Rocky Mountain High-Mileage 4x4s: 1997 Isuzu Rodeo vs 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee

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Good morning, and welcome back to Shitbox Showdown! Today we’re heading into the mountains and looking at two SUVs that are both north of 200,000 miles. Now, yesterday I gave you some terrible choices, because I felt like it. I am a capricious and occasionally cruel junky car god, and sometimes there just are no good choices. But let’s see where things ended up:

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The Vega wins, by two to one. It was those turbine wheels, wasn’t it? Can’t miss with those things.

Now then: When I was a kid, we took vacations to Colorado almost every summer. The two-day drive from Chicago was worth it when we saw the mountains appear on the horizon, and the hot sweaty plains of Nebraska were forgotten once we got up above five thousand feet. One of my favorite activities on these trips were “Jeep tours” on the roads and trails around the old gold mines. These never took place in actual Jeeps; the two vehicles I remember were a Chevy Blazer and an International Scout, both topless, both equipped with an extra row of seats, no seatbelts, and a rudimentary roll bar. It was the ’80s. We were tougher then.

Since then, I associate 4x4s with rocky trails leading up to mine shafts, strewn with old railroad ties, bits of rusty and broken mining equimpent, and the characteristic yellow gravel of gold mine tailing piles. Colorado and four-wheel-drives are permanently intertwined in my mind, so I wanted to see what sorts of cheap 4x4s were actually available. Here’s two that I found in our price range.

1997 Isuzu Rodeo LS – $2,500

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Engine/drivetrain: 3.2 liter overhead cam V6, four-speed automatic, part-time 4WD

Location: Englewood, CO

Odometer reading: 203,000 miles

Runs/drives? Yep

It’s not uncommon for vehicles to have different names in different countries, and it seems like the US often gets stuck with the worst choice. For example: in Japan, this SUV is known as – get this – the Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard. Mysterious. Utility. Wizard. I mean, come on. Europe got the rather dull but inoffensive name of Opel/Vauxhall Frontera, and here in the US, apparently the marketing department were all Garth Brooks fans, and called the thing Rodeo.

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I always liked the style of these things, and they’re pretty good to drive, too. Early Rodeos came with GM’s 3.1 liter pushrod V6, but by the time this one was built, they had switched to Isuzu’s own 3.2 liter overhead cam V6, which made more power and was less thrashy. This one has an automatic transmission, as so many Rodeos did, and part-time four-wheel-drive with a dual-range transfer case.

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This particular Rodeo seems to be holding up well after more than 200,000 miles. It’s a bit dusty, and it looks like someone forgot about it in the back row of this particular used car lot, but I think with a bath and some maintenance, it would look all right. Because it is in a used car lot, we’re not likely to get much of its history, so an inspection is probably a good idea.

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One curious thing that does seem to be missing are the lower cushions for the back seat. I believe these are the type where the lower cushions flip forward before the seat backs fold down, so I can’t imagine why anyone would remove them. You don’t gain any cargo space by doing so. And why not put them back in before trading it in? Where did they go? Mysterious utility, indeed.

1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited – $2,700

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Engine/drivetrain: 4.0 liter overhead valve inline 6, four-speed automatic, full-time 4WD

Location: Aurora, CO

Odometer reading: 226,000 miles

Runs/drives? You bet

One thing I have never understood about used car ads is the need to make everything shiny. A good wash and vacuum? Yes please. A spritz of Armor-All on the tires? Unneccessary, but whatever. But once in a while, you find a car like this, greased-up like an Austrian bodybuilder, looking like someone dipped the whole thing in glycerine. I mean, look at the center console on this thing:

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Ew. You can feel the slippery sliminess through the photo.

This particular Jeep Grand Cherokee is in good shape for having 236,000 miles on it. Only the driver’s seat really shows its age. We don’t get a lot of information on its condition, other than “runs great” and that it has a new “Catalina converter” (which I presume changes the exhaust to a salad dressing from the ’70s?). I don’t see V8 badges, so I’m assuming this Jeep has the ubiquitous 4.0 liter inline six under the hood.

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This Grand Cherokee is an automatic, of course; otherwise I’d be required by David to use terms like “Holy” and “Grail” to describe it. The automatics in these don’t have a stellar reputation, but with as many miles as this one has, it has either been cared-for, or replaced.

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It’s a Limited, so it has snazzy gold trim and lots of toys inside. And according to the seller, it all works, which is a bonus for a truck this old. It’s just too bad it’s all slathered in goop.

So that’s what we’ve got today: two old cheap 4x4s, both with lots of experience, but still going strong. Which one will it be?

(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)

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53 thoughts on “Rocky Mountain High-Mileage 4x4s: 1997 Isuzu Rodeo vs 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee

  1. Gotta go with the Jeep. Yeah its goopy, but clearly someone’s taking the time to care for the thing vs the Rodeo at a used car lot missing parts. The $200 difference feels like nothing looking at them side by side.

    On a related note a friend of mine had a Rodeo with the V6 and a 5 speed and I drove it a handful of times and it was really kind of fun to mess around with. The Isuzu’s have a soul for sure.

  2. Jeep. Obviously.

    You think the 4.0’s ubiquitous (the Isuzu 3.2 actually is just as commonplace,) boy are you in for a surprise. Because this is a ZJ Limited, with the gold badges, maxed out.
    ’96’s don’t have V8 badging. They just have the gold. You couldn’t option a Jeep like this without also getting a lukewarmed 5.2 under the hood (total production: about UMPTEEN BILLION still on the road) mated to the bulletproof 42RE.
    And this particular example? Ticked literally every single option box. Including the full size spare, CD player, Infinity Gold, digital information center, AND overhead trip computer. It’s a 5.2. They always are. And that just makes it better.

  3. Me for the Jeep. I’d be more enthusiastic if it was a Grand-less Cherokee, but that would likely be more expensive, as well. Love the 4.0, not so much the autobox, though it seems almost all the Jeepies I’ve ever seen have one.

    Nothing wrong with the Isuzu, though as someone else said, I’d think the seller could have sloshed a bucket of water over it to wash away the bigger roaches. It’d likely cost something to source those rear-seat bottoms, so the price comparo is a bit of a wash (pun intended). At least its not one of the super-cheap versions, which had some really nasty low-buck interior bits.

    Much as I’m off SUVs these days, either of these ought to do the job.

  4. I recently bought a 1999 Isuzu Amigo. 4×4, 5spd manual, locking hubs and crank windows. It’s more fun then a $30000 Bronco 2dr at 1/10th the price.
    I want to put a giant Solo cup zig-zag stripe on the sides and call it My Solo Amigo.

  5. I picked the Jeep (see my user name). I do have to quibble slightly about the bench seat removal impacting cargo space though; the ZJ has very similar rear seats, and it’s fairly easy to remove the bench portion without the use of tools. This gives you a few extra inches in the cargo area, and also gives you some access to the floor area (assuming that you’ve also pulled out the rear headrests, of course).

    Of course, it’s also likely that the Isuzu’s benches were so heavily damaged after transporting something horrible that it was best to just dispose of them.

  6. Speaking as an owner of two V8 ZJ Grand Cherokees they remain two of my favorite vehicles I’ve ever driven. I had a ’95 Laredo in 4WD and a ’98 Limited in 2WD. While I prefer the 5.2 V8 to the 4.0 6-banger the 4.0 is still a perfectly fine motor and the Limited really is a nice driving package. It’s roomy without being massive and the interior was a nice place to live.

    Meanwhile, I do have a potential issue with the Isuzu – I had several friends with old Troopers from the same era that I believe used the same 3.2L Isuzu 6-cylinder (but I could easily be wrong). They uniformly had problems with the bottom end of the engines and one of my friends went through two or three of the engines before giving up. Not sure if the engine listed in this article is the same one, but I’d be leery of drivetrain reliability.

    All this to say the Jeep is an easy choice for me.

  7. Similar prices, similar miles. Both transmissions are meh at best, with a slight edge to the Jeepster. Engines, on the other hand, that’s different. These Isuzu we’re famous for chugging oil like a frat house pledge. Frankly, I’m impressed this one made it this far.

  8. Oh, those shiny surfaces take me back! My family had a Cavalier that was “my” car to drive through high school, and I took great pride in making all those cheap ’90s GM plastic surfaces glisten like a dewy lawn in the Springtime. I don’t know why I thought that was a good look.

  9. Important question: Is the Isuzu Rodeo pronounced “RHO-dee-oh” like the cowboy competition or “rho-DAY-oh” like the famous shopping drive in Beverly Hills?

  10. I live in Aurora, CO and Englewood is across town. I’ll drive to the Rodeo to have something NOT Jeep. EVERYONE has a Jeep out here. Get the Rodeo, clean it up. Don’t worry about the back seats, just lay the rear flat and use it as a utility vehicle and go have fun in the mountain trails.

  11. it says a lot when a dealer cannot be bother to slather the vehicle in shiny juice line the Jeep. plus with that converter we might fit in well at the Wine mixer.

    Jeep for the win, though how that thing made it that many miles with a Chrysler 4 speed auto is beyond me.

    1. Joe and I attended the same alma mater: Grossmont Community College, east of San Diego. Although he probably graduated from SDSU after collecting a bunch of lower-division credits at GCC.

      Anyway, I picked the Jeep. Catalina is the only salad dressing I ever liked.

  12. Easy call. This Grand Cherokee is nearly identical to the ’97 Limited 4.0 that my father drove from roughly 1999-2009. His was the dark cherry color as opposed to black, but had the gold wheels and trim. Just beautiful. To this day I maintain that the ZJ was one of Jeep’s best products ever. An absolute joy to drive, comfortable as can be, and very capable. This is definitely a 4.0 as it lacks V8 badges on the doors. Also, the 5.2L V8 is less likely to make it to 226k than the six-banger. Not unheard of, just less likely.

    On another note, remember when Honda sold rebadged Rodeos as the Honda Passport, and in return Isuzu got to rebadge the 1G Odyssey minivan as the Isuzu Oasis? Man the ’90s were a crazy time…

    1. ’96 didn’t get the badge, and the 5.2’s if not cooked off, laughed at half a million miles in trucks. The 42RE does 250k between clutch packs.
      And I assure you, your dad’s ’97 Limited has nothing on this one. Most were just Package 26K. This one has quite literally every single option, including the heated seats, Infinity Gold, and overhead and would have stickered around $40k.

  13. I went Rodeo only because my mom had both a 1G and a 2G and as a result I already know how to fix pretty much everything that can go wrong with them.

    (Then in ’08 she bought a 4Runner and I have no idea how to fix anything on that because it’s never had an issue.)

  14. Take me to the rodeo, where I can yell yee-haw as I go for a bumpy ride.

    Rodeo wins for me, for one reason- I don’t like the full time 4×4. Also, I amnassuming the frame on the rodeo isn’t rusted out so that makes it cool too.

    1. Since I’m getting a 403 error when I try to post, let’s see if I can reply to you. 🙂

      I get that you don’t like the full-time 4WD, but do you really want the RWD Rodeo?

      Despite the article saying it has “part-time 4WD”, the CL ad says in two locations that it is RWD. 🙁

      Easy win for the Jeep here IMO, despite the slathering and the gooping. I just wish the owner would have inflated the tires before varnishing them.

  15. The Jeep is a no-brainer. Slightly higher mileage but much better aesthetic condition. The reliable 4.0L inline six. Excellent parts availability since they made a million of these things. The Isuzu Rodeo? Not so much. They never made many of these things to begin with and most of them have long since been scrapped. I wouldn’t be surprised if the aftermarket is nonexistent, whereas with the Jeep it’s robust and you can also find a good selection of them at your local pick ‘n pull.

    1. I believe the Rodeo spent a year or more atop the best selling SUV of the year category. They were very popular and as for parts and support i do believe that the GM company still has some presence here in the USA.

      1. Useless fun fact, when Isuzu pulled out of passenger car operations in the U.S., GM took over. When GM pulled out of passenger car operations in South Africa, Isuzu took over.

  16. I’m a fairly non-SUV guy, but I have to say that I’m struck by how both of today’s contestants are at the very least notable for having wonderful SUV-takes-on-other-company-car-wheels. Makes me happy.

    The Rodeo’s Torque Thrust D-ish wheels are great, as are the GC’s vaguely Pontiac-we-build-excitement style ones.

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