Faults:

The brakes need replacing now. Also a little rust around rear wheel wells.

General Comments:

My first car, and I love it.

It has disk brakes on all wheels. That came in very handy on the ice roads of Alaska. Great ground clearance. One of the better cheap SUV. With only about 120hp it doesn't look like much, but I've pulled out some of the bigger guys that got stuck when off-roading. This truck can hold its own against most out there, it can really take a beating.

I added some off-road lights, and an air horn, but other than that is stock, and easy to maintain.

Faults:

Cost more than I expected to do a simple tuneup.

General Comments:

GOOD: Tough truck; good value for the money.

BAD: Underpowered even with a V-6; it eats more than I do (awful fuel economy).

I bought my Trooper a month ago from the original owner, and my complaints have been few and fairly far between. All in all, I adore this big beast of a vehicle. It was in extremely good condition; only a few rust spots which I think I can repair myself, mar the looks. This truck looks great; I love the older utilitarian feel the Trooper has.

It handles what limited emergency or whim off-roading I've taken it on fairly well; a few hills for the hell of it and a few grassy knolls in traffic jams to get back to exits I missed. The feel was not especially rough, which shocked me.

While I love Truckasaurus, she's not without her flaws. A tuneup ran me more than I thought it would, and the truck still almost didn't pass emissions. Also, the fuel economy on this thing is rough. Supposedly a factory-new Trooper got 17 mpg & change; suffice it to say that my Trooper at its current age/mileage is not making even that underwhelming number. While I do like my trucks to be of a fairly spartan level, the A/C stinks. It was switched to a modern, non-freon system, but while it's cool, it lack adequate pumping power. I still end up having to drop the windows if it's hot.

I do want to clarify, though. I adore my Trooper. While a wee bit underpowered, she does have enough giddy-up to do most of what I'd want it to do. It looks great for its age, and looks like it will be fairly reasonable to maintain once I get more familiar with its guts.

I paid $1,200.00 for it so I ave been quite pleased.

Faults:

Bought the truck with a blown engine and a bad alternator and starter.

Rear brake calipers seized.

Master cylinder needed replaced at 152,000 miles.

Front hubs are automatic, and are permanently engaged. They need to be replaced with high-quality manual hubs.

Rebuilt engine blew up again at 157,000 miles, through no fault of the original manufacturer of the engine. This was taken care of at a leisurely pace by the guy who rebuilt it, who claimed engine parts were hard to find, which they are NOT.

General Comments:

The truck is sparse and utilitarian, which is what I like in a 4x4, the styling is perfect for what it is. I bought it for $50 with a blown engine, which I had rebuilt, and I've done all the other work on it myself. It's very easy to work on, and very little has gone wrong with it, considering the price, mileage, and age. The exterior is beat up, but that's mostly from my off-road abuse, which it handles without skipping a beat. At approximately 159,000 miles I ran over a log on a trail, which liberated the muffler and tailpipe from the rest of the exhaust system. Now it's pretty darn loud. It has a powerful aftermarket stereo system though, so I can compensate for this easily. (That's a joke, get it? ha ha)

The five-speed manual transmission and 4.56:1 gears and 2.66:1 low range in the transfer case make crawling up steep grades not only simple, but a pleasure, which is helped by the torque-laden V6 engine.