I got the bug!

[Ldub]

Well,,,I did find (on this site) the gear ratios. I was surprised to see the diffs are 4.30's! Now I know how they get this thing to scoot!

MPG isn't the biggest consideration. However, when I finally broke down and bought a V8 (Jeep) last fall, I started to get annoyed by how often the darn thing needed gas. According to the display, I was getting about 12.5 mpg in moderate temps. Dead winter might have shoved it down near 10 mph. That's a little rich for me.

All the past units with 6-bangers never bothered me in that regard. But they couldn't have been much better in reality. EPA says they're only 1mpg different. If I got 14mpg or better in the city, I'd probably be "happy".

I guess my personal guage is whether my Corvette can get better mileage. With the stock motor, it could beat 15mpg around town. And, 30mpg on the hwy! Not sure what the new 383 will get though.

If I bought one and felt it didn't perform any better than my short-timer V8 Jeep performed, I might (secretly) feel I'd made a poor choice. Because a bigger, more versatile car is always better -- if MPG is the same.

I think my biggest concern is the parts situation. Somewhere (maybe this thread), I read that Isuzu stopped selling/importing cars to the U.S. last year. Is that correct? If so, I gotta wonder where you'd go to order a part. Do you have to call overseas? Is everything salvage at this point?

For a backup "go-to" vehicle to my good-weather-only Corvette, it would need to be something that could/would be fairly reliable. And, in the case(s) where repairs were needed, having to wait for weeks/months to find a part would get OLD fast!

Paying more for a respective part -- than for my vette would get annoying too. (I already consider some parts too expensive with a "Corvette tax" built-in. I'm probably not "rich" enough to own multiple money-traps.)

On the other hand, now that I've got the bug, every other SUV looks BORING. I can hardly look at a Jeep anymore. I'm definitely hooked.

...You almost have yourself talked out of VX ownership.
Maybe best for you to get something more pedestrian, & continue to hang out @ VXinfo, living vicariously through the rest of us...
Ya only go around once...always making "safe" choices is boring, but the best course of action for some...

[Cobrajet]

...You almost have yourself talked out of VX ownership.
Maybe best for you to get something more pedestrian, & continue to hang out @ VXinfo, living vicariously through the rest of us...

Agreed. My thoughts on VX ownership have always been -- If you have to think twice about it, then you may not be cut out for ownership.

In my case, it was not IF I wanted a VX, but which one. Seeing the brand new Proton in the dealer showroom sealed the deal, even without a test drive.

[89Vette]

...You almost have yourself talked out of VX ownership.
Maybe best for you to get something more pedestrian, & continue to hang out @ VXinfo, living vicariously through the rest of us...
Ya only go around once...always making "safe" choices is boring, but the best course of action for some...

Well,,,if you can't say something more reassuring about parts, repairs, reliability, projected downtime, etc.....then maybe you're right.

I don't consider my Corvette build a "safe" choice by any means. How many people completely redo a car inside & out -- plus install a new motor requiring a specialize tune that I'll be a part of. (Keep in mind that a bad tune could burn up the motor and cost several thousand dollars!)

My last post was more about (parts) availability -- no doability.

Sooo. Where do you get parts??? Does everyone hit these parts distribution warehouses? Are most engine parts available aftermarket? Like sensors, injectors, brake cylinders, etc.... What if a turn signal switch goes bad? Or speedo? Brake pedal switch? You know...the kind of thing that would be a "dealer-only" item. With any car I've owned, there's always SOME parts that are dealer-only.

OTOH, the only part I can remember needing for my complete Vette refurb was a $5 heater rod fastener. Lots of other things need to be procured thru salvage. So, it wasn't the explanation about warehouses that concerned me as much as the comment about "if I'm patient enough,,,I'll find what I need." That's what I mostly would hope to avoid.

[Ldub]

Why MERLIN of course......

St Charles Isuzu...tell him you saw it here for a disc & free shipping...



I was just givin' you a little nudge to see which side of the fence you were gonna come down on...

It's really not much worse than owning a Studebaker, Edsel or DeSoto...

[tom4bren]

The only part that I had experience with having a difficult time finding was the half shafts & that problem seems to be fixed now. Another member was able to find them available.

Prolly the saving grace for us to find parts is this here forum & the GREAT members. If you're having a difficult time finding something, someone here will bend over backwards to help locate.

[VX KAT]

Between tom4bren, vt_maverick, LDub, and myself, we've definitely exhausted the parts availability issue/question, but I can tell you still have deep reservations....and it weighs 2 tons, gets horrible MPG, & will never be considered fast by a long shot, so, is it really for you..... ?

So here in one place:

~Isuzu warehouses thru Merlin at St. Charles
~Forum members
~aftermarket sites such as vt_mav described
~ebay
~salvage yards (with Cash4Clunkers providing 15 "new" VX carcasses to pick over)

[LittleBeast]

If you are willing to put in some time you can find the parts. I have not run into any huge problems getting parts, and I have fixed pretty much everything myself. Most everything under the skin of the VX was/is shared with one of the most mass produced SUV's ever Trooper/Rodeo, body panels and cladding/trim pieces will be the hardest to find, but once again, scrap yards and this site makes even that not too difficult to find.

If you are in love with the VX like many here you will find a way to make it work, if you are looking for a "smart" choice don't even bother, for us here this is the "only" choice, because this is one of the most unique choices one has to make.

As my dad put it so well one day, "a car to a car lover is not just a car but is actually an extension of who they are, an expression of themselves to the world they drive through." My dad was and is a car lover through and through, and now that the VX and I have shared so many days/nights of blood, sweat, and tears it is going no where no matter what it takes.

[89Vette]

If you are looking for a "smart" choice don't even bother...

Wow! That pretty much sums it up! I'm a smart guy, so I guess that means I have to pass.......

Oh sorry. I was daydreaming. I don't have a lick of sense actually, so I'm not looking for the smart choice -- just not a really really dumb one (that makes my true character so obvious!

If you are in love with the VX like many here you will find a way to make it work.... for us here this is the "only" choice, because this is one of the most unique choices one has to make.

That's closer to what I'm thinkin'