written by BigHornOwner on 31/12/2006
Good Points
This is my third Trooper 3.1 TDi, and the story has been much the same for all of them. In a nutshell: 3.1 turbo diesel engine is immensely powerful and never ceases to surprise. Legal UK payload in the short wheel base is 750kg (3/4 of a tonne!), but you'll never notice. Despite being a typical 4x4 slouch when empty, acceleration appears unaltered by a heavy load, such is the low-down teeth-gritting raw power of that superb Isuzu engine. Fit it with decent (mud terrain) tyres and you will embarrass the sneering, scornful Discovery owners, jealous that their vehicles are two years younger than yours but showing five times as much rust.
Rust control is provided by typical Japanese over-engineering and attention to detail; multiple (double figures) coats of protection. If you drill a hole anywhere and start a rust patch, it's your own fault. Keep it in a garage and it will last for a decade with ease. Servicing costs are not what you might expect; take it to the local garage (NOT an Isuzu specialist) and your average servicing costs will be no different from a Vauxhall Vectra (- and the Vectra won't get you home in a blizzard). You can buy non-Isuzu parts online and save a fortune, and they work just fine.
Of the three models offered in the UK - Standard, Duty and Citation - the Duty is by far the most common. The Citation offers spurious 'luxuries' such as arm rests (which good drivers never use ;-) etc. You can get far more for your money at less cost from an import. The Duty is solid however and, unless you crave walnut veneer, will give you all the controls and functions you really need.
Overall reliability is legendary; these things just never quit. If you break it, you were being very harsh. If you get it stuck, you were being very silly. It's a serious 4x4 for serious people, which is probably why it has been so popular with farmers.
This is NOT an SUV. SUVs are all silver, have door sills/sidesteps and acres of chrome that is just crying out to be scratched. And they NEVER go off road. If you want an SUV, move to the US. If you want a square-jawed, mud-plugging, blizzard-beating 4x4 that will serve you for years, buy a Trooper 3.1 TDi. It's what a Land Rover dreams of being.
Bad Points
The Trooper has no Sloan Ranger image. If you are buying for image, go elsewhere. The Trooper isn't for Jeremy and Miranda who want to show off while taking their children to prep school in the centre of London. Buy a Range Rover if you want to do that. The interior of the 3.1 is spartan and agricultural. Pre-1994 models have strange, circular knobs for the windscreen wiper controls rather than a stalk. This is distracting for the first few hundred miles, but once you become a real Trooper owner you never give it another thought.
Off road goodies are hard to come by - you can get a winch bar for a Trooper but it comes from Oz and takes six months to arrive. Goodies such as jackable sills and rear bumper, such as you can buy for a Land Rover, are impossible to find. You can raise the body and suspension, but it will cost. All in all there just aren't the options a Discovery or Defender has. That said, a standard Trooper with good tyres will go a long way through very rough terrain, but if you want the bolt-on extras then a Land Rover might be more your thing. (Save up for the broken gearbox though )
General Comments
If you want a real 4x4 that will get you home through, well, pretty much anything, then this is the vehicle. You MUST put decent tyres on it though; don't be one of the idiots who buys a hugely capable off-roader and leaves it afflicted with those ridiculous showroom road tyres. BF Goodrich All Terrain or, if you live on a farm or tow a horsebox through wet fields, BFG Mud Terrain. If you don't want to invest in proper tyres (and that means all FIVE of them), why do you want a 4x4? Go and buy a Mini. Road tyres on a Trooper is an insult.
This is a Mark II Trooper; the Mark I is also a legend, but now very old. Steer clear of the Mark III 3.0 litre common rail engines - they tend to blow up. Isuzu really killed the goose that laid the golden egg when they moved away from the 3.1 TDi Trooper. Focused on competition, they lost sight of the fact that this vehicle was already wiping the floor with the opposition. In many rural areas, the car parks at agricultural gatherings have almost as many Troopers as Landrovers. Parts may be more expensive than a Landrover, but you'll use far less of them.
If buying second hand, UK Isuzu dealerships (the few that are left) will try to sell you a "UK spec" machine and tell you that "grey imports" are risky. This is utter nonsense; buy an import. You will get lower mileage and much better condition. You will have to put up with dealers telling you that you can't get parts because the chassis numbers are different. Just act dumb, point at the part you need replaced and say "I want one that looks like that". Nine times out of ten you can take one off a UK machine in a wreckers yard and it will fit perfectly.
I have bought an imported Irmscher 3.1 TDi SWB and got more extras than a UK Citation at a fraction of the price. If you are in a cold and wintry area, make sure there is a second heavy duty battery fitted in parallel; Troopers are designed to take them, and you will pay through the nose if you pay for it as part of a UK spec 'Winter Pack'. If buying an import in the UK, make sure it has a sump guard. All imports enter the UK through Ireland and are rigorously inspected; as part of this the sump guard is removed to aid the examination - and is usually not replaced. There is no point having a 4x4 without a sump guard, so make it part of your purchase negotiation. Get down on your knees and check!