Am looking to get a 96 Isuzu Rodeo from a local 3rd owner vehicle. Vehicle been in his family since 98, has about 176,000 on it, but heards replaced along with other engine owrk at 126000. Looking to find out the good and bad about this vehicle..It has the V6 and is 5 speed with 4x4....Please reply to vaman4215@yahoo.com for quicker response....

 

The '96-97 (1.5 gen) years were probably the least troublesome. They dont seem to suffer from the oil burning or intake manifold gasket issues that the 98+ (2nd gen) ones do. The only real issue I know of on them is valve ticking. They use hydraulic lash adjusters and valve ticking is very common. Some have been able to avoid it by using certain oil and filter combinations, others just learned to live with it. Check planetisuzoo.com or the rodeo section of automotiveforums.com and ask Ramblin Fever for more info on that. He has a '97 that doesnt tick.

With the 5 speed you should have no trouble with the transmission. The automatics were problematic if neglected.