San Francisco: There
are few things more depressing in the automotive world than driving a
new Isuzu. Oh, I suppose wrecking your Ferrari might top it, or perhaps
having to trade in your beloved sports car for a minivan - or even
having to carpool with Richard Simmons. Those things would make you want
to swallow the business end of a shotgun.
It's not that Isuzu builds bad vehicles.
Isuzus today are better than they've ever been in the history of the
company. The problem is that Isuzu doesn't build any vehicles at all.
But sitting in an Isuzu today feels like
sitting in a coffin at your own funeral. You can't tell whether what
you're seeing is real or if it's some strange, Twilight-Zone story
dreamed up by a googly-eyed kook in a mental hospital.
You may think that's preposterous because
there are still Isuzu stores across America - indeed, I drove a 2007
Isuzu Ascender this past week - but in reality, Isuzu dealerships are
nothing but a farce. They just sell General Motors vehicles with goofy
names.
The Ascender is the same thing as a
Chevrolet Trailblazer, and the Isuzu i-series pickup trucks are
identical to Chevy Colorado’s. All Isuzu does is take vehicles from GM
and slap a couple of funky badges on them. And that's pathetic.
It wouldn't be so bad if Isuzu started its
vehicles with a basic, GM-designed architecture and then customized it
to be a true Isuzu. That's precisely what GM does with Saab, Ford does
with Volvo, and on down the list.
New Isuzu’s, though, are nothing but
plagiarism on wheels, and that's a remarkably stupid idea coming from
what was once such a big, powerful, international company. It's hard to
believe that someone, somewhere, thought they could buy a few mediocre
but well-known Trailblazers, give them a totally unknown new name, and
have the public clamoring to buy one with the Isuzu badge. That makes no
sense.
To make matters worse, Isuzu has chosen to
compete with The General's big-time advertising strategy that involves
dumping mountains of cash on TV stations and newspapers across the
country. Isuzu's marketing budget is hardly enough to buy a paperclip
and a chewed piece of bubble gum.
In fact, driving that Ascender felt like
driving a mechanical death because it's so obvious that Isuzu is about
to croak. There's no point in hiding it. The company has left life
support and is quickly being wheeled to the morgue, where it will
unceremoniously be pronounced dead and quickly buried beside Oldsmobile
in the Scrap Metal Cemetery.
On a side note, the best part about driving
the Ascender was making its CD player blast "Quartet for the End of
Time," a piece written for half-broken instruments by a brilliant French
composer during his stay in a Nazi prison camp. It was perfectly
fitting.
So, if you want to buy a Trailblazer and
save some cash, check out the Ascender. You could probably get a great
deal on one. Just don't be surprised when you read Isuzu's obituary.
What was tested? The 2007 Isuzu
Ascender 5 Passenger 2-Wheel Drive Automatic with a base price of
$25,959. Options: Preferred equipment package ($1,489). Price as tested
(including $735 destination charge): $28,183.
Why avoid it? It's a Chevrolet
Trailblazer with a different name. If it looks like a Trailblazer,
drives like a Trailblazer and sounds like a Trailblazer, it must be a
Trailblazer, right? Wrong. This is the Isuzu Ascender, a Chevrolet clone
that shows how pathetic Isuzu has become.
Why buy it? It's a Chevrolet
Trailblazer with a different name. It's the same story on the inside,
where the Isuzu's Ascender is virtually identical to its Chevrolet
Trailblazer counterpart. By
Derek Price © AutoWire.Net - San Francisco
Isuzu Home Page
Byline: Syndicated content provided by Tony Leopardo ©
AutoWire.Net
Column Name: The Grim reaper is coming for Isuzu
Topic: The
2007 Isuzu Ascender
Word Count: 686
Photo Caption: The 2007 Isuzu Ascender
Photo Credits: Isuzu
Internet Media
Series #: 2007 - 05
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the Microsoft Word version here:
2007 Isuzu Ascender
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2007 Isuzu Ascender
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