Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Not a happy time for the Rodeo, the holiday season. Our Editor-in-Chief, Christian Wardlaw, drove the Rodeo to Phoenix for Thanksgiving, racking up plenty of miles. So many, in fact, that we'll soon have to park the truck for a while to let the months catch up with the mileage.

How did the Rodeo serve as a long distance cruiser? After a 12-hour stint behind the wheel, Wardlaw couldn't wait to get out of the Rodeo's flaccid driver's seat. With no power adjustment and no lumbar support, the low-mounted leather chair is not a good place to spend any amount of time. Couple the lousy seat with the fact that there was nowhere to rest his gangly right leg while driving with the cruise on (besides the gearshift lever, that is), and he dreaded the return trip to Denver.

However, the Rodeo swallowed a week's worth of parent and baby gear with ease, and the rear seat was plenty roomy for Wardlaw's 6'0" 215-lb. frame during diaper changes and bottle feedings. Comments from family members in Arizona were largely positive, but Wardlaw's Explorer-owning brother lamented the Rodeo's hill-climbing power in the high country north of Phoenix. A family acquaintance that pilots a new Land Rover Discovery nearly choked on a wad of turkey when told the Rodeo's price tag.

A brief off-road run revealed that the hatchgate doesn't seal well enough to prevent dust from coating the cargo bay. A fine layer of Sonoran desert filtered in, powdering the dark gray plastic moldings of the interior. Four-wheel drive is easy to engage and disengage, but attention must be paid to which dash-mounted button gets pushed. The one that engages the 4WD system is right next to identical buttons that operate the cruise control and the fog lights.

Trouble arose on the return trip to Denver. Wardlaw was driving north between Albuquerque and Santa Fe as dusk fell. Before long, he noticed that the dash lighting wasn't illuminated. A quick check of the exterior running lights in Santa Fe revealed non-functioning taillights as well. According to the owner's manual, these lighting systems run off the same fuse. In the deepening darkness, however, we couldn't find the spare fuses and decided to drop into the Santa Fe Auto Mall on Cerrillos Road for some assistance. Fortunately, the owners of Rocky Mountain Motors selected this convenient location to build a Honda/Subaru/Isuzu/Volkswagen dealership. We pulled into the service entrance 15 minutes before closing time.

Wardlaw explained his trouble to the service advisor, and told him that he was on his way to Denver. At first, the service advisor was reluctant to get involved with a new problem so close to quitting time, but Wardlaw was wearing an Edmund's sweatshirt and it didn't take long for the staff at Rocky Mountain Motors to put 2+2 together and reverse course. The electrical technician attempted to change the fuse that operates the dash lighting and taillights. Both times, the fuses blew immediately, indicating an electrical short. Finally, he got the lights operational again, and the folks at Rocky Mountain Motors sent Wardlaw on his way, assuring him that the lights would stay on as long as he didn't fiddle with the interior dimmer switch, which they suspected was causing the short.

The lights shut down before Wardlaw reached the I-25 on-ramp. He returned to the Isuzu dealer and arranged to have the Rodeo looked at in more detail the next morning. The service advisor promised to get him back on the road the next day, even if it meant taking a dimmer switch from a vehicle in stock to repair our truck.

Winter storm warnings were posted that night for northern New Mexico, and Wardlaw woke to a blizzard. Our Rodeo was the first snow-covered vehicle into the service bay that morning. After an hour and a half of fiddling, the service advisor hesitantly announced that they could not fix the problem right away. "The part can be here tomorrow morning," he said, the previous night's offer of using existing parts from a Rodeo in stock mysteriously vanishing from the radar.

Well, needless to say, we didn't hang around. Instead we ventured forth onto ice-covered roads hazed with blowing snow. In a silver truck. With no taillights. Not good. The Rodeo performed flawlessly in the blizzard, though the rear side windows never defogged until we reached sunny central Colorado. But Wardlaw had little confidence in the truck. All he could think about as he nervously traversed miles of frozen and sparsely inhabited high desert was "What if the windshield wipers short out next?" "What if the alternator quits?" Snow was piled high along the sides of the road and on exit ramps. There was little traffic. Another electrical system failure would mean grave danger to our intrepid traveler.

The Rodeo has shaken our confidence. At 3,500 miles, an electrical system failure stranded a member of our staff in a winter storm, and the local dealer couldn't fix the problem promptly because the parts weren't in stock. After the trip was over, the Rodeo spent six days at Joe Tynan's Isuzu/Nissan/Volkswagen waiting for the replacement of the cracked driver's side mirror, the repair of the short in the electrical system, and the replacement of the coarse tape grips on the top of the running boards (which had begun to peel off).

A different staffer has taken the Rodeo to Phoenix for a different holiday. We'll see what that trip brings forth in the next update.

Best Fuel Economy: 20.8 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 12.8 mpg
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: Electrical short shuts down taillights and dash lights. Grip tape on top of right running board begins to peel off.