1994 Isuzu Trooper Review (continued)
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Driving Impressions

The Trooper was a solid performer in our test. Acceleration was strong from a stop and in freeway merging and passing situations. The V6 didn't seem to be as noisy as the competitors' power plants when under a load. The Trooper, like all sport utilities with their higher stance and upright profile, did show some body lean when maneuvering at speed, but this wasn't exaggerated. Overall, the suspension, with independent double-wishbone and torsion bars in front and rear coil springs with multi-link positioning, worked well and is a happy compromise for good on- and off-road performance.

There are several features we enjoyed. One is the two settings on the four-speed automatic transmission that adjust performance to weather, road and load conditions. One setting is for winter start," on, slippery surfaces. It starts Trooper in third gear, reducing wheel spin. We didn't have the luxury of trying it on ice or snow, but we did try it on wet, slippery leaves and it worked well. The other special setting is "power," for towing, passing or in off-road situations demanding maximum power. This setting increased the rpms during acceleration. It also worked very well.

Another feature we liked was the four-wheel anti-lock brakes (ABS). Isuzu recognizes that Troopers might go off-road, and relocated the control unit from the chassis to the engine compartment for greater protection.

Again, we didn't have any ice or snow, but tested the system on wet and mud surfaces. It worked very well, with just a slight shudder of feedback through the brake pedal when the system was applying and releasing brake system pressure. We found this feedback assuring rather than annoying.

One thing we did find annoying was the 4WD system. It didn't have shift-on-the-fly capability. You can shift into 4WD high while moving, but you must come to a stop to shift into 4WD low. And you must shift from 4WD low to 4WD high from a stop. Then you can shift from 4WD high into 2VTD while on the move. This is further complicated by the automatic locking hubs, which dictate that you operate briefly in reverse to unlock them. This is not state-of-the-art."