The Rodeo is well into its second winter, this time enduring the cold, snowy blast that swept across the Midwest and Eastern states early this month. The Rodeo has not yet made its scheduled trip to Detroit, because our car shuffling process was dramatically interrupted when several of our staff members found themselves unable to dig a path out of their front doors, much less out of their driveways.

The Rodeo did get a good winter workout in New York, though, sliding across the slippery streets of Manhattan like a hog on ice. One of our drivers, a recent transplant to the Big Apple by way of Los Angeles, was disappointed to find out that the "Winter" driving mode did nothing to keep her from careening around Manhattan like a drunken sailor. After one particularly harrowing day in which one of New York's finest cab drivers brushed the side of our Rodeo on an icy throughway, our driver was so shaken that she decided to forsake the luxury of driving herself and traveled by bus until the streets were cleared.

This raises an interesting issue; one that begs to be examined by the multitudes of individuals rushing out to buy a sport-utility vehicle because they think it will help them drive in inclement weather. Sport-utes can't teach a driver to drive in bad weather; an SUV can only help a driver who already knows what he or she is doing. Our Manhattan driver was given a certain amount of confidence because she thought that our rough-'n-ready Rodeo would help her negotiate the snow-strewn streets of New York without a care in the world. Unfortunately, she was not informed that the Rodeo's four-wheel-drive system needs to be engaged to help drivers maintain control on icy roads. One of our editors should have made sure that our driver knew the difference between four-wheel drive and the winter driving mode (a feature that forces the truck to start in second gear, minimizing wheelspin). The confusion can't be blamed on Isuzu; they print explanations of four-wheel drive and the winter driving mode in their owner's manual. The fault lies with Edmund's for not training its drivers how to deal with the technology of this particular vehicle. Nevertheless, we feel that if this system was confusing to one of our drivers, a bright woman with a good grasp on life, it is probably very confusing to large segments of the general population.

The moral of the story is this. Understand what you are buying before you make a decision. A four-wheel-drive truck like the Rodeo is useful only to the person who understands how to use its features.

Best Fuel Economy: 18.5
Worst Fuel Economy: 14.3
Maintenance Cost: $0
Problems: Remote key fob is unresponsive.