2001 Isuzu Rodeo Sport review from North America

Cracked exhaust manifold, cracked cylinder head.

Car has significant vibration problems at highway speeds, computer problems with the transmission.

Tabs on plastic interior components have snapped off.

Minor corrosion.

I like the general concept of it. For tooling around with the top down on a Sunday afternoon it is quite fun. But like most of the pretty ones, it's nothing but trouble. There is simply NO excuse for a 2WD 4 cylinder anything to have this many problems under 70k miles. I've owned Chrysler, Toyota, Volvo, Mercedes, and bought this Isuzu on a whim.

This car was made in America, and boy does it show. I couldn't have gone more wrong if I'd bought a Chrysler product. I will be returning to Toyota or Honda after this.

There is a lot about this truck that is badly engineered. The transmission is a GM product, (which was just dumb to begin with), and the shift points don't seem to be mapped well. Also it is a high revving engine in a truck... which is retarded by itself. Trucks should make their power down low; their aerodynamics suck; they gain nothing from winding up the engine. In this case 18mpg is about average. (point made?)

If you look under the hood, there are miles of half inch hose with dozens of "T" connectors that are just waiting for a clamp to fail. It has ABS, (thank god!) which has preserved me once or twice from intolerably bad traction, due largely (from my reading of other posts), to the crappy quality of the OEM shock absorbers.

"Blind Spot" does not adequately describe this cars visibility. More like, "wave a white cane out of the window and send a telegram before departure" spot. The mirrors do not adequately cover the rear quarters and the pillars are hefty. I've nearly street pizza'd my fair share of sports cars on the passenger quarter because of this. Definitely keep your head on a swivel in this thing.

Parts availability is poor. Which is to say I've had 2 parts factory back ordered. This is ridiculous and demonstrates a general lack of support from Isuzu.