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| 2006 Isuzu I-350 Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Inside & Out | |||
Not a single individual I spoke with knew what an Isuzu i-series was when I mentioned it, and just as many knew when I drove by. Easy answer for this one: no designer did diddly to distinguish the i-350 aside from that three-bar grille piece. Every inch is pure Colorado/Canyon, right down to the wheel pattern.Isuzu supposedly deserves partial credit for this truck's interior (along with many other aspects of the i-350's design), but as with the engineering, the influences are hard to trace. Then again, aside from the reasonably picturesque dashboard, cool-looking instrument cluster, and logical control layout, who'd want to share the blame for this? The details sink in as soon as you sit down. Actually, you sink in - deep into the flat, unsupportive, somewhat low seats whose upholstery is of barely passable quality. The deprived driver gets by with a no-telescope steering wheel whose tilt function steps in too-wide angles and a driver's seat that's free of any height or angle adjuster, both of which it could really use. I learned long ago that with GM seats, it's not a question of whether there will be back pain, but at what point said back pain will occur. In the case of this i-350, the pain kicks in after about two hours. The best compliments I can pay are that there's enough headroom and seat travel to fit anyone, and the sinking sensation isn't as pronounced as in the Toyota Tacoma. After a while, rare and unexpected annoyances start to surface, such as a brake pedal that's too high off the floor and the way your foot must tilt to the right to press the accelerator, after which it rubs against the bulging center tunnel. It's as if GM's innovative energy were directed at inventing new ergonomic problems. Though all controls were easy to read and reach, slabs of gray industrial-grade plastic cover all surfaces, making for what's easily the least aesthetically pleasing interior of all midsize trucks. The control stalks feel flimsy, the cruise control is just plain dumb, remote audio controls and map lights are nonexistent, the back window doesn't open, the door handles and mirrors don't even get the privilege of paint, and the rubber floor mats make you feel like a Roto-Rooter employee. The upper half of the skimpy, unpadded center console was already squeaking like a rusty Schwinn in this test model, compounding the impression of ten-year-old design standards with the feeling of an interior that's actually ten years old. The stereo serves as a small oasis of goodness. While it's obviously an old-style Delco-made piece, it got all the ergonomics right, including a tuning knob that's close to the driver and grabs new stations faster than lightning. The CD slot happily handles MP3s, the six speakers kick out nice tunes, it's got a graphic equalizer and speed volume control, and it all works wonderfully. Can't say the same about the back seat. First, it manages to annoy the driver thanks to fat, view-impeding head restraints (only the Dodge Dakota was mindful enough to poke holes in these) that can't be removed. The center rider gets none at all, and also suffers the indignity of cupholders down by his crotch serving as the front end of his truncated seat cushion. Those cushions are somewhat lacking in thigh support for everyone, and all those protrusions in the floor leave a rather restricted hole for feet parking. And while front curtain air bags are standard, no one in the back gets side air bags at any level (and no one anywhere gets side air bags for the body). On the positive, arms and legs go in the right place, the backrest is at a comfortable angle, legroom's allright, and access is fine. But the i-350's seats end on a note of disappointment by their lack of configuration: when it's time to fold, the thick backrest simply piles on top of the bottom cushion, unlike everyone else's seat whose bottom cushion also flips vertically. Just as little effort went into the 5'1"-long bed. Whereas the Tacoma gives us cubbies and three-prong power plugs, the Frontier features a clever and flexible bed rail system, and the Ridgeline contains an entire freakin trunk, the bare nakedness of the i-350's bed suggests GM could stand to do more thinking, um, inside the box. |
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