Not my car, but this is the color scheme.
Marriage and family – turns out those life decisions drive a lot of car purchase decisions for many people. While there was nothing wrong with the Accord and the P’up the wife and I had, a couple of my cousins owned 4WD vehicles and used them for their intended purpose. J. and I were looking for a family vehicle – no family yet, but it was likely imminent – and we wanted to explore the off road trails in Southern California with them, so we decided to make the leap and get our own…
In 1988, the choices for what are now known as SUVs were pretty limited, and almost all of them only offered two doors (Blazer, Bronco II, Pathfinder, 4Runner). At the time, the only 4 doors that were on the market were the original Jeep Cherokee and the Isuzu Trooper. One of my cousins were already on their second Cherokee – the first was the 2.8L V6, which they then swapped for a 4.0L in dark blue. The problem for J and I was that the Cherokee stickered in the $20-22K range, which was a bit outside of our budget.
Since we had a good experience at the local Isuzu dealer when we bought the P’up, we decided to go back and take a look at the Trooper. My goodness, was it square! Everything on the vehicle was designed with a T-square, it seemed. The only round items on the car were likely the wheels, tires, steering wheel, and the cylinders in the 2.6L 4-cylinder engine. This was an Isuzu designed powerplant, and not one borrowed from GM. It made a whopping 120HP, and was paired to a 4-speed automatic transmission, an honest to goodness Hi and Lo range differential, and manual hubs.
Not sure of the origin of this ad – LHD, but “favour”? Must be Canadian.
We found one that had been driven by the general manager, and it had around 6,000 miles on it. It was priced to move at $17,000, and, after talking it over for a few minutes, we decided to trade in the Accord and sign the papers. The car we picked was white over gold – it seemed like about half of the Troopers sold that year were that color combination. Tan cloth interior, an impressively high seating position, and enough glass to create a greenhouse effect strong enough to bake cookies were the other design features I remember.
Decent room in the back seat, and more room than we thought we would ever need behind the rear seat. It was also equipped with a funky two piece asymmetrical rear door; the left door was about 80% of the width of the car, while the right door was the other 20%. Luxury items include cruise, air conditioning, and a 4 speaker stereo with cassette.
After the relative sportiness of the Accord, it took some time getting used to driving something so large and top heavy. It was slow, and it didn’t have a great ride, but we could almost keep up with the cousins when our excursions left the payment. About an hour or two north of town was the Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area, 19,000 acres of off road playground maintained by the State of California. Trails ranged from beginner to beyond advanced, and we tackled what we thought we could traverse, usually until one or more of us couldn’t go any further. Many a Sunday were spent exploring the trails, packing in our lunch, and helping those who were unfortunate enough to get stuck.
My other cousin – he of the Sunbird sunroof installation – went over a “yump” at speed with his ’86 Ranger and managed to disassemble the right rear u-bolt off the leaf springs. Took a good 30-45 minutes for us to find a spot where he could compress the suspension enough to perform a hasty repair and continue the fun and games. After a good rain, there were some nice mudholes where we could get the cars absolutely filthy – the 4.0L Cherokee with 177HP was a champ at drifting in the muck. The Trooper held its own, until it came time to go uphill. The lack of HP meant that we were often the first to get stuck on those trails, and I remember once spinning the rear wheel enough to burn off what looked like about 5000 miles worth of rubber.
Mine was an automatic, but this gives you a sense of the utilitarian nature of the interior.
As a family vehicle – yes, our son A. was born during the time we owned the Trooper – it was second to none. It swallowed up bags, strollers, port-a-cribs, luggage, whatever we needed to move. And that was with the rear seat in place. When it was folded down, it was positively cavernous. I was tasked with taking a bunch of computer equipment to a trade show once, as I owned the only car large enough to carry everything we needed (15” CRT monitors were really bulky at the time).
Mechanically, the Trooper was pretty reliable – until it wasn’t. I can’t remember the exact sequence of events, but the top half of the engine had to be rebuilt at one point. The work was done under warranty, but it was out of commission for a couple weeks while the repairs were made.
I was able to take the Trooper on one lengthy road trip. A childhood friend of mine had relocated to extreme Northern California to attend college, so I took a week to visit him. The drive up the 101 to San Francisco was wonderful, then I got lost trying to find the Golden Gate bridge – it took two trips through the city before I found the right roads to take. Kids, this was in the age before smart phones and Google Maps, and paper maps were bulky to use on the move, and then not always accurate.
The second half of the trip north was, in a word, interminable. South of the Bay Area, Highway 101 is a divided highway; north of the city, it switches over to a two lane road with stoplights in almost every town between Marin County and my final destination. I hadn’t realized until that point exactly how big a state California really is. The trip was over 650 miles, and it was 12 hours, door to door. The trip home was quicker, but certainly less scenic, as I crossed over to Interstate 5. The Trooper was susceptible to cross winds, and the mileage never crossed over the 20 MPG mark, even on the flat roads of the Central Valley.
Isuzu also offered a 2-door version of the Trooper.
One other story to relate – J. took a job as a civilian contractor with the Navy in their computer center, and she was working the graveyard shift. She drove the Trooper, and came home from work one morning to get some sleep. Later that day, I got a call at the office from her, telling me the car wouldn’t start. Wouldn’t turn over, nothing. Turns out she had left the car in “Drive” rather than “Park” – though, thinking back on it now, wouldn’t that have prevented the key from being removed from the ignition? Poor sleep patterns led to problems like this.
We kept the Trooper for just over three years. In 1991, the Persian Gulf became the focus of the world’s attention, and gas prices started to creep up. In California, prices for regular unleaded were starting to range around $1.50/gallon, which meant it took almost $30 to fill the Trooper’s large tank. This was a bit of a budget issue, so we decided to trade out both the P’up and the Trooper for cars more fuel efficient. Each was sold privately, and their replacements will be documented in our next installment.
Somehow these were bigger inside than on the outside.
Wow, $1.50 California gas in 1991! Makes you wish for the good old days at the current $4 per gallon.
Inflation, my friend, inflation. That’s closer to $3 in today’s money.
Wait for next weeks installment…
My price for a gallon of 87 octane unleaded here is $2.199. With inflation, I have that $1.50 gas 🙂
Isuzu was a brand that should still be selling consumer vehicles in the US, they’d probably do well these days. Troopers and Rodeos (and the Amigo!) were all over the western US in those days and generally well respected. I loved your story about driving the length of California, it is a very big state and there’s so much more to it than just the distance between LA and SF which is what most think of in terms of the distance. I’ve taken note of the same thing several times while driving it.
Like you, my fourth car was an Isuzu as well, just mine was a used I-Mark. Good car, if a little underpowered, but it left me with a positive impression of the brand. We looked at Troopers at least once and came ever so close but went with a V8 Explorer instead (1998) that time just because…
After J bought the P’up, Isuzu redesigned it and added the Space Cab; they also made 31″ tires optional. I really wanted one of those.
We considered one of these after we got married, as we had two pickups and thought we should diversify. As I recall the base 5 speed 4 cylinder were being heavily discounted and we could get one for around $12-13K. But we bought a used Vanagon Westfalia camper instead. I still see them around occasionally and feel a twinge of regret for passing it up. The Westy and the Trooper would have made a good pairing. By the way, US101 north of Marin is now freeway more and more, bypassing many of the small towns. Which may be good … or bad.
I’ve always really liked these and would love to have one. My first recollection of these was in the early 90s during a 3 day 10 person relay event in northern Michigan. I got a buddies 4×4 S-10 pickup stuck up to its axles. It was a late model Trooper that pulled me out with ease. A real, honest to goodness SUV with off road chops and I like the rugged square looks. I’ve seen some high mileage manual diesel examples for sale on Ebay for unreasonable amounts. Good stuff.
I was very smitten by the Trooper II when it came out (whatever happened to the Trooper I?). But it was originally only a two door, and I don’t know if an automatic was even available with the 1.9 in the first few years. Meaning, not suitable for Stephanie and two little kids. So it was a Jeep Cherokee for us. But I preferred the tall, roomy Trooper.
There’s still a few of them at work here.
If I remember right, the Trooper I had no 2nd row of seats, and was therefore classified as a truck under import regulations, and would have been subject to the “chicken tax” if imported to the US. So we never saw it.
To clarify that… The Trooper I was the same body as the Trooper II 2-door. But much like a base Jeep CJ or Wrangler (of the period), a rear seat was not standard equipment. Therefore it was considered a cargo vehicle, not a passenger vehicle.
Evan, could you please find a scrap of evidence to support that? I’ve never heard of any such thing, and neither has my friend Google.
What, you don’t trust my memory of something I read in Motor Trend 35 years ago?? 🙂
But you’re right. My Google-fu isn’t having any luck, either.
I found reference to optional rear seats here:
https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1987-03-07-2560857-story.html
Also for the Montero, here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=-gQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=was+rear+seat+optiknal+on+isuzu+trooper&source=bl&ots=wBOXFLhT2j&sig=ACfU3U0RYE1E8fgP4U0Ki3VKhlVpx9JENQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9w-aviqXmAhUCWK0KHd94BlQQ6AEwCXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=was%20rear%20seat%20optiknal%20on%20isuzu%20trooper&f=false
Both seem like legitimate sources from 1986/87.
I was just checking on this too. In Consumer Guide’s Auto ‘85 book, the rear seat is listed as a “$300 dealer-installed option.”
In the next year’s (1986) Consumer Guide book, the rear seat is listed as a factory option ($330 for the Deluxe, and $430 for the LS). I wouldn’t be surprised if it was really a port-installed accessory; I bet it was rare to actually find a Trooper on a dealer’s lot without a rear seat.
By the way, I had looked at 4 Runners at the Toyota store when I was shopping for a truck in ‘86 (ended up with a Ranger) and was surprised that the rear seat was optional on the 4Runner, and in fact the dealer in San Jose had one inside the showroom.
That’s not a big surprise about the optional rear seat. But that doesn’t exactly make it a Trooper I. That’s the point I was trying to make; there never was 1.
Did America ever get the Trooper with the very Range-Rover-esque front, as it had on release in ’81? The ones pictured all seem to have the later oblong lights, which update might account for the Trooper 2 title.
Justy: Sure. They all had the original front end until the refresh, whenever it was. I much preferred the original. There’s still one in town.But it II was a Trooper II.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1983-isuzu-trooper-ii-an-unfulfilled-desire/
Can’t speak to whether the rear seat was standard, but when I did the pre-delivery inspection on the first Trooper II (2-door) to hit the dealership where I worked at the time, I had to install the rear seat. Likewise can’t recall whether it was a “No folks, it’s really a cargo vehicle” when it crossed the port. With the 1.9 it was one slow beast, although marginally quicker than a diesel P’up.
My brother bought a new one in 1988 (or ’89), 2.6 (or maybe a 2.8 by then) with the 5-speed. But for making a poorly-timed left turn in front of a speeding BMW sometime in the ’90’s, I suspect he’d still have it today. While slow, noisy and otherwise primitive by today’s standards, it was a reliable machine with impressive cargo capacity. To this day I still appreciate the honest nature of these.
As a family vehicle, this was a good choice.
I liked these Troopers; though I only knew one person who had one. She was my geology professor in college, and as you might suspect, she used it off-road quite a bit. If there was ever a vehicle perfectly suited for geologists, this was it. I rode in that Trooper a few times on field trips, and developed a liking for Troopers as a result.
And I can relate to your wife’s mishap with leaving the car in Park. I did that once when driving my aunt’s Aerostar, and since I unaccustomed to driving an automatic, I assumed something was wrong with the van. I was mighty embarrassed when I figured out what the problem really was.
How about that P’up? More, please!
I drove the P’up a lot, and spent one summer commuting to LA in it. No AC, and the shift throws went from the dash to the seat. My left leg got quite the workout.
I mostly remember these as Holden Jackaroos but once back home they became Isuzu Big Horns mostly with the bullet proof diesel engines the petrol engines dont have such a good rep some had Irmsher labels meaning theres a handling package aboard, they are getting thin on the ground now, Isuzu as a brand is highly visible with its medium and heavy duty trucks but the little stuff is disappearing.
Towards the end of Isuzu’s tenure in the US, I recall the remaining dealers had these advertised at fire-sale prices and still couldn’t unload them. I think the biggest issues were how slow they were while still getting abysmal fuel mileage. They seemed mostly okay, otherwise.
BTW, didn’t these have some kind of trucker-inspired floating, spring-loaded driver’s seat?
Yes, sprung big-truck-type driver seat.
These were seemingly everywhere in the late 1980s. My brother bought one as his first new car and got about four good years of service out of it, followed by two repair-filled years. It was an ideal moving van as well as a baby/equipment transporter, and he really appreciated the 4WD during Minnesota winters. What ultimately killed it for him was the one-two punch of lousy gas mileage once he started a new job with a serious commute and the catastrophic driveshaft failure that would have required something like $3000 to fix at a time when the car wasn’t worth a whole lot more than that.
Our next-door neighbors when I was middle-school age had one of these, in that same ubiquitous white/gold color and I well remember that brown t-square, plastic interior. However this family had a particular affinity for what I considered the most bland, uncomfortable and utilitarian vehicles on the planet, as the rest of their fleet consisted of a white Rabbit with brown interior and beige Volvo 240 filled with plastic and brown cloth.
Coming from a family with vehicles that ranged from baby blue to maroon and stuffed with various amounts of plush, it was like visiting another world when I rode with the neighbors.
These were the Holden Jackaroo in Oz. (A jackaroo is a formal word, being a general rouseabout on a farm. The female is jillaroo). They came originally only as a very fetching 2-door, a car that arguably looked better than the Range Rover it so blatantly copied. They were also very underpowered, 4-speed manual only, and regarded as a bit useless in the offroading 4wd world. And in those times, who else bought such a thing?
However, by this model (with oblong lights, different grille, coil sprung rear, 5-speed, bigger engine and a TDi available), they slowly got a respectable name. In service, they proved about as hard to kill as any Isuzu, meaning very.
I rode in a new one in ’84 when 16yo. I couldn’t get over how this very nice-looking machine rode, as if the suspension was solid. I was also amazed at the racket 60 mph generated, and the fact that the wind decided our direction more than the driver.
There’s no future for this sort of vehicle, I decided.
my next door neighbor still has one….won’t die.
In 1988 after I bought my first house, I knew Home Depot would be seeing a lot of me and my money (the house was a 1920 Craftsman with original everything…). Obviously my ‘81 Corolla Sport Coupe wouldn’t be helpful. I test drove one of these because I thought the design was simplistically beautiful. But the difference in handling from my Corolla was too large a leap for me, although I’m sure I would have gotten used to it. I ended up buying a Nissan King Cab SE-V6.
But the next go around, when I needed 4 doors and airbags etc because the kid arrived, the 2001 Trooper fit the bill perfectly. Still have it.
A friend had one of these in the late 80s with a custom made rear facing seat for car pooling and the like. I almost bought a used one in 97 but it didn’t have air conditioning so my wife nixed it. This generation of Trooper always seemed like a more serious offroader than its successors