Tall tires, tall gears, and a 3.1L throttle body injected V6 from GM all added up to one of the slowest vehicles I remember riding in as a high school kid. In fact, it was so slow in my mind that I couldn’t help but believe I was just exaggerating. That was all verified when I watched the review you are about to see below. The 1991 Isuzu Rodeo was as slow as you remember it. We’re talking about 14.1 seconds to make 60mph and a quarter mile time of 19.7 seconds at 68 mph. The idea that this rig took an additional 5.5-ish seconds to make another eight mph is insane. Also, the idea of merging onto the highway with this pile is a study in human bravery. You are not even going to be making 70 if the ramp is shorter than a quarter mile. The Isuzu Rodeo makes stuff from the middle 1980s look downright flashy.
We did kind of dig the chunky styling that these trucks had. They used a decent sized tire, they had some ground clearance, and they didn’t look all wimpy and bad like smaller SUVs tend to do today. The disappointment came when the driving experience began. The only good thing is that no matter how slow your car was you ALWAYS felt like you had a hot rod who the Rodeo was around.
The infamous GM 3.1. I sold cars from 1991-95, at a Mopar store. I could put owners of 3.1 powered Olds Cieras into a Plymouth Acclaim with a 2.5 four, and they would comment on the extra power in the Acclaim.