(OT for landrover fans) Isuzu Trooper thoughts and views

Richard Savage vaguely muttered something like ...

Bro-in-law had one for the farm, very thirsty, good power, but not torquey enough I thought. Struggled on the hills a bit (Near Crich, Derbyshire), especially when towing. Absolutely drank petrol when towing, more so than an equivalent Landrover of _any_ variety, something like 12 to the gallon, which was worse than my S3 on a bad day ...

They're cheap to buy and insure though, and do seem to take knocks quite well and handle rough treatment, providing you don't mind not having any re-sale value when you want to get rid.

Do you seriosly expect me to be sensible ? I am partisan. I am a Coventrian and whether you like it or not Rover when twas still a bicycle started here. Used to live in view of the original Rover works.

The yanks have there Harleys, but a Vincent Black Shadow never, even Marlon Brando in the Wild one rode a Triumph.

The Zero was a fine airoplane but it werent no Sopwith Camel

Not all of 'em, but some are just having feckin' laugh. New gear lever inc overdive button a stunning £368 !!!!!

Got ojne from a scrapyard for £15!!

Nige

Nope, the wings cost £15,000 even then!

The turbo bearings failed at about 50000m. on my daughter's P reg Monterey.

Nobody would consider "re-engineering" it as they are known to be weak so a new one from a factor (stock item!) cost her £400.

Otherwise completely reliable (although it isn't off-road very often).

Fred

Hi Fred,

Sounds perfect - my RRC's off-road experiences are limited to muddy fields and campsites. Another contributor refers to it having less than wonderful wet weather handling - any views?

£400 for a new turbo sounds quite reasonable. My SAAB 95 has a problem with crankcase ventilation which, if not addressed, can wreck the turbo bearings and lead to engine destruction!

Thanks

Richard

I had a 2.8 TDI Trooper SWB and it was a great motor but the price of parts are just horrendous! I ran mine for three years though and the only items I replaced apart from the normal servicing items were the tyres! I found mine very reliable.

Hi Richard,

My daughter has never mentioned anything to me about poor handling in wet weather so I can't really comment except in general terms that tyres can make a tremendous difference.

Here's my experience, but first, just to bring this thread slightly back "on topic"... I sold my 1973 Series III in 1979 and bought my first Daihatsu Fortrak. At the same time I also bought an extra set of original equipment (Fortrak Pickup) "fairly knobbly" tyres and rims from the dealer. The tread pattern was virtually identical to the design I had always run on my Land Rover (can't for the life of me remember what they were!).

These knobblies were so bad on wet roads that I just had to take them off after a couple of weeks because they had absolutely no grip. They were nothing short of being dangerous. It completely defeated my idea of buying some narrower "grippy" tyres for the winter.

After refitting the standard wide Bridgestones I never had any more problems.

Obviously the dealer, a genuinely knowledgeable and decent chap (as far as dealers go), knew that he dare not sell the pickups with those tyres on them and I can just see him saying to customers "I'll do you a good deal on these nice rims with the wide tyres - they'll make the motor look great!" Muggins of course did the deal in reverse "These wide tyres'll be useless in the snow - do us a good deal on those knobblies."

Sorry for the lengthy rant.

Fred

Hi Fred,

Rant on all you wish (didn't actually sound too ranting to my ears!) Apart from people saying that the spares are dear, I haven't been able to find much info from past or current owners - even alt.autos.isuzu is completely silent (but it has collected only 36 posts in the last week!).

Apart from the risks inherent in buying any 10 year old vehicle with 117,000 miles on the clock from a friend and finding someone to service it I can't see any good reason not to buy the Trooper. Bye bye 3.5 V8i

Richard