hey guys. i'm comin from an audi forum. i'm lookin to get rid of the a4 and go with an 03 rodeo.. here's the ad..

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?paId=137776143

i'm good mechanically and prefer to do all work myself. however i've never worked on an isuzu in my life.. unless you want to call my 86 chevy spectrum an isuzu (it was stamped on the drums). anywho, this is where i look to youguys.. could you tell me if this is a good deal? do these cars have any problem areas? what are the pros and cons?? are there any performance mods that are common?

i am curious about mileage. if you dont look at the ad, it is an 03 3.2 4wd 5speed manual. on paper, it says expect 15city/17hwy mpg.. is this real!?!? anyone get better? worse?? i'm getting this to tow a very small enclosed trailor with my quad in it. it's a small 350 sport quad that doesnt weigh much. i kno that my aunts 05 montana van can tow it but it's best not to go up any hills because then you turn into a truck driver and slow to 30 and put on the 4ways and the montana from the factory has 190hp..

that's all i guess for now... any help you could give me would be very much appreciated... thanx!!

 

ok... the 03 was sent to auction... now i'm peekin at a 99 w/ 70k miles. 5 spd, manual locks and windows, a/c. parking brake dont work tho.. prob need an adjustment. how do these things handle rust??? is it bad? oh yeah, and price on this one is 3995

 

I've had seven Rodeo's and I have an 03 Sport now, (as well as others, Ford F150, Mazda RX7 (2), Fiat, etc). The mileage is correct. The 4wd isnt all that great, now the 4cyl is much better. As far as pulling, i use mine to pull a PWC and thats it. The trannys do not have a dipstick so if you overheat one and it pukes fluid you can't add fluid. It requires a pump and somewhat special tool. They tell me it has to be pumped in at 79°F, odd. They are not that hard to work on but very few good mods available, most likly due to the fact they are no longer dealers here in the states. Even the Honda equivelent stealerships, yes stealerships not dealerships, charge well for maintenance. There are common problems, fuel sending units, etc. But all in all, they are fun little suvs to drive that are common to make it to 175k and longer on original engines and trannies. Of course not all will make it but i have seen quite a few still hitting that mileage and still for sale. They seem to hold value well too. I have a 99 for sale for $2200 and it has 130k miles on it. Good AC with no cel lights. Havenent noticed any rust. The only one i had that had rust was due to a prior auto accident. The older bodies seem to rust more but they are older (97 back). I like them a lot. Hence the 7 Rodeos.

 

Eh, a little late, but I appreciate the reply. I ended up gettin the 97 with 129k for $2500. I am more than thrilled with it. No rust anywhere yet, just a small spot on the brush guard and had to replace a vsv. Its a v6 5spd 4wd. I couldn't be happier with the mileage. I avg between 19-20mpg combined. It hauls my quad around with ease too. I changed the muffler to a thrush and sounds pretty good at idle. Only thing now is I have an issue with the oil pressure. It is working backwards of what it should be. At idle it reads high and as the rpm's go up the guage reads less and less. Not sure if its the guage cluster or the sending unit but it is an expensive fix either way so I ignore it since it is accurate, just backwards.

 

expensive?? for a sender unit?? they are about 50 bucks or less down here and it may more likely just be a sender unit.. but hey if u aint fussed... just be worried when it stops working full stop lol

 

I have priced the sender at autozone. If I only had a oil pressure light it would be cheaper, but since its an actual guage, they are over $100. If u know where to find one cheaper please let me know.

 

go to www.car-part.com and do a look. You could look for an engine core and call and ask for the sender out of there. It would be used but much cheaper.