Isuzu Trooper Owners Club UK™

[Pete E]

I have just bought a 3.0L LWB Trooper and I was wondering just how capable they are off road? I had a SWB 2.8L but never really stretched off road, but would now like to start doing some green lanning,

Regards,

Pete

[Google]

[Homey]

Hi Pete,
I bought a H reg 2.6i Petrol LWB Trooper about two months ago. Its my first forray into 4WD. I took it down to an old quarry near me that has been set up as an off-road centre to try it out the weekend before last. Its a bit far from you but here's a link to the site for anyone else interested -
http://www.4x4driving.co.uk/ownerdays.htm
They had a range of courses, white for novices/shiny cars, red for experienced drivers/offroad tyres only, and black for the serious roll cage and helmet squad . My trooper took on all of the white courses with no problem and most of the red ones (which isn't bad considering the age of the car). The only problems I had was where its LWB I had a risk of grounding on any high ridges . I had no problem on any of the slopes or inclines, grip was very good and it would pull up all the hills (even the ones I had trouble walking/crawling up). I was a bit disappointed that there weren't any other Troopers there to compare notes with though, mostly Landies. Hope this helps.

[Pete E]

Homey,

Thanks for that...Did you happen to see any other LWB vehicle there at all? I am wondering how the Trooper would compare like to like so to speak.. Regards,

Pete

[Homey]

Hello again,
There were several LWB vehicles there, Range Rovers/Discoveries and the like, there was even a new Hummer. They were mostly staying clear of the high humps like me. I did find that there were a couple of Discoveries that couldn't get round some of the parts I went through, but I don't know if that was the cars fault or the drivers... but there were other people there bemoaning the fact that LWB's get stuck on the high humps.
Regards

[Lossie]

I use my 3.1 Duty for work at Cape Wrath which has sand, mud, terrible weather and is miles and miles away from a garage. Touch wood, it has been impecible and has never let me down.

Trooper is short on luxury but plenty of guts and is always my first choice for work in a difficult environment

[Paul Rainbow]

My LWB 2.8Td has proven fantastic off road - a bit like a longer version of my SWB Series two leaf spring land Rover - but better sorted and mucgh more power.

I have got some big 10.5 inch tyres & I have cranked up the front suspension so I found that ground clearance was not as much of an issue as i thought it wold have been.

[CRK]

Went up to the Derbyshire Peak District yesterday to try my 3.0Td SWB on some greenlanes. Met lots of Landrovers out doing the same thing but no other makes other than a Unimog.

I ended up tagged on the back of a Landrover party tackling a quite severe stretch of byway, uphill, with deep muddy ruts, sharp bends and lumps of rock. To my friend's (following in a Landrover V8 90 with full roll cage and winch) my factory standard Trooper with BFG All Terrain tyres easily cleared the lane with out any problem, all I had to do was let the diesel tick over and pull me up, with plenty of power on hand and good grip from the BFG's. Once finished I was amazed to see the Landrovers covered in mud (on the roof even) whilst my Trooper looked like it had just driven up a slightly muddy lane!

It had no problem on any of the other lanes, the only damage being some scratched paintwork (from overgrown bushes) and the sump protection plate being slightly bent so it vibrates against the gearbox at certain rev's - an easy fix with big hammer!

I was very re-assurred to see the Trooper do well in the company of Landrovers, it was no disgrace and is twice as comfortable, particularly on the motorway drive home.