Isuzu Impulse

Anyone ever seen one of these? i saw one parked at the mall the other day, looked kinda funky so i went over for a closer look to see what it was, i see Isuzu printed on it and i start thinking "hmmm, looks nice, might ahve some balls, but i doubt it's really THAT good." then i noticed something wirtten on a small little plate, not some cheap ass sticker bought for show, but an actual plate from the factory, on the front bottom of the passenger door, "Suspension by Lotus". I nearly S--- myself. What is this thing? i've never heard of it till now and i must say, it looks fast. I thought it might just be something that looked nice but didn't have any balls, am i wrong?

It has 1.6L DOCH cranking out 130hp stock, with a redline of 7600rpm. As for the suspension it was an isuzu option. It is just what it says a race tuned suspention by Lotus. The only thing on the car tuned by Lotus is the suspention, don't get your hopes up. It still is a light very quick little car.
:rolleyes:

It depends on the year. There were two generations of Impulse. Both versions used suspensions that were developed by Lotus.

The first generation Impulse was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show (I believe) in the early 1980s as the "Ace of Spades" and designed by Ital Design. Isuzu bought the design and put it into production as the Piazza. Based on the RWD T-Car chassis (shared with the Isuzu Gemini/I-Mark and Chevrolet/Vauxhall Chevette), the Piazza was sold in North America as the Impulse.

The second generation Impulse was based on the FWD Isuzu Gemini/Stylus. It was also marketed as the (Asuna) Sunfire in Canada and as a mildly restyled version sold as the Geo Storm in the US.

Yeah I meant to say that too!

um i dont think none of u have done your home work but the second gen impulse rs has 160 hp awd a very nice car. very hard to find

Why don't you think we've done our homework? Just because we failed to mention a version you admitted was very rare, we haven't done our homework?

It was a non-turbo version, rwd, decent performance, and handled quite nicely; I say almost as well as my RX-7 which has quite a few upgrades. All in all, it was a very sweet car.

I've said it before, Impulse (or Piazza as we know it) = :apuke:


Most Piazzas these days reside at the roadside or the junkyard :rolleyes:

I have an 88 non turbo and an 89 turbo, great cars! I just don't understand why Isuzu couldn't do well with the Impulse yet GM takes the same car, puts a camaro looking front end on it, calls it a geo and sells the crap out of em?

There was a kid at my high school who had one. He was speeding on the highway and hit some loose gravel on a turn and spun the thing and crashed into a pole.

Check it out.

1983-1987 Isuzu Impulses are all RWD, 4 wheel disc brake, some are turbo intercooler 1.9L SOHC engined, some are 1.9L SOHC nonturbo. Turbo models have Lotus suspension design and limited slip rear differential. Turbo engines rated at 140 HP, non-turbo rated at 90 HP.

1988-1989 Isuzu Impulses are all RWD, 4 wheel disc brake, some are turbo intercooler 1.9L SOHC engined, some are 1.9L DOHC nonturbo engined, some are 2.3L DOHC nonturbo engined. All have Recaro designed front buckets and Lotus suspension design. Turbo models have limited slip rear differentials. Turbo engines rated at 140 HP, nonturbo 1.9 rated at 90 HP, nonturbo 2.3 rated at 110 HP.

1990-1993 Isuzu Impulses are all FWD except for the Impulse RS(AWD), powered by the Isuzu 1.6L DOHC. 1990-1993 Isuzu Impulse RS models have turbocharged intercooled AWD setup. Rebadged models are GM Geo Storms with 1.6L Isuzu DOHC engine or SOHC 1.8L Isuzu engines. None of the Geo cars got a turbo stock. Turbo engines rated at 160 HP, nonturbo 1.6L engines rated at 140 HP. Unknown what the 1.8L nonturbo SOHC is rated at.

Check out http://www.isuzone.net for more info and another message board.

Good job on the 90-93 Impulses, except the 1.6L non-turbo has 130 hp, and the 1.8L DOHC non-turbo (there is no SOHC 1.8L), which I have, is rated at 140 hp. Glad to see somebody out there knows the Impulses!

Good job on the 90-93 Impulses, except the 1.6L non-turbo has 130 hp, and the 1.8L DOHC non-turbo (there is no SOHC 1.8L), which I have, is rated at 140 hp. Glad to see somebody out there knows the Impulses!


Ah, you are correct. I just went back to confirm this via the www.isuzuperformance.com/isupage website. Sorry for any misinformation. See, we're all human. ;)

Anyone ever seen one of these? i saw one parked at the mall the other day, looked kinda funky so i went over for a closer look to see what it was, i see Isuzu printed on it and i start thinking "hmmm, looks nice, might ahve some balls, but i doubt it's really THAT good." then i noticed something wirtten on a small little plate, not some cheap ass sticker bought for show, but an actual plate from the factory, on the front bottom of the passenger door, "Suspension by Lotus". I nearly S--- myself. What is this thing? i've never heard of it till now and i must say, it looks fast. I thought it might just be something that looked nice but didn't have any balls, am i wrong?


Well, I can confidently tell you that my car has some decent gonads, seeing as how when it was stock, it killed hondas left & right, took the 5 Miatas, Del Slo's and all the other compact convertibles for a nice little run, kicked the sh*t out of GTP's and also embarassed the 2 Hummer H2's. Everyone is scared of my Impulse :D

1991 Isuzu Impulse RS
1.6L DOHC Turbocharged
14psi from Turbocharger
Race-ported head

She's not too bad, man. The Impulse is definately a fast, nice, rare car. I suggest a Civic hatch if you have a lot of friends to cruise with, tho, seeing as how the RS will make them want a cookie even more every time you launch her.
There were 800 Gen.II Impulses ever built, and I have 2. My other car is a 1990 Impulse XS, 1.6l DOHC N/A, black, deer carcass imprint in the front, but still runs decent.

They are VERY good cars, but you had best know quite a bit about cars and maintenance before owning one... They are picky, and you need to pump 91 Octane or better into it.

Back to the point, they DO have nuts, so if you ever line up with him, you had BEST have a 2003 WRX STi or something good, because Impulses ARE fast... even if they only have a 1.6L 4-banger. I've only seen a very select few cars beat Impulses:
1. 600bhp Ford Shelby Mustang
2. 2003 Subaru WRX STi
3. 2001 Nissan Skyline R34

There are more that can beat an Impulse, but they are Pick-of-the-litter type cars. I've never seen a Honda beat an Impulse.. they are some of the finer Imports, that also drop off the radar of "sports cars" to Insurance companies :D

- Me.

i have a 1987 isuzu impulse 2.0 turbo it has locus handeling or something like that but i was told after i fix the ball joint i should get rid of it should i and what can my car do in the quarter mile stock

no sir you are not wrong i own an isuzu impulse and they have some balls they are turbo charged which brings me to my question i need to know how to adjust my turbo charger so that it doesnt kick in so soon like right now im only able to push the gas pedal a half inch down and it kicks in and jumps up to like 45 mile an hour thats no good lol so if anyone can tell me how to make it kick in later i would be a happy impulser lol thanks

no sir you are not wrong i own an isuzu impulse and they have some balls they are turbo charged which brings me to my question i need to know how to adjust my turbo charger so that it doesnt kick in so soon like right now im only able to push the gas pedal a half inch down and it kicks in and jumps up to like 45 mile an hour thats no good lol so if anyone can tell me how to make it kick in later i would be a happy impulser lol thanks
Go over to http://www.isuzone.org/