The Boxy Japanese 4×4 That Off-Roads Like A Land Cruiser For Half The Price

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Tuesday, 11 Aug 2026 00:00 0 6 autotech

The Boxy Japanese 4x4 That Off-Roads Like A Land Cruiser For Half The Price

Many of us love a great rugged old-school 4×4. These cars are among the best and most capable you can get anywhere. You can trust them to get you from any place to any other, no matter what the terrain may be, and to never let you down. The car we’re going to talk about here absolutely fits that bill. But, it’s not one of the more obvious choices on the market.

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The Toyota Land Cruiser Is The Default Choice For Anyone Who Wants A Rugged SUV

Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Series

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There Are Plenty Of Great Alternatives To The Land Cruiser Out There

While the Land Cruiser is pretty much the industry standard for a great, solid off-roader, it isn’t the only choice in town. It’s always had rivals, and some of those rivals can actually match it on ruggedness. One of those is another Japanese offering that was sold at the same time as the Land Cruiser. First appearing in the 1980s and lasting all the way up until the early 2000s, this alternative isn’t as well-remembered or talked about as the Land Cruisers it was a direct competitor to. But, because of its relative obscurity, it’s starting to become a real hidden gem.

The Isuzu Trooper Is A Tough, Body-On-Frame SUV That Everyone’s Forgotten About

In many ways, the Isuzu Trooper is very similar to the versions of the Toyota Land Cruiser that were sold at the same time. It was also positioned as a rival to the Mitsubishi Montero. It’s a big, boxy, Japanese body-on-frame SUV that’s built for ruggedness and reliability over everything else. The main difference between the Isuzu Trooper and the Toyota Land Cruiser is that the Isuzu Trooper just doesn’t have anywhere near the same brand recognition or enthusiast clout.

The Isuzu Trooper was produced from 1981-2002 across two generations. The first-generation has all the classic boxy SUV hallmarks, including lots of cargo space (118 cubic feet) and a wide variety of engine options. The US-spec version of the first generation model could have anything from a 1.9-liter inline-4 (which is largely considered to be underpowered) up to a 2.8-liter V6. That V6 engine is the reliable General Motors pushrod unit, and it produced 120 horsepower in the Trooper. A 2.2-liter turbodiesel was also offered for only one model year (1986), before it was dropped due to poor sales.

The second-generation Trooper only came with V6 power in America. 1992-1997 Troopers have a 3.2-liter V6 that produces 175 hp in earlier SOHC versions and 190 hp in later DOHC versions. From 1998-2002, it got a bigger 3.5-liter V6 that produces 215 hp.

Second-Generation Troopers Can Match A Land Cruiser On Capability

If you’re looking for a Trooper with the highest amount of capability, you want to go for the second-generation version. Produced from 1992-2002, this version is a bit more modern and has slightly less boxy styling. As you’d expect in what’s supposed to be a rugged and reliable SUV, the modernization is in all the parts where it actually benefits the car’s capabilities. That includes the more powerful V6 engines we’ve already talked about, independent front suspension and shift-on-the-fly four-wheel drive.

With those extra capabilities over the first-generation Trooper, the second-generation model becomes extremely attractive for an overland build. A lot of the capability is already there from the factory. All that needs to be done are some extra modifications to help it be even better in the rough stuff.

It’s More Difficult To Maintain Than A Land Cruiser

While the Isuzu Trooper sounds like a fantastic Toyota Land Cruiser alternative, there is one major drawback. Because Isuzu hasn’t sold passenger cars in America for over 20 years, support for these cars is pretty hard to come by. You’ll have much more difficulty getting parts for a Trooper in the US, and there isn’t anywhere near as much aftermarket support either. There are owners clubs and forums that can help. But, if you buy one of these in the US, be prepared to have a more difficult time keeping one going than you’d have if you’d gone for a Land Cruiser instead.

What can ease the pain a little, though, is that the Trooper does share some parts with badge-engineered GM and Acura cars that were sold in America. The 2.8-liter V6 from the first-generation Trooper being directly sourced from GM also helps enormously with maintenance; parts for this engine are still easy to come by.

It’s A Bigger Bargain Than Any ’90s Land Cruiser

A positive side effect of all this for bargain-hunters is that both generations of the Isuzu Trooper are much cheaper than any equivalent Toyota Land Cruiser. The most expensive you might see a Trooper sell for is $25,000 (for a 1991 Japanese-market example that was modified by Irmscher). More realistically, you could get a second-generation one as cheaply as $6,100 or $10,160. To put that into perspective, the highest-quality examples of Toyota Land Cruisers from this 1981-2002 period can sell for as much as $50,000, or even $80,000.

That Leftover Money Can Transform Your Trooper Into A Proper Overlanding Machine

Thanks to that huge saving you’d get from buying an Isuzu Trooper over a Toyota Land Cruiser, you’ve got plenty of leftover money to spend on turning a Trooper into a fantastic overland build. Looking at the prices from one specialist supplier of Isuzu Trooper parts for overland builds, you can get an overland-ready heavy-duty bull bar for a second-generation Trooper for as little as $450. A heavy-duty roof rack is the same kind of price, too. Another parts supplier can also sell you additional protective skid plates, with prices ranging from $259-$382 per part.

Part of the issue with aftermarket support not being brilliant for these cars is that, if you want to do an overland build, it’s very difficult to get certain parts that are specially designed for the Trooper. You’ll likely have to buy generic parts, and adapt them to fit the Trooper’s quirks. Even if you do this, though, it’s likely that you’ll still come in under the price you would have paid for a Toyota Land Cruiser of a similar age.