I think I did this backwards...

I got a 2 door SUV and a 4 door sporty car...

2000 Isuzu Vehicross...

these things are pretty cool and I had completely forgotten about them until just a few days ago... it fits my needs perfectly though...

Over the next couple days I'll give her a thorough cleaning and take some real pics of her...


1 owner, 119k miles...

 

I always thought these were so cool back in the day, nice pick up!!

 

cool, cant wait to see more pics and your thoughts.

 

what in the name of all that is holy is that?

 

^^^
hahaha

ive seen it on the road a few times before
such a rare find

just curious though, what makes you wanted to get one?

 

Very cool always wanted one

 

WOW. I haven't seen one of those in quite some time

 

Forgot to take my camera after we got her washed, but here are some from my phone:









Why I wanted one: I wanted something that will get around in the snow/ice, and be decent off road... I have no kids and no reason to really haul anything, so, something small was preferred over a larger SUV... Originally I had thought about an RX or RAV 4 for size, but neither are very good offroad, and I have my doubts about them on snow/ice...

The good: It seems like it is going to be great offroad... we took it on a rutted, bumpy gravel road last night and felt more at home there than on the street... The rear LSD is great and the torque on demand works perfectly... Haven't had any reason to put it in 4 low, but in 4 low, it locks the center diff instead of varying the torque to the front... it also reduces the center gear to 1:2.48 which should get over just about anything... The engine is smooth, though a little noisy - its a Honda V6 6VE1, 3.5L Its actually quite peppy under 70 mph - the low end torque makes it really feel like it is moving... and it is, for a truck... The vehicle is built like a truck, literally - it has body on frame construction, so it rides like a truck too... It is essentially a 2 door Isuzu Trooper underneath, but it has 30% stiffer front and 60% stiffer rear shocks... Oh, and the shocks are awesome - this is the only production vehicle (at least at the time) to come with external reservoir shocks (like you would see on a rally car/truck or a motorcycle)...

The seats are leather Recaro's and very comfortable and supportive... the back seat (once in it) actually has quite a bit of room...

The styling for this thing was WAY ahead of its time... I fully believe they could have sold a lot more today than 10 years ago... Whats weird is they never expected to build a whole lot - they made the dies for the body out of ceramic, and when they wore out, they stopped building these things... There were only about 4100 imported to the states over 3 years... My grandma even thought it was a brand new truck when she first saw it...

The bad: visibility out the center rear is pretty terrible - the spare tire blocks a lot of that area, getting in to the back seat might be a little tough, I liken it to getting in the back seat of my old SC400... The stiffer shocks can be a little rough on some pavement, but not terrible, IMO...

When I get some more miles on it, I'll post back...

 

Post up some interior shots. I wanna see what it looks like inside, never sat in one! haha

 

I'll take some tomorrow... taking it to work to get an alignment...

 

wait what, those had recaros? wtf!

 

Yup, it has leather Recaros, carbon fiber (look) door panels and gauges, and the rear seats are styled to match the front Recaros...

 

wow i totally didnt know it was built like a true rallying truck or something made for off roading
i thought it was all looks and no go
man how wrong was i...

do you have any plans on modding it?

 

Yup... it really goes offroad! My brother just bought one too after driving this one - he gets it on Thursday...

No real plans for mods - they are pretty capable as they came from the factory - going to do a rearview camera because of the bad blind spot and some bigger tires - maybe lift it an inch, which is very easy and definitely putting bigger tires on it - thinking 275/65-18, which is a 32" tire... The tires on it are 29" right now, 255/55-18... Other than that, I really can't think of anything I want to do to it aside from maintenance and such...

I will get those interior pics tomorrow, I promise...

they used to make a supercharger kit for them

 

transverse or longitudinally mounted motor?

wondering if v8 swap is a possibility