Against better judgment, against my will, and somehow against the will of the higher-ups (DT knows where I live and that concerns me), I’m back. And we’re here to talk shitboxes again. So let’s get into it! I’m really excited for today’s because, believe it or not, I’ve actually found a really nice C6 Corvette for y’all to peruse and – what’s that? I’ve been advised that I still can’t talk Corvettes around here or risk my head and livelihood? (See previous comments about DT knowing where I live).
Alright, that’s fine I guess. We can just settle for some other options for y’all today, but first, we need to talk about yesterday’s results.
As a reminder, we had a 2007 Honda Element with a price approaching 11 large and a clapped-out CR-V less than a quarter of the price at 2.5K — both stickshift and AWD. Let’s see what y’all voted for:
I don’t know how else to say this but part of me is supremely disappointed in y’all. I’m fully aware that a difference of nearly eight grand is nothing to scoff at, but the Element’s un-alive doors and general strength of not being that piece of junk CR-V meant nothing to you? You all make me sick. (In truth, I respect the budget-ballin’. I’m just a little surprised the handsome Element didn’t win you over).
Screw it, nothing matters. Let’s talk about today I guess.
1991 Isuzu Trooper LS Sport Utility – $4,800
Engine/drivetrain: 2.8-liter V6 OHV, 5-speed manual, 4wd
Location: Prescott Valley, AZ
Odometer reading: 272,000
Operational status: “Runs, but has No working A/C, Heater bypassed.”
Oh my. Oh my oh my oh my. I think I’m in love with this thing. I haven’t even really read the specs yet, but I’m absolutely fawning over this thing and I don’t think I’m gonna apologize for it either. It’s like if Japan decided they were bored and wanted to make a Range Rover (shut up Land Cruiser, this isn’t your time to shine) and I’m really obsessed with it.
This Trooper LS seems like it’s been loved, and I’m not mad at it at all. It’s clocking in at 272k on the odo, but looks clean by every conceivable metric that my eyes can suss out. If you couldn’t tell via ocular pat-down, this is definitely an off-road build, and that’s further reinforced by the fact that it’s got “front lockers” and some chunky 33s on its axles. [Ed Note: I have no idea what “front lockers” are. Does it have a front locker? If so, why front and not rear? Is it a lunchbox-style locker or an electronic/pneumatic unit? I have questions. -DT].
The description is also kind enough to let us know that the car has a roof rack, CB radio, and fog lights, all valuable when it comes to packing in/out of a location, communicating with authorities or friends while on the trail, and seeing ahead while you’re carving up trails at night.
Obviously, we’re loving the fact that it’s stick, but I’m more impressed that the interior isn’t total crap. Yes, the seats have been covered, but I’m not seeing much in terms of cracked plastics on the dash either. Also, the driver’s door is clearly showing signs of powered everything — we’re talking locks, we’re talking windows, we’re talking other things that need power (mirrors?). These power functions are a win or lose, depending on your perspective. I think this owner really treated this thing well, and it’s showing. Actually, I know they’ve babied it because they listed some recent repairs. “Recently Replaced: Starter, Fuel Filter, Battery, Hoses and Stereo.” Rad!
So why the hell the owner is getting rid of it? According to the listing, it’s actually quite simple. It was a project vehicle, but they recently got their hands on their dad’s 1970s GMC pick-up and the owner’s attention shifted away. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a pretty safe bet to me in terms of buyer’s confidence.
For boring but important stats: Edmunds says it has 120 hp with 150 lb-ft of torque and gets 15 MPG moving a curb weight of 3,755 lbs. More importantly:
LOOK AT THIS THING!
The seats can lay down and turn into a full-on bed and those lights? This is gonna be hard to beat. Let’s see what we can do.
1987 Nissan Pathfinder – $5,999
Engine/drivetrain: 3.0-liter single overhead cam V6, 5-speed manual, 4WD
Location: Yucca Valley, CA
Odometer reading: 282,209
Operational status: “in good running / driving condition”
I think it’s hard for me to remove my bias while doing this, and for that, I truly apologize. That being said, this Nissan is still a pretty good get I think. What draws me to this listing is that the owner is very forward about the car’s shortcomings, so let’s lead with those before we talk about some of the good!
There’s some rust on it, and it’s got less than pretty window seals. Additionally, it comes with a salvage title, but the current owner isn’t sure what all the damage was because it was “long before [they] owned.”
That being said, they appear to be keeping it real with us! “No major damage interior or exterior. Needs some minor TLC,” adding that they have all the receipts of recent work done by the dealership. So while there’s a bit of a deficit up front with the car due to that title and minor rust, it’s at least been maintained under the current owner’s watch. What work has been done?
“New clutch, transmission, drive shaft, gaskets, 4 new BFG Ko2s on Lego wheels.” Okay, I’m liking this owner. They’re working on getting it to pass smog, too, but it “runs like a champ, just a little rich at the moment.” I’m listening…
Let’s look at some more pictures.
Its interior looks pretty clean; maybe not as cute as the Trooper’s, but those seats! It also looks like we’re dealing with power locks and windows so the creature comforts still exist here! Is its center stack inspiring? Not exactly, it looks like it’s perfectly preserved in its 1987 form, but we can see it’s got a manual transmission and low-range transfer case ready to go off-roading.
On the rear, there’s nothing much worth looking at, but I just wanna say that I’m a sucker for alternative trunks. While there’s nothing too fancy about a trunk that opens up to the sky, the tire carrier swinging to the side makes me smile like a ‘lil dummy.
The stats: 138 ponies with 167 lb-ft torque for a body that weighs 3,860 lbs., all getting you 16 miles per gallon.
Now here’s how it’s looking for me: I love me some color. That Pathfinder was doing a good job at winning me over, mainly on account of the transparency about its shortcomings and the care it’s received from the current owner, but everything about that Trooper speaks to me. A cool interior (though it does have seat covers, so it’s not clear what shape those seats are in), clean paint job, and no damage reported by the owner? I dunno, that sounds like a done deal to me. Then again, that Nissan’s blue cabin is awesome, too…
Look, I’m also the guy who picked the Element over the CRV yesterday and clearly lost that fight, so you tell me: Which are we picking here? The Trooper, a Pathfinder, or a Corvet – *transmission ended*
I’ll take the Pathfinder S long as it comes with enough gas to get to Tierra del Fuego.
Two things:
“Front lockers” probably refers to the manual locking hubs in the front wheels, which some folks install to replace the troublesome automatic ones.
And Griffin, I hereby authorize featuring the Corvette, if – and ONLY if – you put it up against Ford Mustang SVO.
Oh, and Pathfinder by a country mile.
Stick shift beats salvage title all day everyday.
I have a story. Its the story of two friends. One with a Trooper and one with a Pathfinder. I’m just old enough that high school kids had these two vintage that were handmedowns from their parents.
I can safely say as East Tennessee kids we put both through the paces to find their limits.
They both held up initially but the Trooper just simply kept going. The rear window latches and the horn were the only thing we ever managed to actually break on the Trooper. The horn became a squabbling hilarity that never failed to bring joy. In the end the horn fixed itself… so that only leaves rear window latches which doubled as a quick entry when the driver (or anyone) wanted to slide it open to maybe fill it will balloons or drop in a stink bomb.
I like Pathfinders, and even with the price difference, I was leaning toward the Nissan. But I do like Isuzus, and that’s a lot of vehicle for that price. Arizona is far enough away that I don’t have to be serious, but I’d buy that.
This is an unfortunate choice. The Trooper is a better car in almost every aspect. Only issue is the HVAC stuff – you really can’t live without that around here. The fact that the owner has done so much other work on this car and has not fixed those issues (in Arizona!) makes me wonder just what it would take to get them going again. Salvage title bothers me less than that with these two particular cars, so I’ll be one of the relative few to give the Pathfinder my vote.
I have the State (New Hampshire); I need the Trooper.
There’s something I’ve always loved about the Trooper. Also thats a GM 2.8 so lots of options to power this thing up; a 3.4 swap for example.
Wow! It’s been a while since I wanted a BOTH option, but now’s the time! BFG tires looking great on both rigs.
The Pathfinder 2-door side window nearly wins out here. But I just loooove the boxy Trooper with BFT MTs, manual, double rear doors, and a locked axle up front.
DT – The locked front is a fine idea so you can de-select it by just using 2WD. It’s not as nice as on/off, but it does the job.
Only ding against the Trooper is the owner. What kind of masochist has absolutely no form of climate controls in a trail truck? No A/C and no heat?? Especially in AZ?
It was a close fight to me, but the salvage title killed the Pathfinder. I also find myself loving the rear doors on the trooper. There’s an interior door handle and a speaker in the bigger side! I had to scroll up to see if it was possible that they just reused the same stamping from one of the back doors, but they have cutouts for the wheel, and are all around the wrong shape so big nope there, but it’s still an actual functional door and it looks super weird and I love it for that!
This Trooper is clearly the nicer vehicle, but I love love that generation pathfinder, and I would spec mine exactly like this, with 2 doors, manual, lego wheels, and swing-away spare.
For five grand though this particular rusty salvage crap-can is a waste of money. I think it’s smarter to pay twice as much for a better one.
P.S. just seeing this gen pathfinder is a reminder of how much Nissan screwed up their truck portfolio. They were absolutely neck-and-neck competitive with Toyota at the time. But now that this class of off-roader and small pickup are popular again, Isuzu and Mitsu are gone, and Nissan has left the entire market to Toyota, who as a result is crushing it with overpriced products and very little competition. Where is Nissan??
I actually just bought a 1996 manual Trooper with 92k on the odometer a few months ago for $6,000. It came with a new alternator that needed to be installed and it needed work on the exhaust, so I was in about $6,500 all told. The back right window/lock don’t work (probably just a broken wire on that door) and the parking brake warning comes on dimly sometimes, even when it’s off. Oherwise, everything’s great.
So far, I’m quite happy with it. It was a *nice* vehicle when it was built. $30k in ’96 wasn’t chump change. This means that it has electric windows, cup holders, cruise control, all the things that make a car easy to drive, with none of the faff that you don’t really need on newer vehicles.
One thing that I will say, having switched from a ’96 Cherokee: The support community is much sparser. Any issue with a Jeep? You could find dozens of forum posts or Youtube videos addressing your exact problem. With a Japanese company that hasn’t sold passenger cars in North America in over a decade? Yeah, not so much. Everything is more difficult to find info on and mechanics are less willing to work with it.
One specific issue with the Trooper that’s just baffling: I like the 1/4 / 3/4 rear door split, but the main door has a design feature that you have to wonder if it was ever tested in the real world before they implemented it (and apparently carried it through several generations). Specifically, you can see a black metal arm at the bottom of the door that braces it open. To close the door, you have to pull a TINY metal lip on this arm to unlock it, with enough force to get the door (with spare tire) moving, then quickly grab the door itself to pull it closed. This is a challenge with one arm full of groceries and nearly impossible with 2. It just feels like there *had* to be a better way.
Given my Trooper; in better shape with 1/3 the miles and everything working for not that much more money, I’d try to get them down further.
I’m abstaining from this one. These are clearly durable vehicles, but with their super high mileage, they’re both on borrowed time. No thanks, and tell DT to let us have a Corvette for a treat.
A Rover within my range?
Gimme the Trooper.
Going with red Trooper for color, barn doors, and relative rarity. Sounds like the heater core took a dump and that’s the reason for the bypass. That can be a pain to replace depending on location and can cause rust issues inside, which should be checked. The Trooper’s a relatively simple design though, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to repair. The AC might be more complicated, but I seldom. use AC, so that’s less urgent.
Come on DT, you’re a Jeep guy, you know that front lockers obviously refers to the locking hubs on the front axle in 4wd vehicles. The ‘91 Isuzu was available with either manual or auto-locking hubs and usually when an ad mentions front lockers, it means auto lockers as those would be considered more convenient for switching back forth between the driving modes and therefore more desirable. Could also mean after market auto lockers have been installed. You were just pulling our collective leg, weren’t you?
Nobody calls them “lockers.” They’re “locking hubs.” But I did consider that this is what they meant. Strange…
Interesting. I’ve been mostly East Coast based in my life and “lockers” was common shorthand for locking hubs as far back as my teen years (70s). Maybe it’s a regional thing. Anyway, front lockers is redundant since you don’t need them on the rear axle, so there is that.
David – front locker like the Eaton Detroit Truetrac I had installed in my Wrangler… or looking at a photo did they mean the locking hubs on the front axle as “lockers”? Because those look like old school locking hubs to me.
The Trooper looks like the best value. The Rodeo seem overpriced. Having said that, I’ve got a dirty job that the Rodeo would be perfect for…
I had both a ’91 and ’94 Isuzu Rodeo with a manual. Would have been the same drivetrain as this Trooper. I really liked both of them!
I’m long past the age where I’m willing to put up with rust. I’d much rather handle mechanical. Trooper it is.
I might choose the Pathfinder. Spare parts for the Trooper might be hard to get….
These both have appeal.
Isuzu made some very capable SUVs in their relative heyday, but finding parts might be more troublesome. I appreciate how well kept it seems and the tasteful lighting upgrade.
The Pathfinder gets a nod for me. Cheaper, but parts should be more available in theory, the rust isn’t bad, and I’ve been reading a lot of contemporary reviews and the Pathfinder of that era seemed to be quite a capable underdog with especially good ride comfort.
Love both of these SUVs! But the salvage title and rust on the Pathfinder scare me more than no a/c (and I live in Texas, so no a/c is a BIG deal). I can probably build a swamp cooler from pvc pipes if need be.