Introduction

Isuzu Rodeo offers a lightweight V6 engine, push-button four-wheel drive, sturdy construction and lots of cargo space. It combines handsome looks, a confident feel, and nimble highway manners on the road, with reasonably good capability off road. Its dual-mode semi-active suspension system continuously adjusts to provide better handling and stability, while its drive-by-wire throttle is designed to deliver improved response and efficiency. Its optional all-aluminum 3.2-liter V6 delivers 205 horsepower.

Walkaround

Except for last year's new eight-port grille, flush-mounted headlights and revised front and rear bumpers, the Rodeo's exterior appearance hasn't changed significantly since the major reworking it received in 1998.

Interior Features

The Rodeo's seat bottoms are big and deep and provide good support. Most of the controls are well placed and easy to operate, though the windshield-wiper post took awhile to figure out. On the downside, interior passenger space, particularly headroom, is still limited for taller people. The Rodeo seats five, but rear-seat passengers should be children or short adults. The optional moonroof further reduces front headroom by an inch, which is a lot, although people shorter than 6 feet should still find headroom adequate. However, the Rodeo offers abundant cargo space, more than 81 cubic feet of it with the rear seat folded down. That tops most other like-sized SUVs, particularly the Nissan Xterra at only 65.6 cubic feet. The Rodeo boasts slightly more space than the Ford Explorer and Toyota 4-Runner. We dropped the back seat and loaded the cargo area with a mountain bike, a very large float tube (a giant truck inner tube encased in nylon with a backrest that sticks up about 2 feet on one side), a couple of fly rods, and some other miscellaneous fishing gear. The Rodeo swallowed it all with room to spare.