If the third time is a charm, then I must be pretty damn charming because the deities above are having me write ANOTHER Shitbox Showdown for you. This time, it truly is my pleasure, because we’ve got some goooooood stuff in store for y’all today. As usual though, we need to start by talking about the voting from yesterday, so let’s get into it!
As a reminder, we had a 1991 Isuzu Trooper and a 1987 Nissan Pathfinder. If you recall, I was particularly fond of the Trooper, its beautiful paint job and overall well-maintained quality (at least on the surface), and while the Pathfinder was still a good find in its own right, it had a couple of flaws that might make you pump the brakes.
Sure, the Pathfinder’s seller acknowledged the flaws outright, and they have maintained it decently, but flaws are flaws! Let’s see how y’all voted.
Stunning. I was disappointed in y’all the other day for picking the CR-V over the Element and thought about immediately putting in my two weeks notice, but us largely coalesce around the Trooper makes me think y’all might be alright. I like you. Can we be friends? Maybe? It’s fine if not, my therapist told me I shouldn’t fear rejection and should put myself out there regardless.
Anyways, today’s options. Here’s where I, the only C6 Corvette driver under the age of 30 (or 40 or 50), would put in a Corvette joke but Corvettes are no joking matter considering they’re the superior American motoring machine; you’ll never catch me joking about them. Instead, let’s talk about something else that’s equally not a joking matter: The Samurai.
1987 Suzuki Samurai JX – $3,999
Engine/drivetrain: 1.3 8-valve SOHC I-4 engine, 5-speed manual, 4wd
Location: Apple Valley, CA
Odometer reading: 99,260
Operational status: “Good condition […] runs great”
This thing is serious as a heart attack. This is 2,100 pounds of Japanese greatness, ready to flip its way into your heart. Why do I say it’s gonna flip? Because that’s just what these things do. With its short wheelbase and high center of gravity, these bad boys should be nicknamed Simon Biles the way they flip and do acrobatics and floor routines and other things. Get it? Neither do I. Let’s keep admiring it.
If you recall from yesterday’s showdown of the shitboxes, one thing I mentioned was that I love a good funky trunk, and this one is funked up in all the right ways for me. I dig a safari cloth top whose window you can fold up to leave the rear exposed, and mating that with the swinging trunk door… I dig it. And on the general note of a soft top on your off-roader: do it! My Jeep TJ has one and I absolutely love it, you just gotta make sure you don’t let it dry rot or get stabbed open by a thief and you’re good! Moving on.
Oh boy is that interior unremarkable! But I don’t need this to be remarkable, I just need it to work, and I’ll do the rest. Years ago, I test drove a new Bronco, and while it was clearly a nice machine, having the big ass tablet in the center with CarPlay and optional tire cameras to inform you of tire placement on the trail really turned me off. On one hand, it’s the classic case of another expensive thing to repair when it fails, and on the other hand, I was gonna buy this thing to off-road and destroy. All those creature comforts would make me hesitate to take it on trail for fears of damaging it.
Not this though. This Samurai I would destroy in a heartbeat. Or at least I’d try.
I mean, just look at this trunk. It’s seen so much abuse as is, you think I’m gonna start caring for it now?! Of course not. This is a thing I take to the bullshit store and do bullshit with; that I hook a 20 mph right turn in and regret all my life decisions as I’m suddenly inverted and looking at the sky and ground and sky and ground again as the almighty Samurai flips its way into the scrapyard. I dig it.
It’s looking like there’s some lovely hand crank windows and likely manual door locks, both keeping with the low cost and comfortability in trashing this thing. I love it! In terms of other notes from the owner: “soft top, newer battery. Start up immediately.” Rad! [Ed Note: This Samurai is too nice to destroy, but it does look like it’d be loads of fun to bash around the trails. -DT].
Boring stats! It has 63 hp and about 73 lb-ft torque, and it looks like it all gets you in the neighborhood of 25 mpg. Solid work! But now, we must talk about an American legend: the indomitable, the gorgeous, the furious, bucking Ford Bronco. Two.
1987 Ford Bronco II – $4,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.9 Liter V-6 pushrod OHV, 5-speed manual, 4wd
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Odometer reading: 57,750 (kinda suspicious of that number)
Operational status: “RUNS AND DRIVES GREAT !!”
Alright so it’s not actually a Bronco, it’s a Bronco II, but what are you gonna do, sue me? Actually, please don’t. I’m poor and am much better at fighting than I am at sticking up for myself in front of the court, so let’s just go to the local park at three and handle this like a bunch of rapscallions. Deal? Cool. [Ed Note: No violence here. Just car-geekery. -DT].
I titled this one “The Battle of the Rollovers,” so I should inform you that the Bronco II is also prone to flipping more than Simone Biles (shit, I already made that joke; I need to watch more gymnastics). Anyway, its issues were largely the same as the Samurai’s, but let’s see what Motor Trend has to say about it:
“Long before the Ford Bronco II went on sale, the manufacturer was aware of potential rollover issues. Engineers had calculated the Bronco II’s stability index, a calculation based on the center of gravity and track width, and found it was significantly lower than the competing Chevy S-10 Blazer, and slightly lower than the Jeep CJ-7. Sure enough, Ford Bronco IIs had already started to go shiny-side-down in testing. So great was the concern that Ford eliminated certain maneuvers from the testing program in the name of its drivers’ safety.”
Wait, the thing flipped so much Ford straight up banned certain tests to make it look normal on paper? Crazy. Anyways, more photos.
Yeeeesh. This seller is certainly no Henri Cartier-Bresson or Griffin Riley with a camera, huh? Well let’s talk about what we’re seeing.
I’m a sucker for that nice old brown carpet around the (manual!) transmission tunnel, mainly because it looks like the carpets I’d sleep on at home as a baby because my parents didn’t care enough to set me in the crib like any other self respecting parent would. The driver and passenger seats look like they’d be comfy in all the right ways, and, while it looks like rear leg room is trash, it still has some solid backseats ready to host your friends when they wanna go on a rollover, I mean drive.
We’re looking at some hand cranked windows again and manual locks and I’d like to say the little 8-ball they have on the lock is adorable. I also feel like I’ve never consciously noticed a car with the door’s interior painted the same as the exterior [Ed Note: Some old cars left some un-covered steel in the door panels – my Jeep J10 for example. -DT]. I’m used to seeing generic plastic cover the doors, so the touches of yellow in the interior make me smile. Maybe it’s because it reminds me of my late sister (not dead, she’s just not punctual) whose favorite color is yellow, or more realistically I just think it’s rad and my sister has no weight in the matter.
No spare tire! And a bit of chipped paint on the edge of the roofline. It sucks not having a spare because now you’re either stuck with buying a new one or perpetually hoping you never have a blowout on your primary four, but the paint I’m fine with.
In terms of what the seller is telling us, they’re saying it’s got power steering, brakes, and AC (but also said “(need a charge)”) so note that as you will. It’s got a clean title, too, so we don’t have to worry as much as we did with the Pathfinder from yesterday! I dunno, it sounds like this thing might be alright in the end.
Stats time! Its power plant gets you 140 hp and 170 lb-ft torque. I’m struggling to find info about its fuel efficiency, so let’s just imagine numbers instead! Six, 13, 527! That was fun. Oh and it has a curb weight of 3,385 lbs.
[Ed Note: Here you go:
Could be worse. -DT]
So there you have it: two cars that roll more than uh….(don’t say Simon Biles, don’t say Simon Biles) a blunt in California? Nailed it.
Personally, I dig the Blue Oval a bit more, but purely out of nostalgia. I learned to stick on a Bronco II my dad mostly restored on his own and that he forced me to sell because, get this, he didn’t want me to “roll over” in it. Crazy talk.
Whether you fancy the tiny off-roader out of Japan that will take you on a tumble down the mountain, or its unloved American counterpart that will treat you all the same, you’ve got options here. What do you think? A Samurai or a Bronco?
Being Valentine’s day…gotta mention a bluegrass song with a lyric something like…
“I’d run red lights for you,
I’d take a hairpin turn in a Suzuki Samurai,
I’d run red lights for you.”
Well…I would not take a hairpin turn in that Suzuki.
I will conjure my inner A.C. Cowlings and take the banana yellow Ford Bronco.
Remember posts here do have an edit button. And you can delete it as well.
@1978fiatspyderfan…this you?
https://www.autoblog.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700/MjA5MDg5MTkyNDE1NzMzNjA0/99—19878-fiat-124-sport-spider-in-california-wrecking-yard—photo-by-murilee-martin.webp
I ignorantly like both of them. But the Sammi is $501 bucking Broncos cheaper and has a larger cult following, so potentially better aftermarket support (gonna need to replace the broken driver’s seat) and better resale value.
How many of the 63 horses have escaped from that sammie? My college roommate had one of these (we called it “the toy car with interior by fisher-price”), but he sure had fun with it, and as bad a driver as he was/is, it’s a miracle he didn’t roll it. Still, I think the Bronco is a more solid driver if I had to have it in the midwest. And yes, it was very common in the day for the exterior colors to be visible inside.
Actually I’d like an Isuzu Amigo best of both worlds. Until your idiot brother who has a tendency to drink too much hits a deer with it.
It was a coin, ah, flip for me, but I went with the Samurai.
This. Exactly this.
This is a case where it is buy both. Pull the 2.9 out of the BII and put it in the Samurai and then fill the missing space with a 5.0.
When I was in HS autoshop in the mid-90;s, there was a guy a few years ahead of me that used to bring in his mom’s BII. It had a swapped in 5.0 and 33″ Mickey Thompsons, the old Baja Belteds that were wiiiiide.
The aftermarket for the Suzuki is so much better than the Bronco 2. You can turn that little suki thing into a side-by-side trail beater.
As long as we don’t have to find out how many times they roll when a roll-on roll-over ferry decides to take a page from their book, I’ll take the Samurai. One of my uncles adores these and I would never want for parts. I think he has seven in various states of running.
Like both of these choices. The Bronco is flash and the 4×4 was less prone to rollover than the 4×2, though that may be like saying a Rottweiler is less prone to eat its owner than a Pit Bull. The creature comforts in the Ford are better than the Suzuki’s but the Samurai wins in the happy, happy, joy, joy quotient. Always had a preference for cheap and topless. Canvas beats steel except when inverted, but the argument that these rides were more dangerous than other short wheelbase, high center vehicles – like, say a CJ 5 – was overwrought. I’d be fine driving either one, but as it’s VD, the heart wants what it wants. I’m taking the Samurai and I’ll see you all on the flip side.
I am confused. There is a PMY 2 door shown yet it is not a Corvette in the picture? Has there been some kind of HTML error uploading the photos for this article??
Anybody remember those Consumer Reports tests on the Sammy? They built some ginormous outriggers out of steel beams to keep it from going over. Looked like a Hawaiian canoe on steroids.
Image: https://s.yimg.com/os/en-US/blogs/motoramic/samuraiconsumer.jpg
This was just cruel. If you’re going to post these choices you have to include a link to the ads.
Same as always… you can click on the vehicle name sub-heading to go to the ad.
Thanks
They are linked, just not obvious. Click the bolded title above each vehicle.
Thanks
What the other commenters said, plus you can easily see that the picture credits are highlighted for you to click on.
Missed that. Thanks.
And now we expect a full report on your purchase! 🙂
I wanted that B-II but it sold already. 🙁
My dad worked for Ryder until I was almost 17, and his company pickups were a similar shade of yellow. That, and the fact that it would deal better with the wetter side of the country and is a lot closer to LAX than the Samurai is to Ontario, leads me to pick the Bronquette today.
Do I pick the convertible or the yellow (objectively the best color) one? This is tougher than one might think.
I picked yellow.
And Griffin, I’m a little disappointed you didn’t rebel against THE MAN and give us two shabby Corvettes to chose from.
That’s what I was expecting today. 🙁
this place is a frickin prison.
AT-TI-CA!! AT-TI-CA!! AT-TI-CA!!
Let’s see if DT gets THAT reference!
Simone rolls so hard, her “e” falls off sometimes…
These both seem overpriced. At least I can imagine making it to Walmart and back alive in the Bronco.
Being old enough to have spent time in both, I’ll go Bronco just b/c the fit and finish is slightly better on these. The Samurais really were bargain basement, whereas the Broncos were definitely from the beginning of the era where Ford really started to take build quality seriously.
Plus, I have strong memories of my friend driving like a madman in his II and us never actually going over. I remember thinking it was going to happen back then, and now, I’m amazed it didn’t.
I like ’em both, but Sammy-rye wins every time, assuming it hasn’t been beaten within an inch of it’s life.
Also, the Samurai really got railroaded. It was one of the great injustices. A hit piece, all just to raise CR’s rep.
I was prepared to go Bronco II, but the Samurai caught my eye this time. Given age and propensity for both of these to turn to dust when salt is in the mix, I doubt that I’d do anything but summer driving for both. The Suzuki would be a lot more fun in that regard, and I think it presents pretty well as it is (all you really need to do is a respray on that hood).
Had an older rental Jimny for a day on one of the Greek islands last summer. Top down, roof off, stick shift. An absolutely joyous motoring experience. Slow car fast.
Gotta go Samurai here.
My brother’s first new vehicle after he got a real job was a 1990 Bronco II with a 5-speed manual. I think I only ever got to drive a couple times, but I liked it enough that when I had scraped together enough money for a down payment, I bought the long-bed version, a used 1988 Ranger, with a 5-speed. And today I drive a ’21 Bronco Badlands in the “Cyber Orange”, so I have to go Bronco today.
The Bronco II very similar to this was one of the last vehicles I worked on in my brief career as an auto technician a very long time ago. I have no such scarring memories of a Samurai.
I’ll take the Samurai.
I went Bronco II here but both are solid options. My primary reason is that the Bronco would probably be nicer to live with on a daily basis. Also, the Bronco listing says he needed to sell it “today” 4 days ago so maybe lowball him at $3k and be there within an hour. Plus it’s a good color!
HE KNOWS WHAT HE’S GOT
Suzuki is better than Ford, even though the Bronco II is a cooler color inside and out.
I voted for the Samurai
Trauma warning! Once had a Samurai come in for a safety inspection. Thing was lifted with rotting hockey puck spacers on the body mounts(yes, I’m Canadian). I only got it up to 90km/h, but that was terrifying enough, as the bottom shunted back and forth. It did not pass. He came back the next week, said he fixed it(replaced a headlight and wiper blade), and then tried to bribe us. It did not pass. This one has the look that it has also been lifted. I’ll take the bucking Bronco, thanks.
wait.. you didnt have more pucks lying around?
He traded a bag of pucks for P. A. Parenteau at the deadline.
I’ve got better things to do with my hockey pucks than waste them on a lifted rusted out mauve Suzuki Samurai. Like toss them in a pile in the corner of my garage for decades.
Bronco Jr. for me. I’ve long admired their design, and this one is yellow, which is an acceptable alternative to my preferred green-over-tan motif. It’d be used primarily off-road so even if it’s a Macao-quality job or worse, at least it’s visible. Parts aren’t much of an issue, and engine swap candidates are plentiful. I prefer the interior room it has over the Suzuki’s nimbleness.
The Samurai can make a fun off-roader, and its still sought after for thst purpose. James May drove a similar model (Jimny technically) for the Top Gear Bolivia Special and it did decently. I don’t think it’s a bad choice given the info presented, but it is definitely not the most powerful.
IF I had a big property with acreage, either one of these would be a fun yard vehicle. I’d probably take the Samurai just because it’s one step above a Polaris Ranger or some kind of Bombard-ee-ay.
Heck, it’s probably a step below at this point. Some of those things are massive with a price tag to match.
You’re probably right! I haven’t been in one of those deer-hunt Cadillacs in quite a few years.
My best friend had a Samurai he bought new in 1987. It doesn’t look like much but that thing was tough as nails. He was not kind to it and it just came back for more. He got in a near head-on with it, fixed it and repainted it himself and drove it several more years. It’s also dirt simple to work on, he and I did the timing belt ourselves in the driveway even though neither of us had ever done that job before.
This isn’t even close, Suzuki all week long.