Home » No, This Isn’t Something AI Created When Asked To Draw A ’90s SUV, This Is A Real Truck That Isuzu Sold

No, This Isn’t Something AI Created When Asked To Draw A ’90s SUV, This Is A Real Truck That Isuzu Sold

Isuzu Bighorn Ts Copy
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This is the Isuzu Bighorn and I swear that it’s real despite so many factors that make it seem like the output of an AI prompted with “cheap and terrible from the 1990s.” It’s objectively weird, incredibly practical (so long as horsepower and speed aren’t something you need), and probably has enough quirks to make Doug DeMuro’s head explode. Let’s dig into this little SUV that just went over the auction block for a measly $6,500.

The Bighorn is essentially an Isuzu Trooper, which we did get here in the USA. It has a few really lovely features though, including a diesel engine we didn’t get here in the States. It makes just 133 horsepower and 217 lb-ft of torque but leverages genuine four-wheel drive and a four-speed automatic transmission. This example has 157,600 miles on the odometer so it’s lived a life already.

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The list of standard features sounds not too far off from what buyers look for on sale today. It has three rows. The second row folds forward and the third row folds upward and sideways onto the walls of the cabin. The front row also gets heated seats.

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Speaking of creature comforts, this little classic SUV also has automatic climate control. The windows and mirrors are power-adjustable and even the switches are charming. Isuzu could’ve just made a switch panel like everyone else, but instead, these switches are angled in the housing!

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The exterior is full of weirdness too. Take a gander at the front passenger-side fender and you’ll see a mirror there to help drivers determine where their bumper is. It has side steps, and just above them a little badge that says “Suspension by Lotus.” That’s right, this is from a time period when Lotus worked on some of the suspension systems for Isuzu (as trumpeted by this Impulse ad) and the Bighorn benefited from that. In fact, the steering wheel has a Lotus badge, not an Isuzu one.

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The Bighorn has some custom mods too including 16-inch wheels, rain guards, a manually-operated glow plug system, and a Panasonic head unit that says “WARNING – Let’s Enjoy Safety Driving” when it starts up.

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Finally, let’s chat about the little sticker on the back. It’s written in Chinese and features what looks like a floral Chrysler Pentastar inside of a Dharma Initiative-esque shield. The words above it say (according to Google translate) “Pray for traffic safety” and the words to the right of it say “Hakusan Hime Shrine” referring to a Shinto religious meeting place.

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Sure, it wasn’t a factory decal like the Lotus ones but it provides a small glimpse into the history of this particular Bighorn. This little SUV is just full of charm. I’m a little sad I missed out on it but that’s okay. My Ford Flex is one of the greatest cars ever made.

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Photos: Cars & Bids

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Greg
Greg
4 months ago

We had these in Australia as the Holden Jackaroo! And no I’m not making that name up…

Mach
Mach
4 months ago

no bed means its not a truck.
can we fix the title

Not The Ford 289
Not The Ford 289
4 months ago

These and the Troopers look like Chinese knockoffs of themselves.

like the Chinese Jeeps: A Deep-Dive Into The History Of China’s Bizarre Jeep Cherokee XJ Clones

Jon Benet
Jon Benet
4 months ago

This thing is decked out. That fender mirror is the best, almost as good as the Lotus badging.If it was left hand drive it would be on my want list. I wish Isuzu kept making the soft top Troopers. Imagine if they made a soft top version of this like the concept.
https://cdn3.focus.bg/autodata/i/isuzu/trooper/trooper-soft-top/medium/fd65bd905784ba99b3aff0ef51c4e8bf.jpg
https://www.motortrend.com/uploads/sites/11/2011/08/Isuzu-Trooper-Convertible-concept-front-view1.jpg

Hangover Grenade
Hangover Grenade
4 months ago

My Ford Flex is one of the greatest cars ever made.

weird flex but ok

OrigamiSensei
OrigamiSensei
4 months ago

I want to love the Trooper and its relatives, but as I recall the engine (3.2L 6-cylinder) seemed to have a fair number of failures? A buddy of mine owned one, admittedly something like 15 years old when he bought it, but was on his third engine in six months.

My main memory of the Trooper was looking at a friend’s (a different one from the paragraph above) and telling him his tires were bald and badly needed to be replaced. The next day it rained and he stuffed the front end under the wheels of a semi trailer. Luckily he and his daughter were basically unharmed, although had the young girl’s legs been adult sized they likely would have been crushed in the collision.

86TVan
86TVan
4 months ago
Reply to  OrigamiSensei

I had a 98 Rodeo with the 3.2L V6. (assuming it was the same as the trooper, but I don’t know). Crankshaft started failing at 48k miles.

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
4 months ago

I wonder how much lightness Lotus added?

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
4 months ago

Pretty sure they took lightness from these for their own cars.

Ecsta C3PO
Ecsta C3PO
4 months ago

“Lotus your weight reduction was a success”
“Where is Isuzu?”
“Who do you think took your mass?”
Nooooo!”

Pat Rich
Pat Rich
4 months ago

I remember the Trooper all too well. My uncle bought one new in 1997 and had a 3rd row installed for his whole family. They used it to tow their boat to and from the lake a few times a week for hundreds of thousands of miles. In the end it was barely a car, but it did still run and drive.

Last edited 4 months ago by Pat Rich
Dennis Ames
Dennis Ames
4 months ago

Can you name the truck with four wheel drive,
smells like a steak and seats thirty-five..
Canyonero! Canyonero!
Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down,
It’s the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown!
Canyonero! (Yah!) Canyonero!

Lincoln Clown CaR
Lincoln Clown CaR
4 months ago
Reply to  Dennis Ames

Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!

Squirrelmaster
Squirrelmaster
4 months ago

From the top shot alone I thought it was an Acura SLX, then I read the article and laughed when I read “Isuzu Bighorn” because I had only ever heard of the “Subaru Bighorn”, which I am now realizing may be the laziest rebadge of all the dozens of rebadges of the Trooper.

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
4 months ago
Reply to  Squirrelmaster

Should have been an Acura Bighorn. Lotus suspension in an Acura would have been right on brand.

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
4 months ago

That correction is but a badge switch away.

The Clutch Rider
The Clutch Rider
4 months ago

there was an Acura SLX, that was a rebadged trooper.

Also, for lazy rebadges: Toyota Cavalier, and Chevrolet Forester.

CTSVmkeLS6
CTSVmkeLS6
4 months ago

Dodge and Plymouth Neon too – very lazy

Drad
Drad
4 months ago
Reply to  Squirrelmaster

This is quite possibly one of the most rebadged cars ever, if not cars, definitely SUVs. Its been an: Isuzu, Holden, Vauxhall, Opel, Chevrolet, Subaru, Honda and Acura. And even under the individual Marques its been renamed. In New Zealand alone its been sold as an Isuzu Trooper an Isuzu Bighorn, a Holden Jackaroo and a Holden Monterey. And of course because we get loads of Japanese imports, I’ve seen Isuzu Bighorn, Isuzu Irmsecher (although these may have been special edition de-badged Bighorns), Chevrolet Trooper and Honda Horizon.

Squirrelmaster
Squirrelmaster
4 months ago
Reply to  Drad

Today I learned something! I had no idea there was an Irmscher edition, so I had to look that up. How odd, but sort of cool. Not a vehicle I’d have expected Irmscher to have done.

Last edited 4 months ago by Squirrelmaster
Fatallightning
Fatallightning
4 months ago
Reply to  Squirrelmaster

There’s a sweet Irmscher Gemini on CnB right now that looks like it’s going to sell for a song.

Brent Jatko
Brent Jatko
4 months ago

Cool stuff! Love it.

TXJeepGuy
TXJeepGuy
4 months ago

The Trooper was a solid 90’s SUV.

Parsko
Parsko
4 months ago

One of my few regrets in life was getting rid of my Trooper before I left the country for a few years. I loved that truck so much. 1990 Trooper 2 with 32″ Super Swampers.

NotFlyingIsNotTrying
NotFlyingIsNotTrying
4 months ago

This looks EXACTLY like what the rural mail carrier drives in my tiny little West Virginia town (though this one is in much nicer shape). Pretty sure theirs is just a regular trooper though, but same stripe, same(ish?) color, pretty sure it has the fender mirror too.

Honda Fit is the Answer
Honda Fit is the Answer
4 months ago

For the person who reaallly wants a gen-1 Dodge Caravan replete with fake wood paneling but needs an off-road vehicle.

Thoughts and prayers for traffic safety.

Maymar
Maymar
4 months ago

I’m not entirely sure if it’s just because they were available cheap, but my local zoo still has a couple Troopers done up as safari cars for viewing platforms. No handling by Lotus, but that’s probably okay for something that hasn’t moved in like 20 years.

https://live.staticflickr.com/2701/4532046885_ab607bb031_b.jpg

Pneumatic Tool
Pneumatic Tool
4 months ago

who among us doesn’t enjoy a bit of safety driving?

OldJackBurton
OldJackBurton
4 months ago
Reply to  Pneumatic Tool

You can drive if you want to.
You can leave your friends behind..

Tartpop
Tartpop
4 months ago
Reply to  Pneumatic Tool

Be sure to do The Safety Dance before your Safety Driving!

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
4 months ago

Remember the Acura version of the Trooper? That was an “interesting” attempt at badge engineering.

Rippstik
Rippstik
4 months ago

How to say that you haven’t owned a Trooper without saying you haven’t owned a Trooper: “cheap and terrible from the 1990s.”

Troopers were awesome trucks with a cult-like following.

MEK
MEK
4 months ago
Reply to  Rippstik

Yup, it’s a cult. Brainwashed and gaslighted.

I owned one, see below, they were shit.

Rippstik
Rippstik
4 months ago
Reply to  MEK

I had one, and it was pretty great for what it was.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
4 months ago

Troopers of this vintage seemed to be a mixed bag. I had a boss who drove one through harsh NE winters and swore by it. I also had a neighbor who bought one and did nothing but swear at it. Wish we’d had the diesel version in the states just to have a choice in power plants and to compare for reliability.

Last edited 4 months ago by Canopysaurus
Camp Fire
Camp Fire
4 months ago

As someone old enough to remember this series of Trooper, it looks quite normal to me. Nothing like an AI image.

And Isuzu was not the only company to angle the window switches like that. The contemporary Ford Taurus comes to mind, but I’m sure there were others.

And now that we’ve established the difference in our ages…Get off my lawn!

😛

MEK
MEK
4 months ago

As a former owner of an Isuzu Trooper, (many, many moons ago) I can say with some authority that I would rather walk. I have never had a less reliable vehicle in my life. Fuel pump, water pump, head gasket, broken HVAC controls, exhaust leak, power window… even one of the tensioner springs that help keep the doors open on hills. It snapped one day without warning when I was closing the door with the two broken fragments flying out like shrapnel. All before 100k.Oh, and it was also starting to rust thru the paint in only 4 years. No thanks.

Man With A Reliable Jeep
Man With A Reliable Jeep
4 months ago
Reply to  MEK

Once, when I was looking for parts of an old Isuzu (which I never bought), the old timer at the other end of the phone had something amusing to say:

“Oh, yeah, not many people ask about parts for those anymore. Most of them are in the scrapyards now. We used to call them, I-Sue-You.”

Squirrelmaster
Squirrelmaster
4 months ago
Reply to  MEK

I remember living in the south and seeing Troopers everywhere, and with lots of love from owners, and then moving to the rust belt and never seeing any on the roads and only hearing how absolutely hated they were. It was quite the juxtaposition.

Justin Thiel
Justin Thiel
4 months ago

This is like my 93 Pajero, many of the same features. I love my Pajero in all of its slowness. I do however prefer the look of the Montero/Pajero to this… the outside is a bit.. Chrysler minivan.

Fatallightning
Fatallightning
4 months ago
Reply to  Justin Thiel

4D56 powered?

Justin Thiel
Justin Thiel
4 months ago
Reply to  Fatallightning

oh it is! still turns like a top. only about 70K miles on it.

Spyrius Robot
Spyrius Robot
4 months ago

No idea what you’re smoking this early in the morning, but that looks nothing like the slop that AI generates.

Freddy Bartholomew
Freddy Bartholomew
4 months ago

I think that maybe the words in Chinese characters are Japanese Kanji. Google translate seems to think the image contains Japanese. Sorry to be so pedantic this early in the morning.

TOSSABL
TOSSABL
4 months ago

The 2nd character from the left is one I remember: yama meaning mountain.
So, I believe you’re correct that it’s Japanese

Rusty S Trusty
Rusty S Trusty
4 months ago

Kanji originated from an adaptation of Chinese characters. It came to Japan with Buddhism around 500 CE. That’s why Google got it wrong.

Gubbin
Gubbin
4 months ago
Reply to  Rusty S Trusty

I always liked how “Cartoon History of the Universe” depicted this: “Sooo… should we develop our own writing system, art and literary culture, or just adopt this one that just happens to be sitting here?”

Gubbin
Gubbin
4 months ago

Yep. Japanese kanji look like Chinese hantze and usually have similar meanings, but are not the same and folks get mad when you mix them up. Same with Korean hanja.

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