1989 Isuzu Trooper Citation review from UK and Ireland

One of the rear break callipers seized, this was the only real expensive thing and cost about £250 for parts and labour.

Other than that the only things that have needed replacing are the brake pads, fan belts (there are three!) and tyres, considering I do about 30k a year that's nothing to ring alarm bells about.

Only really bad thing is that the base of the rear door has rusted quite considerably.

There are some other rust spots on the bodywork, but they are relatively easy to cure.

Have been very pleased with this car, did a lot of research before buying it and I think it's paid off.

I love the chunky cubist styling! It certainly stands out (quite literally- it's very tall) amongst other 4x4s in a car park and makes a change from all the tacky plastic ones see on the roads today- drivers of Rav-4's and Freelanders shy away and always let you go first at junctions!

Although there is a bit of rust on the bodywork the sub frame is in excellent order, even compared with my last car, a Rover 800 which had far more rust and was 4 years younger.

The Trooper Citations definitely a good choice, as the top of the range (in the UK at least) you get A/C heated seats and electric windows auto freewheeling hubs- all of which still work after 15 years and 152,000 miles!

It's very nice to drive and remarkably nippy for such a big car, I have the LWB version and yet the turning circle is incredibly small.

The four-wheel drive works well to and I use the 4L gears just for fun to get up hills in the country now- very impressive driving at 25mph in 5th gear! Do read the manual before playing with the 4WD though as there are points to note on the hubs and gear changing speeds!

Definitely worth getting a Diesel, my 2.8 TD does about 29.5 to 30.5 mpg consistently whether it's on the motorway or country lanes.

I treated him to Mobil1 0W40 Diesel a while back and that made a surprising difference to the economy and engine noise- well worth spending the extra £25 and getting decent oil.

One other point is that if you get the 2.8TD you can't get a manual for this engine! Probably because petrol is so very cheap in the US they didn't make so many diesels over there. The service manual (Chilton's) as well as being remarkably poorly written, arranged and to be honest completely useless doesn't feature the 2.8TD.

It is however worth trying to get the owner/driver's manual for the Trooper, as this is excellent and, for such a small book goes into a fair bit of mechanical detail. Paid £16 for one on e-bay and well worth it!