1985 Isuzu Trooper II review from North America

Water pump had catastrophic failure and took out the radiator

Battery died

CV boots torn and destroyed the front CV axles.

When first reading this review, you might think it was negative, but in fact there so many positive attributes about this BA little 4x4, that what it lacks, it more than compensates for in other areas. This vehicle was essentially someone's trail toy before I bought it for 800 bucks, so even though it had low miles, they were hard miles. VW talks about a certain intangible that makes a VW a VW, the same is true with the little Trooper. You just feel happy when you drive it. You connect to it, unlike anything else I've ever driven. You have to appreciate that I am a pretty hardcore full size 4x4 guy, very hard core, built Broncos and the occasional K5 Blazer, and I've ALWAYS "poo pooed" the Japanese (stuff). Icky, yucky, puny, tinny, junky garbage - who would want it. Just goes to show you can really get surprised sometimes. I crawled under this little '85 Trooper II to undercoat it, before it went to MN as my son's daily (winter) driver. OMG! How 'bout a fully boxed super heavy duty solid steel ladder frame with tons of welded body mounts, up and down both sides. My Blazer should be built so good! This thing has the most rigid frame of anything I've ever taken off road. There are more solid steel cross members than I can count. They've got the equation right as well. Contrary to everyone else, they got it right for offroad: enough power to get you through whatever you need to get through, but so much you're going to be snapping drivetrain like popcorn, low 4.55:1 gears from the factory, a solid axle out back, room for 33" tires without a lift. Shove this thing down into low and I expect you will give up before it does! I bought this one for my son, but I haven't stopped thinking about it since and I'm going to get one for myself as soon as the right one comes along. Stick with the oldies on the Troopers, they're definitely the goodies!!!