Acura SLX (1998)

Acura What is an Acura SLX? It's really just an Isuzu Trooper that's been rechristened by the marketing geniuses at Acura. We looked long and hard for that little corner of the body, or the engine, where the guys at Acura had forgotten to grind off the word "Isuzu." No luck. They got all of them.

This is an Isuzu Trooper with just about all of the options. We're surprised that Acura is not embarrassed by this car. Why did Acura decide to subcontract their sport utility effort to Isuzu? It's really pretty simple. Acura wanted to jump into the sport utility market in a hurry--but they didn't have the factory capacity to manufacture one on their own. So...they purchased the extra capacity at the local Isuzu factory. Voila: an Acura sport utility vehicle.

But, if Acura is saying, in effect, "Isuzu makes just as good a vehicle as Acura," then why buy an Acura? The only good reason is because there's an Acura dealer closer to your house than an Isuzu dealer.

The SLX is the oldest of the old-style sport utilities: in other words, it's tall, thin and reportedly tips over easily, as the folks at Consumer Reports will be happy to tell you. And, because it has such a tall profile, it is lousy on the highway. The SLX blew all over the road. It drifted excessively. And that was a brand-new SLX--over time (as with all cars), the handling will only get worse.

The greatest thing this car had going for it? A positively humongous sunroof. The biggest, most wonderful sunroof we've experienced in years. (And, yes, to answer your question, this does constitute "damning with faint praise.") In the case of the SLX, however, the sunroof is more than just a luxury, it's a safety feature. When you're close to tipping over, just open the sunroof and jump out.

A final drawback? The SLX had a rear gate that was a phenomenal pain in the tuchus. Every time it was opened, it locked. To unlock it required an awkward maneuver. Who's designing these things? Houdini's grandson?

To be fair to Acura, they did their best to gussy it up. The SLX is relatively comfortable to sit in. It's got lots of leather. It looks nice. However, beauty is only skin deep--and when you get right down to it, this is still an Isuzu Trooper. We were stopped by many people, who remarked on the fine looks of the car. You should have seen the looks on their faces, however, when they learned it was really an Isuzu Trooper in Acura clothing. Downcast doesn't begin to describe it.

If you like this car and you have the option, we'd recommend you buy the Trooper. Put it this way: Acura doesn't think there's a difference between Isuzu and Acura, so why should you? Besides, if you wind up with an SLX, you'll end up taking this to the Acura dealer--where they'll charge twice what the Isuzu guys are getting down the street.

I saw this on another forum and was laughing so hard I had to post it here

 

In highschool a friend of mine had an SLX, within a week he flipped it

 

This must not have sold very well. The first time I ever saw one, or recognized the Acura badges on it, was last year. I pointed it out to my dad and said "Ha, look at that loser. He put Acura badges on his Trooper."

Then I went home too look it up. I was surprised to see it was actually an Acura!

 

When I bought my RX300 used at a lot, sitting right next to it was one of those SLXs.

The odd thing was is that they had a couple of guys who were looking it at it intensively...checking it out mechanically. My dad and I looked puzzled and asked the guy who eventually sold us our RX what the deal was. Apparently, they were going to export it somewhere to South America where Acuras are unheard of but they fetch a high price apparently.

 

The Honda / Acura relationship with Isuzu was not quite that simple. They didn't just go to Isuzu and say " Hey...here's some money.......sell us some Troopers so we can rebadge them ".

No, what actually happened is that Honda entered into a buisness partnership and relationship with Isuzu in several different areas. It was a deal that affected several different cars and SUV's. Isuzu had, at that time, had decided to get out of the regular passenger-car manufacturing buisness, primarily in the U.S. market but also later in Japan too. So Isuzu, one by one, dropped the cars it was selling in the U.S. marketplace....the I-Mark, Stylus, Impulse, and the Isuzu-manufactured Chevy Spectrum and Geo Storm. Honda agreed to provide Isuzu with rebadged Civics that were then sold in the home Japanese market as the new Isuzu I-Mark compact car.
Meanwhile, having no true SUV's of their own, Honda was getting more and more passed-by in the increasing SUV craze of the 1990's, so it asked Isuzu in return for rebadged SUV's.....which Isuzu agreed to do. The Isuzu Rodeo, an OK but not very sophisticated, refined, or reliable SUV, was rebadged as the Honda Passport, and the larger, more refined, more reliable but unstable Trooper, naturally, got the Acura badge as the SLX. This worked, at least on paper, for a few years, but the Passport's unreliability and the SLX's tipsiness hurt both Acura's and Honda's reputation until the reliable and well-built CR-V was ready in late 1997 to compete with the then year-old Toyota RAV4, and the Pilot and Acura MDX were ready later on to compete as mid-size car-based SUV's.

Two things, here, though, are notable. One, Honda and Acura engineers apparantly either did not examine and test-drive the Rodeo and Trooper throughly and hunt for signs of so-so quality and tipsiness in handling, or, if so, were overruled by Honda management in what was strictly a buisness deal. Two, it is interesting that even after Honda was feed from the Isuzu relationship they never developed a really rugged off-road SUV like the Toyota 4-Runner.....to this day the CRV, Pilot, and MDX are strictly car-based and primarily for foul-weather on-pavement driving.

 

I remember wanting in slx when they first came out it has different wheels and grille than the trooper looks good too. Just didnt sell.

 

This post was an interesting read. I don't think I've ever heard of the SLX or knew the depth of the two company's relationship.

 

Acura SLX Photo.

 

I knew all about this years ago... I recall thinking that lexus did significantly better by using the landcruiser as their first truck, the LX450. The modern acura MDX is one awesome vehicle though... I think it looks fantastic.

 

The front of the MDX looks nice, but I can't stand the back of it. Still love the back of my RX300.

 

Here in Miami those SLX's are all over. Several years ago my buddy had a '90 Trooper (the breadbox ones) and LOVED it. He upgraded to the newer Trooper as mentioned in this thread and flipped it a few months later on the expressway. It was a BEAUTIFUL jet black example.

Consumer Reports was not kidding.

 

Anyone have pics of the 96-97 SLX they look much better than the 98 in the picture.

 

This was a 96 model year I found.

 

Funny read. For comparison, this is the 1998 Isuzu Trooper:


versus the SLX that Lexmex posted:


Time to play the "spot the differences" game?

 

On the outside: wheels, grille, and Acura vs. Isuzu badging...not much else besides the paint color.