1998 Isuzu Rodeo

After last month's commentary comparing and contrasting the Rodeo with our long-term Intrepid in terms of driveability and cargo capacity, a reader lodged a complaint with our staff:

"I emailed Edmund's a few months ago with concerns and criticisms related to your review of the 1998 Isuzu Rodeo. I mentioned the subjective approach of the reviewers, their gripes about problems unrelated to the vehicle, and the constant comparisons to CARS. Your editor, Chris Wardlaw, seems to share the same problem with reviewing a truck. Glad he discovered that the Intrepid CAR drove and behaved like a CAR, and that the Rodeo was more like a truck. Ask him to take the Intrepid four-wheeling and write a review after that...if he gets back! Stick to the appropriate comparisons!"

Our contention is that since the majority of SUV buyers don't use them off-road, many Rodeo buyers or people considering a Rodeo can benefit from such commentary as we published last month. In all likelihood, they are replacing a car because they think they "need" more cargo capacity, space for a growing family, and four-wheel drive when the blizzard of the decade hits. As such, it is perfectly natural to compare the Rodeo to the Intrepid, or any other large sedan that will perform 95 percent of the duties the Rodeo can. Even more important for the consumer to realize is that a car can often handle these tasks more competently, at a lower price and with more comfort to the driver and passengers. And, since we had the Intrepid in Detroit during the massive blizzard that shut the city down for nearly a week last January, we know that its snow-blasting ability, while less than optimal, exists. We didn't get it stuck, despite the unplowed downtown streets and the Dodge's all-season tires.

Ah, but we digress. For those of you who agree with our disgruntled reader, we are going boulder bashing in September. But not in the Intrepid. That would be silly. Obviously, buyers who actually use four-wheel drive are better served by a Rodeo so equipped than by a front-drive Intrepid. Instead, we're running the Rodeo and our long-term Jeep Grand Cherokee on trails in the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, and will then be able to offer the appropriate comments for a proper long-term test--at least according to one reader. See, we take suggestions seriously.

In the meantime, y'all will have to settle for what we've got on tap for August. Wardlaw, the guy the Rodeo stranded in Santa Fe when it had but a few thousand miles on the clock and who feels the truck's only redeeming features are its styling, roomy rear seat, and powerful 3.2-liter V6, was still in possession of the Rodeo during the early part of the month.

He took our Isuzu into service to have a litany of minor items diagnosed and repaired. Our truck was recalled, which prompted the dealership visit. Evidently, the accelerator pad can fall off and cause big-time trouble. The notice we received from Isuzu warned us not to drive the truck until the repair could be made. We called the closest Isuzu dealer, Courtesy Isuzu, in Littleton, Colo., which was able to get us in four days after the call. Wardlaw filed this report on what was repaired and how well Courtesy served him.

While the truck was in the shop, we had the following items looked at:

Accelerator-pad recall
Trailer-harness recall (didn't know about this recall, but it turned out to be the cause of our dim brake light)
Missing mud flap
Missing LS nomenclature
Clicking noise heard under part-throttle acceleration

The recalls were taken care of, and the mud flap was replaced under warranty. They ordered a new LS badge, and determined our muffler had a bad baffle that was causing the noise, so one of those was ordered as well. The badge and muffler will be replaced under warranty.

So, a pleasant experience in terms of costs to the company--there were none. However, Courtesy needs to work harder to retain that name. When calling for an appointment, we spent 15 minutes on the telephone with a curt service advisor while he looked up the recall. When arriving for the appointment, we were written up by another curt service advisor. When calling later that afternoon, we spent 15 minutes waiting while the person who answered the phone tried to determine if our truck would be finished that day. The shop itself was clean, and they had this cool inflatable VehiCROSS on the front lawn attracting all kinds of attention, but the people manning the service department didn't have it together.

A week later, the parts came in and we returned to Courtesy Isuzu after waiting four more days for another appointment. They told us on the phone they needed the truck for only three hours. They kept it for twice that amount of time. As usual, they had curt attitudes. Not the greatest of dealers in terms of customer treatment.

After the dealership repaired our Rodeo to its like-new state, Wardlaw hauled his bike to the gas station to air-up the tires. He griped in the logbook that to fold the back seats flat, the rear headrests must be removed, which is time-consuming when you're trying to squeeze a personal errand in on a lunch hour. He prefers the auto-flipping rear headrests on compact GM SUVs (Blazer, Jimmy, Envoy and Bravada) and the manual folding ones on the Ford Explorer/Mercury Mountaineer twins. (See, we compared the Rodeo to other trucks--hey, at least we're trying.)

Next, features editor Ingrid Palmer got a turn behind the wheel. Surprisingly, she'd never driven our long-term Rodeo before, so we've got a fresh perspective to report nearly two years into the test.

Palmer, known affectionately in our offices as Spork, is rather short and slight of frame. She loves the Rodeo's seats, which larger staffers have referred to as beach chairs. Says Palmer: "The seats are not squishy or soft; they are firm, but it feels great on your back. There is so much support." Palmer, who suffers lower-back problems, lauded the lumbar support and its positioning. Also, she found the truck to be nimble around town, offering good visibility and maneuverability in parking lots. She disparaged the styling, however, saying the Rodeo looks just like any other SUV on the road.

So not only does she disagree with other staffers on several key points, but she also had this say, "The ride is trucklike, but my take is that it IS a truck, so that's OK." She cited harshness over large bumps, and conceded that the Rodeo didn't drive as smoothly as some other SUVs on the market.

Her major gripe, one that Wardlaw's wife has voiced as well, is that when tooling around corners while accelerating, the Rodeo squeals like a stuck pig. As Palmer wrote in our logbook: "You don't even have to be turning; the tires will scream just by hitting the gas pedal. You can't turn a corner--even at a snail's pace--without hearing that familiar SCREEEEE!"

Palmer also doesn't like the hatchgate cargo access at the back of truck, which comes standard with the 16-inch wheels and tires we ordered. "You first have to push in the button that opens the window, and then open the actual cargo door sideways. It's nice that you can get into the back through the window only, but the rear-mounted spare tire blocks access. Once the door is swung open, it locks into place, which is frustrating because then you have to reach into the hinged corner and pull on the little tab to unlock it, then get your fingers out before you close the door further, and then get out of the way before the door slams shut. Aaargh!" A note to would-be Rodeo buyers--stick with the standard 15-inch wheels, and you get a rear hatch and no hassles in this department.

Just when our Rodeo is finally back into tip-top shape, the passenger-side window has begun acting up. It makes a clunking sound when rolling down, like it's rubbing on something and then flopping into place. We'll keep an eye on this new development. And stay tuned for the results of our four-wheeling flog into the wilds of Colorado.

Total Odometer Reading: 35,821
Best Fuel Economy: 19.4 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 14.2 mpg
Body Damage Repair: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: Clunking passenger-side window when rolling it down.