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?
One of these days, before I die, I’m going to spend irrational amounts of money on a clean Samurai. I had one in high school and another during my post-college bachelor days. I really want another one.
This was actually kind of a hard one since I don’t like the Fix Or Repair Daily Broncos (especially the II) as much as the classic Blazers (I’ll admit the new Broncos are better than the new Blazers- that one they absolutely disgraced the name and turned it into a pointless CUV) In general, I have never liked Found On Road Dead’s body styles and interior designs. I’m gonna go Samurai for nostalgia sake since I knew someone way back in high school who had one…I didn’t even like it especially since it was beat to hell…but have grown a little fonder for those since then after reading more about them. I’ve been hearing about the rollover risks for a long time now but I’m not worried about that- slow and steady wins the race. I would have fun cruising/off-roading in it!
I’ll take a 60hp 2,100lb 4wd over a 140hp 3,400lb one most any day.
No, the math doesn’t make sense, but I figure I’ll have more fun on my way to looking at the world upside down.
I was around 11yo when the news was going on about how dangerous the Samurai was but even at that young age I could tell this wasn’t a sportscar and assumed anyone rolling these things over was driving it like one. Years later I and some friends were at an abandoned development that had filled up with water where we would go swimming (we called it Punk Rock Pond) and it was this big rutty muddy mess out in the middle of nowhere. 4x4s would go back there mudding and we’d watch that while swimming and one day a Chevy stepside and 2G Bronco on big mud tires were out there banging around having fun and the bronco got stuck. The Chevy muddied on over to pull him out and then he got stuck too. A while goes by and a Samurai on street tires shows up and it drives right up to both trucks and just floats on top of the mud. They hook a tow strap up to it and it goes right to the end of the tow strap and just spins its wheels. It could drive all around them but couldn’t pull them out. Anyways, Samurai leaves and must have gone to visit the local 4×4 shop because he came back half and hour later with Bigfoot’s SE TX cousin with wheels as big as I was tall that finally pulled the other two out.
I type all this to say I like both of these and would bang around in either but my imaginary internet monies is all going on the Samurai today.
I really like them both, they both have a lot of potential. I think for SoCal I’d go with the Sammy and lose the top and doors. The Bronco might be too nice to cut the roof off of.
I can envision builds for both of these that far surpass my actual skills.
The “maneuver” Ford eschewed in safety testing for the Bronco II was the J-Turn. I wrote a paper for someone in college about that (and the ensuing NHTSA investigation), in return for a carton of Marlboros.
That said, Im pretty sure the real mileage for the Bronco II is either 157 or 257k, and the AC repair would probably equal 50% of the vehicle cost unless you DIY, which that doesnt seem like fun)
So, while I was never a Samurai guy, thats the route Im going here
I’m typically a Ford guy, but had to go Suzuki. We had a Suzuki Sidekick for 20+ yrs. Go anywhere and always started.
In Brono II pics, Is that a jug of antifreeze sticking out behind rear seat?
I’ll take the Suzuki. But I would like it delivered to me via a large raft to a romote Amazon river bank in Bolivia.
The samurai wins on fun and possibilities. The bronco II brings back bad memories.
A smidge over 20 years ago, a gal I went to highschool with drove a Bronco II. She was very cute. That is the only positive thing I can think of about the Bronco II. Samurai all the way!
Oof this is tough. a real ‘both’ kinda day. If the Suzuki interior wasn’t so faded I think I’d go that route as I do like them better. But that Mello Yellow is irresistible!
I have an irrational love for Samurais ever since I visited Aruba in 1997 and wheeled a Sammy into places a Jeep couldn’t go (due to track width, not off-road capability).
Before I touched the Bronco II I would need a good explanation as to why it needed brand new 9-series license plates. Did it come from out of state? Was it non-op for a long time? And why getting rid of it so soon after replating it?
I do recall a local car show about ten years ago where a guy brought his absolutely pristine Bronco II Eddie Bauer edition. It was one of those deals where you’re just shocked (and as a good Autopian also delighted) somebody bothered to keep one in that shape.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who looks at the plates when browsing cars. Hmm, you seem to have had it for less than a year? What is really wrong with it. Not an immediate pass since we had a bunch of plates here that peeled and people are pretty slow about replacing them but something to ask the seller about before investing any more time and effort.
I asked the seller of the Bronco if the odometer rolled over, and they said it had. So have the speedometer, the tachometer, and the clock for that matter.
The cheerful yellow on the Ford paint takes the win for me. I wish more cars had that as an option today.
Cheerful yellow paint on the Ford. My sinuses are all fucked up and I haven’t slept well in days. Fortunately my job is getting medical insurance authorizations, so it’s not like being semi-lucid can cause a problem!
Both. Both, both, both. I own a TJ but I am still constantly on the lookout for a Samurai or a Bronco II. Both can be made great off-road, even if neither is great on-road. Both have reliable drivetrains, and even though the BII has the twin-torque beam front suspension, it is easy to swap in a solid axle (a full-width D44 front and 8.8 rear help with the stability issues…in a way). The Suzuki on some Toyota axles is also a lot of fun. Since both isn’t an option I guess I will go with the BII, but I want both.
It’s still hard to accept the prices on these, but I’ll go with the Suzuki. You could put a little love into it and offroaders would probably appreciate it. The Bronco II is generally unappreciated, and this one is a little beat for the price.
Oddly, the price on the BII is pretty good, depending upon where you are. Here in Colorado, one in that shape would be listed for at least $10k, as a $4500 one is mostly rust and missing body panels here.
Had that same 2.9L V6 and 5 speed drivetrain in an 87 Ranger. It was bulletproof. Given away at 250k + miles to some foreign exchange students who finally killed it on a road trip to Florida. That said, I always wanted a Samurai to thrash so that’s my pick.
So hear me out, Suzuki brings back the Samurai as an EV. The batteries would lower the center of gravity, the frunk would be useful for secure storage. Perfect little city car for anyone.Easy to park, sits up high for easy ingress/egress and visibility. Snow Areas 4WD, Sunny Areas Convertible. Wouldn’t need tons of range but could use the REX concept from the I3 for those that want to drive to trail instead of trailering
Suzuki for me. Cheap ragtop, and off road hijinks? Yes, please.
In high school circa 1993, I had a friend named Emmet that drove a Samurai, and another friend named Chad who drove a Bronco 2. Chad took me off roading for the first time, so I have a soft spot for the Bronco 2, but chose the Samurai because it’s basically a street legal side by side, and it would only take up a half size spot in the garage.
Going Samurai for two reasons. One is that several guys whom I worked with in the late ’80’s all took their bonus money one year and bought Bronco IIs . And they were all in the shop as often as they were on the road. It’s possible that they were better-sorted by the time this one came out, but that left a pretty bad taste in my mouth for those things. Also, a rather lovely friend of mine and I once spent a couple of weeks driving a Samurai all over Costa Rica. I have some really good memories of that trip, so reliving that would be just fine.
Great picks, Griff! The Samurai is a terrific pull, and looks like it would be a hoot to drive.
The Bronco is wearing non-OE paint, seats from a different car and 4/5ths of the desired number of tires … plus the console-mounted amp feels janky as h*ck.
So I picked the Ford. The underlying truck will run forever, if the Rangers in my neighborhood are any indication. I’m old and slow, so I’m in no danger of putting it on its side. And I’d happily upgrade the interior with the help of my nearest pick-a-part Explorer.
Yeah, I kept looking at the seats trying to figure out if the front seats or rear seats were out of another BII, and I am thinking it is probably the rear. The front seats are correct for the year (’84-’88 had the low-back, and I think the high-back option started in ’89), and the back seem way too nice for what looks to be a former work truck. Either way, I’d have a lot of fun with the BII…right up until my wife killed me for buying yet another project car.
The front seats are out of an Eddie Bauer, but the door cards and rear seats are from a lower trim level (XL?), so I figured the fronts were a swap. I’d also forgotten how basic the inside of those BIIs were.
Good point. I think the Eddie Bauer trim came with power windows, so you are likely right the fronts were swapped. The door cards were bugging me because I couldn’t recall ever seeing a BII, regardless of trim, with the body color showing through on the top of the door. Then I realized they are the stock ones out of the base trim (XL?) but someone pulled the cushy vinyl top cap off for some reason.
It is amusing about how basic vehicles were back then, because I remember climbing into my sister’s boyfriend’s ’86 Ranger and thinking how nice it was inside. And it was, relative to other trucks of the time, but the Ranger and BII were nothing like today’s luxury trucks.
I’m a huge fan of the Samurai. Have owned two. Would like another. This ones in good shape, so I’ll take it.
But can we please stop perpetuating the myth that they are easier to flip than any other SUV, especially of this era? That Consumer Reports stuff was proven to be questionable at best. I mean, this particular one will be easy to flip because it looks like it’s got skinny stock tires on a lifted chassis.
Sure this one will flip, but…
Thanks for mentioning this. Consumer Reports lost a lot of credibility over that fiasco.
Personally, I knew multiple people that owned each of these back in the day. None of the Samurai owners I knew rolled. The same could not be said for the Bronco II. Our next door neighbor rolled hers off an exit ramp. They fixed it up and kept it another few years.
That disturbing stain on the passenger seat of the Samurai disturbs me. Plus, the Bronco II is yellow, so I’m going Ford today.
The stain is simply proof that the passenger only thought it was going to roll over…
Never rolled onto the roof but have tipped over in both of these (once in the Bronco and 3 in Samurai‘s) I voted Samurai it was more fun, the roof came off and easier to get back onto its wheels. Probably as a surprise to a lot these offroad hijinks all happened with a view of the NYC skyline. All that swamp just to the South of Giants/Metlife Stadium was full of trails we wheeled in. Then in 1999 the current POTUS decided he was going to turn it into a golf coarse and the new game became trying to get the security guards chasing us stuck.
Bronco II is an ugly joke of an S10 competitor. the Smaurai is a mini Jeep competitor. but it has a much better following and honestly I see that thing as a blank slate road legal Side by side. Beat it till it breaks then upgrade whatever goes out. Toyota Axles, Tracker Motors, VW diesels, T-Case upgrades. All easy to find and install.
My aunt owned a Bronco II and it was the biggest piece of shit, constantly having issues and was in the shop more than it was driven. So that’s a no from me which means automatically the Suzuki wins.