Hils Everitt – editor
After enjoying some excellent offroading in the lee of the rolling hills of Herefordshire, our Rodeo Denver Max LE pick-up truck has been put to more everyday use. Over the years the longterm pick-ups on the magazine fleet have been extensively used for hauling stuff around – and on many occasions shifting various bits of furniture.
This time our blue machine became the removal van for bookcases, rugs, tables and chairs and various other bits of furniture from Sevenoaks to a fl at in London. In all our pick-up tests the Rodeo has always lost out to others with its loadbed dimensions, with an area of 0.7m3. We put that to the test and did find that, as you can see from the picture, a 174cm bookcase just couldn’t fit in, so we had to leave the rear window ajar to transport it. Even an ironing board only just made it. The huge protruding wheelarches don’t help matters. A trip to the garden centre to fill up with plants is fine, but if you want to carry skis, furniture, long planks of wood and still have the security of the trucktop then this isn’t ideal for load-carrying.
My other gripe about the Rodeo is, as Bob has pointed out, that infuriating sat nav, which has to be re-set every time you get in, plus the annoying chime you get when you want to change radio stations. The scanning system on the stations is frustrating and you have to keep pressing it ad infinitum. Not good when you have no passenger. And I haven’t the patience to preset the damn system. Please Isuzu, get another model!
Apart from this, once up and running, with your favourite music blaring out from the decent sound system, and in fifth cruising on the motorway, the Rodeo’s 3.0-litre turbodiesel is a decent, zappy unit and the ride ain’t bad for a working man-like truck. The Denver Max LE-spec bling does attract a lot of comment from my Land Rover, Mitsubishi and Jeep-loving mates – and those huge chrome sidesteps can be more of a hindrance than help. They made us rather nervous on our off-roading Herefordshire camping trip, but the Rodeo acquitted itself well and we hope to bring you more adventures off the beaten track.
SPECS
Model: Isuzu Rodeo
Spec: Denver Max LE
Mileage: 2590
MPG: 33mpg
Recent costs: Lots of diesel
Arrived: March ’10
