gadgets including the GPS Nav system and Bose music. This vehicle tops the satisfaction level above all else that I have purchased in my lifetime thus far (approx 28 vehicles) The warranty far exceeds what Trailblazer or Envoy will offer to you. There is a V-8 option with approx

330hp but the 6 that produced 290hp is extremely powerful for anything that me or my wife requires. Some literature says the six cyl is only 275hp but if you visit this Isuzu (main) link and clik specification you will see that Isuzu rates the 6 banger with 290hp at 6000 rpm . Here is the link on the horse power performance: Currently, the pricing is very favorable for buying one of these beautiful SUV's. Again, Connie and I love this Isuzu very much and the only down side we have discovered is that the fuel economy is not the best on the road (17city 21hwy) but when one realizes the exceedingly powerful engine and this engine is a VORTEC (GM's tried and proved best concept ever) I take the gas mileage as quite good. This SUV is capable of keeping up with or blowing off the majority of production cars and trucks on the American roads.

Please go test drive one and be sure to tell the sales person in advance that you plan to put it thru it's paces. And do step on it. I think you will be amazed at how smooth, quiet and powerful this SUV performs.

Good Luck! Should you have any other questions, feel free to email me or Connie at this address: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net.

Ernie and Connie Krist

Thats very true. Only problem is that the number of Isuzu dealerships to honor that warranty is next to nill. So many have closed up the past few years. I hope they come back when Isuzu starts offering more vehicles for sale.

I'm not a GM person. Is the Vortec the same engine that had horrible piston slap issues that GM refused to do anything about?

Isuzu is working hard at slicing out their piece of pie from the current market. Here in the Carolina's USA at least some older established Ford, GM and other dealerships have installed Isuzu as new add ons to their dealer set-up. Mainly due to the 2 new pick up trucks, the I-350 5 cylinder crew cab and the model I-280 4 cyl. extended cab. These trucks as well as the new 5 cylinder powerplants seem to be made by Isuzu truck division. I saw under the hood were many Japanese markings on parts. I did a test drive on the supercharged i-280 and was impressed. I thought I was driving a big V-6.

About the warranty, I purchased an add-on extended warranty for my 05 Ascemder that allows bumper to bumper coverage to include full roadside assistance and loaner vehicle if needed without deductible all the way thru

84 months or 100k whichever comes first and and service is guaranteed at any Isuzu or Ford Dealership. And we all know the 100k would come prior to the 84 months. Right! LOL!

I hope that you have had a chance to see the new Isuzu pickups. the front-end grill's etc seem to have the nice styled lines that attracted me to the Ascender. The Ascender to me and my wife appeared far more aesthetically appealing than did the Trailblazer or GMC Envoy.

I wish that I was in the market for a new 4x4 pick up because I would definitely be driving that new Isuzu 4x4 5 banger with me.

Here is a link to the new 4x4 Isuzu trucks:

To me, life would so dull without an Isuzu,

Ernie and Connie,

2005 Ascender 1996 Trooper 1990 Trooper S

The more pe>> The warranty far exceeds what Trailblazer or Envoy will offer to you. >

Ernie,

I am also an Isuzu fan, and I truly wish that Isuzu would turn itself around, but I can't help but respond to correct a couple of inaccuracies.

First of all, the new pickup trucks are built at a Chevy plant, not an Isuzu facility. Isuzu shut down their Indiana manufacturing facility in the United States some time ago.

The reviews I've read at Edmunds.com and elsewhere tell me that the I-350 and I-280 are not competitive with offerings from several other manufacturers, which doesn't surprise me given Chevy's involvement.

I have also read that Isuzu will not bring a replacement for the Rodeo to the U.S. market, which is a terrible shame. My Rodeo, which was built at the Fuji plant in Indiana, has performed flawlessly without a single issue for nearly 4 years. I'm not sure that the proposed replacement, which was to have been built in Thailand if I'm not mistaken, would have been comparable in any event.

To all outward appearances, GM has destroyed Isuzu as a competitive brand in the United States. The dealer network is collapsing on sales that are barely over 10k a year. Based on what I've seen of Isuzu's new vehicle roadmap, I sincerely doubt this brand will be around in 1 - 2 years.

Out of curiosity, is your 7/75 Ascender warranty backed by Isuzu or GM?

Jonathan Quick snipped-for-privacy@houston.rr.com

Hi Jonathan,

Glad to hear your input. My Ascender factory warranty to 75k miles is backed by Isuzu and from 75k to 100k miles, I have a better warranty that kicks in from of all companies (Ford Motor) that additional warranty was purchased by me to make certain that everything is covered to include a guaranteed loaner vehicle should it be required to spend and overnight at the dealer. The reason for the Ford coverage is that my Isusu dealership (University Ford and Isuzu) is also a big Ford dealership.

Considering that Isuzu is the largest truck manufacturer in the rest of the world, I feel quite certain that they will be back in the US market as soon as they can work out some of their marketing glitches.

I also liked rodeos. And have enjoyed the 4 troopers that I have owned very much including the old 90 Trooper that I still drive. Unfortunately, the "better half" gets most of the pleasure of the new Ascender. Regarding my Ascender purchase, if I had to do it over again and after shopping GMC Envoy and Chevy Trailblazer, I would act exactly in the same way and buy the Ascender. It has better looks than the other 2 and seems to have some bettere appointments that Isuzu wrote into the OEM contract with the assembly part of the GM deal.

Good hunting and "Go Isuzu"

Jonathan, you're correct. I've done extensive research lately deciding which SUV to buy. But in the end, I took Ernie's advice and bought a 2005 5 pax Ascender. We are very pleased so far. The I bought the extended warranty to cover everything for 7/75.

I could have gone w/either the 4-runner or Pathfinder, but both would have cost me atleast $5-6K more. Not worth it seeing how you get the same thing at entry level w/the Ascender that cost extra with those other guy's.

Not sure about the rest of the Isuzu dealers, but this one in Corpus Christi, TX seems to be moving vehicles in record fashion. Tks/Evan

HockNeck,

I'm glad to learn that you took the plunge and purchased the Ascender 5 pass. I rest confident that you will enjoy it very much as my wife and I do. If their was one over-whelming feature that I could reflect about my 2005 Ascender 5 pass would have to be the powerplant and as you should be aware from the factory site that I posted earlier showing the 290-horse power specification. This engine and transmission has to be the smoothest power and performance combined that I have ever experienced. I really believe that they have mastered the engineering of this engine almost perfectly. My wife recently completed a 4500 mile round trip from NC to TX and back home and not one little incy mincy drop of oil was used on the trip that she cruised approx 80mph during most of the trip. Also, my dealer is selling them with a high volume passion due to the overwhelming response that the public has showed for this SUV at such an affordable buying proposition. Who knows: "Maybe the Ascender will be a collectors item some day" lol!

Happy driving,

Ernie

Isuzu does manufacture loads of trucks worldwide, but most are COMMERCIAL vehicles. Yes, the ones with the diesels in them.

Isuzu as a passenger vehicle company is pretty much done.

I did own an Isuzu some time back and I seriously could not believe how many folks in the forums I frequented could not believe that Isuzu was becoming dust. I guess they did not want to smell the coffee...

The Pickup (what I owned) being replaced with the s-10 should have been a clue. Mistubishi and Mazda did likewise and neither have been the same. Mazda at least is owned by Ford.

As for the piston slap, the I6 should be safe, but word is that the occasional oil drinker or slapper in the gasser GM v8s is still around.

Oh yeah, not marketing your own products is a pretty sizeable glitch from the marketing department.

Ernie, this past weekend my wife/I made a round-trip from Corpus Christi, TX to Houston to visit family...about 500 miles round-trip. The ride was very smooth and the passing acceleration was more than adequate. Tks again for the vote of confidence. R/Evan

Ernie,

Can't understand how Isuzus could be flying off the lot. Anemic national sales numbers and my own experience lead me to a different conclusion.

In Houston, one of our two remaining Isuzu dealers has turned his dealership into a trailer park. It's actually one of the funniest things I've seen in some time. A large Isuzu "Sales and Service" sign has been mounted in between two mobile home trailers on a dirt and gravel lot off of I-10!

The physical space where the original I-10 Isuzu dealership was located has been turned into a Kia dealer.

I've decided that my next vehicle will probably be a Subaru.

Jonathan Quick snipped-for-privacy@houston.rr.com

Jon, It must be a regional thing regarding why University Ford/Isuzu sales are so good. In fact they went out "nationwide" and purchased all the new Isuzu Ascender inventories from dealers that were closing down because the new

2006 Isuzu pick ups were rolling onto the sales lots and the Ascenders were depleating very quickly. They actually showed me the paperwork from the bolo dealers sell outs. The salesman that closed my deal in July told me that I was his 31st sale for an Ascender during that part of July, 2005. And he also sells his share of the Fords as well. I have a local Isuzu dealer (Leith Isuzu) here in Fayetteville but would not do any business with them as I had some bad experiences with them and the new 96 Trooper that came from there. I still checked pricing and it was well worth the 2 hr drive to University because I saved alot of money compared to Leith.