Isuzu I-Van Test Drive Report

[OTEP]

***Just reposting my road test of the Isuzu i-Van as posted in the car comparisons thread.***

EDIT: The I-Van has its own Facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Centro...333483?sk=wall

If you just need to haul bodies or stuff, ok na ito. Yung tipong mga hindi mo naman kilala o kamag-anak ang sakay mo. And hindi mo naman personal na sasakyan at ipapa-drive mo lang sa driver, pwede na din. Otherwise, I'd look at something else.

First off, Isuzu can boast all day about their 'legendary engines' but at the end of the day a 4JB1-TC engine is still a 91 horsepower pick up truck engine forced into a truck body and forced to carry all the weight. Acceleration is slow to say the least and you can barely crack 120kph. I'm not expecting a sports car but I wasn't expecting it to be so slow either. The engine is heavily taxed and on long trips, you will be rowing through the gears like a mad man to keep the engine within the power band.

And yes, there's that shifter. It's so notchy I thought I was rowing through a bowl of rocks. But I can live with it, not just very comfortably.

The ride is what you'd expect from having four rock hard leaf springs on all four corners - very bouncy. Bring your Bonamine for the rear passengers. Bumps that a Hiace or Urvan can easily take results in a crash boom bang concert in the i-Van. Isuzu recommends very soft tire pressure for the front to soften up the ride as well as using Bridgestone Dueler light truck tires on alloy rims instead of heavy duty truck tires on steel rims. I guess it helps, but you cannot hide the primitive underpinnings of the truck. As a cargo truck, it works well enough, but it seems ill fitted for people carrier duty.

And speaking of primitive, I wouldn't trust anything with 4 wheel drum brakes! At highway speeds, stopping distances are very long and there's no pedal feel to speak of. The pedal just reaches the floor and you pray that you don't hit the vehicle in front. It may work for city speeds but after repeated stops from highway speeds, the brakes have already faded (weakness of drum brakes since they are unable to dissipate heat fast enough like disc brakes) to the point of being dangerous. Isuzu NHR trucks can be had with disc brakes in other markets, why can't we have them, too? And yes, I can hear some Isuzu fanboys now arguing that even 10 wheelers and semi-trailers have drum brakes and can stop. Yes they can stop because the are using air brakes (doesn't boil over like hydraulic systems) and they have extremely huge drums with a large friction surface area. But still, more advanced trucks in other markets are already switching over to discs.

The truck handles nervously at speeds above 100kph. A combination of being slab sided and having a primitive suspension set up. Constant corrections are required to maintain a straight path.

And how is the rest of the vehicle? The conversion from cargo truck to van seems to be poorly executed. The vinyl trim feels cheap and there are a lot of glue marks and oversprays on the trim. The ceiling is interrupted by a bare metal bow and the front edge of the headliner is held up with nothing but the sunvisors! The rear a/c vents aren't even lined up squarely. The right rear swing door has scratches on its door jamb from grinding with the door opening. The rear door panel made up of fiberglass and feels very cheap. On the unit I tested, the screws are exposed and the door pocket has been cracked already (the unit had less than 1500kms on the odo). Also when the swing door is closed, I can see sunlight entering the lower edges. The lift up tailgate, considering how tall the truck is, doesn't even lift up high enough to clear my head when I'm loading stuff. The struts (a German brand) seem to be too short for the job.

Up front the Isuzu cabin is pleasant enough. A tilt and telescope steering wheel is a nice feature. As well as a standard tachometer. The Sony Xplod head unit has an aux-in port also and the a/c is very effective. The rear a/c control is also up front so rear passengers have no control over the system. And speaking of rear a/c, an unattractive mesh grill mars the rear quarter panel to accommodate the low mounted rear a/c evaporator.

In the engine compartment, you need to go under the vehicle to access and check the air cleaner (just like the Urvan) and because the coolant jug used to rest behind the truck cab, Isuzu simply deleted it. So I guess the radiator just dumps the coolant on the road as the system boils over? Which is kind of dumb on a modern vehicle.

Some photos:

"Proudly Built by Isuzu"


Why don't you just change the oil and oil filter at the same time?


Even Isuzu is not sure how much oil to put into their own engine. hehehe


Engine compartment with add-on Sanden A/C


Front wheel drum brakes. Bridgestone tires. Alloy wheels. They didn't even bother to change the lug nuts to something more matched to the alloys.

[OTEP]

Foton's version of the 4JB1. Even they managed to engineer a coolant overflow recovery tank. Something which Isuzu just unplugged and deleted because the OEM coolant tank of the NHR series rests on the back of the truck cab.



The Foton's jug is under the driver's seat near the intake manifold and behind the fuel filter priming pump. Not exactly easy to check and reach but at least its still there to do its job.

[cripple_rooster]

Even if Isuzu reintroduced the Fargo it would be more suitable than this workaround.

[duramax_994]

A bit too pricey for P1.245M. The same manufacturer for Mitsubishi L300 FB, Hyundai H100 Shuttle Van, Isuzu NHR Flexitruck, Hino Passenger Van, etc..

Centro Manufacturing Corporation

[ghosthunter]

....so another "FAIL" for the "proudly pinoy" fan-boys?


Given the reported poor quality of design and assembly, it's not surprising we haven't seen much of these on the road.

[OTEP]

What is the 'real' price of this thing? In their website it is just under the million peso mark. Or was it just for the truck? Even then it seems a bit overpriced already...

Yeah, fan boys can hate but I just tell it how it is. I have nothing for or against any unit I test.

The Isuzu I-Van was publicly displayed on April 16, 2011. Here is the thread for that show: http://tsikot.com/forums/isuzu-cars-...-future-79574/

Official I-Van photos (by Isuzu Joe) of said event:






That's the rear a/c ducting going up the driver's side D-pillar.


Specs:

[OTEP]

I was at the isuzu dealer today. May trim na sa leading edge ng headliner. And yung inner door panel ng rear swing door ay hindi na kita ang screws. But its still made out of the same brittle material. Parang fiberglass.

[duramax_994]

I don't care if they still sell and retain these ancient features in their trucks, but for Pete's sake at P1.245 Million?

Shame on you Isuzu! I will never forget you guys almost got away with the Trooper fiasco!

[OTEP]

Inexplain ko na how big rigs can get away with drum brakes, its simply called brake swept area. They are big and they have lots of it.

A disc set up will always produce shorter and more consistent stopping distances during measured testing. That is a fact already. Live with it. A five feet difference in stopping distance can already mean the difference between being able to stop and crashing onto whats ahead of you.

Otherwise we would all still be living in the drum braked 50's.

Just because other markets are still embracing outdated tech means we should do to.

Noong araw lahat naka drum because yun lang ang technology available.

[sotel]

kamusta naman po ung a/c ng ivan

[duramax_994]

Otherwise we would all still be living in the drum braked 50's.

Just because other markets are still embracing outdated tech means we should do to.

Noong araw lahat naka drum because yun lang ang technology available.

Let me be the devil's advocate: Because i'm selling a 20+ year old engine technology therefore everything should also be Jurassic including the brakes!

Drum brakes is more than enough to compensate the 91 horses from its engine. You don't expect to go beyond 130 kph with that truck..

And i'm offering it to you starting at P1.245 Million!:twak:

[nap123]

Hahaha ang isuzu philiippines talaga gagawa lang dito sa pinas substandard pa talo pa tayo ng thailand at china. Yung china foton nagawa nilang CRDI ang 4jb1 samantala dito pati preno drum brake pa tapos 1m plus pa.

[cripple_rooster]

Inexplain ko na how big rigs can get away with drum brakes, its simply called brake swept area. They are big and they have lots of it.

A lot of fleet managers go only by the purchase and maintenance cost over the safety features

[Walter]

You're already being lenient with him, would have banned that guy earlier for using TXTspeak. His posts are so confusing to read. The way he was so fanatic with defending Isuzu made one think he was DMaxAhihihoho reincarnate.

[mondragon]

ang punto ko isuzu is a trusted brand wen it comes to trucks...and i-van is an nhr truck,,,, kahit ibang kapwa jap brand my tiwala sa isuzu.. it just prove na ok ang mga isuzu trucks.... un lang.. simple.. we dont know wat kind of engine gagawin ng isuzu sa toyota cars.. pero 4 sure isuzu engine un..

with proper configuration of seats ika nga, gyahin n lang ung config ng urban na 18 seater-pero 6x6 sa likod ung side facing..mjo pataasan n konti.. pwde sya maging 23 people carrier by weekdays (except for coding), maybe a bottled delivery truck van by saturday(sideline) then off by sunday..

foton, also uses(daw)isuzu engines.. if thats tru, we cn say n sobrang reliable/durable tlg ng mga isuzu engines.. khit china brands gmgamit ng isuzu..

actually normal maintenance lng naman sa isuzu, it can last up to a million mileage b4 overhauling.. karamihan nga balik zero n nga daw..

lastly, dpat mas bnbigyan nyo ng pansin mga gumgamit ng foul language d2...ung akin lng, pg sobra haba ng word, pnpaiksi ko lng..to save tym.. wala naman "jejeje"na obvious sa mga jejemon eh... kahit lgyan pa nila ng (*****) mga ganun alam mo na mura gus2 nila ipahatid... warningan m dapat mga yan.. porke hndi k lang din fan ng isuzu hnhyaan mo, tapos ako pngiinitan nyo jan..

[12vdc]

^^^ The way this guy speaks, paulit-ulit lang at eto ang magiging equation ng thread na ito:

Mondragon = isuzu fanatic = isuzu salesguy = hindimaxiado

i-van = joke van from isuzu = scam = GTOil = Rapide

i-van thread = i-ban na ulit si mondragon dahil sa txt speak

[ghosthunter]

This "Mondragon" dude is hard headed.

Simply post in messages that a NORMAL person would type and he wouldn't get banned for SMS/TXT infractions.

BTW, Mondragon, you have been banned again (2nd time) and your posts have been "MODERATED".

[vinj]

This "Mondragon" dude is hard headed.

Simply post in messages that a NORMAL person would type and he wouldn't get banned for SMS/TXT infractions.

BTW, Mondragon, you have been banned again (2nd time) and your posts have been "MODERATED".

I guess too many years of textspeak has fried the brain. I wonder if he also types that way on his sales quotes to customer. :D

[IMm29]

Another one bites the dust eh?

[uls]

I guess too many years of textspeak has fried the brain. I wonder if he also types that way on his sales quotes to customer. :D

haha yan din inisip ko

he must have forgotten how to type full words. he must have forgotten how to spell

ano kaya itsura ng quotation niya?

"1 unit Iszu NHR trck, 4JB1 engne, 897K reg nt incldd"