Test drove an '02 Trooper; can't say

that I'm all that impressed, really.

You have a higher view of the road, but the Rodeo feels more sturdier and stable, and funner to drive, in general.

It had the 3.5L Auto, with TOD, LS, and 4x4. Limited addition with 67k miles.

Body was in EXCELLENT shape - outside; inside either previous owners were very dirty and/or the dealer left all windows down for several dirt/mud storms.

1st off - WHERE are all the gauges? Truck had fuel and temp gauges - that's it. I like my voltage & oil gauges, though who's to say how accurate the oil gauge is.

2nd off - not sure if the TOD system has anything to do with a normal dry street take-off, but the tranny FELT like it didn't have any grip in 1st gear. It's like it didn't want to move until you snugged down on the gas pedal more; on my Rodeo with auto, you barely touch the gas and it's gripping.

3rd off - anytime you switched gears, i.e. D to R or R to D, there was this horrible clunk, guessing the range mode sensor and/or slip yoke - but it was bad, and there was a bit of hesitance.

They only wanted $9k for it, and that engine had wonderful power and very quiet, but that tranny just didn't feel right. Even if the range mode sensor was bad/dirty, would this effect the slipping in 1st gear?

Took it for quite a drive, and everytime you stopped you really had to push a bit harder then I thought you should have to to get it going - it didn't exactly sit and rev up though, just didn't feel like it was gripping.

In reality, I actually feel after comparing the two inside cabins of the Trooper and the 1st generation Rodeo's - the Trooper is wider, but the Rodeo has more cargo space with the seats down versus the Trooper with seats down.

I guess I was just shocked at how loose - if you will, the Trooper with only 67k miles felt versus my current Rodeo with 156k miles.

Trooper needed shocks, good tires (good tread on current ones, but crappy grip), I think brakes might have been up and coming, overall not bad, and to be expected - I was just wigged out by the feel of the transmission.

My cousin has a 2002 trooper with around 45Kmi. I think it rides, drives and handles nice, but that all depends on tires, shocks, personal preferrence, etc... He takes pretty good care of it though. It looks brand new. I'm almost positive his has all the gauges tho? (oil press, volts, coolant temp, etc.. They are all TALL vehicle and have a completely different feel than a rodeo. I personally dont care for any AWD/TOD system. They are too complicated ($$$$) for my liking. I bet the clunking you heard was a sloppy U-joint. I'd expect that at ~5yrs/70Kmi. That's a lot of truck for $9k.

Joel

if the inside looks like poop then you can bet the maintanance on it was poop too.

I agree, I've heard good, but mostly bad things about the TOD system - and I'm not fond of a vehicle with high maintenance requirements.

Amigo-2k, I thought the same - if inside was crappy, so was maintenance most likely.

That IS a lot of vehicle for $9k, but you stop and figure, it's gonna need about $2k or so in maintenance within the next 10-15k miles or so - tires, shocks, most likely waterpump (with my luck) then might as well snap the timing belt, spark plugs, brakes.

And then it didn't have a tow hitch, and that tranny just felt really weird.

I just wanted to see if I was the least bit interested in the Trooper - and I got to say, I so dearly wish I could put that 3.5L engine in my Rodeo - GREAT power, but the vehicle as a whole, just didn't GRAB me like the Rodeo always has.

When I got back to the dealership, I couldn't wait to get back into mine, that inner-voice alone told me to stop messing around with the Trooper idea. This was the 4th one I test drove, not one of them seem to be in impeccable condition, there was that quiet voice, and I don't want to 2nd guess that.