1997 Isuzu Trooper

Roomy, elegant and comfortable, the Isuzu Trooper suffers from the Rodney Dangerfield syndrome: it don't get no respect, or at least not enough. And the same can be said for its Acura variant, the SLX. In fact, the Trooper and SLX have been the targets of some distinctly hostile press, thanks to last year's scare story by a national consumer's magazine which suggested these two vehicles are exceptionally prone to rollover accidents. We'll address that issue in a little more detail later, but let's make something clear right now: we think this is nonsense. In addition to our own evaluations, various members of our team, who could roll over most any SUV if they really tried to, have been involved in a number of formal track tests involving both the Trooper and the SLX, and neither of them showed any unusual inclination to go into the shiny-side-down mode. In addition to being capable, well equipped and exceptionally roomy, the Trooper and SLX are well priced to compete in the borderline luxury area, one of the hottest segments of the sport-utility market. Our tester was the mid-grade Trooper LS, with four-wheel drive. Mechanical, feature and dynamic observations concerning the Trooper apply equally to the Acura SLX.