Most of us who were around in the 1980s remember the”Joe Isuzu” commercials. They’re still legendary and the later cars featured a Lotus-tuned suspension. This 1984 Isuzu Impulse is listed on eBay in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania with a buy it now price of $2,500 or you can make an offer.
This is one unique design. Other than being somewhat of a wedge and having partially-covered headlights and 80s-style wheels with squares on them and.. ok, it’s a 1980s design. I was trying to convince myself that it wasn’t stuck in that era. The Isuzu Piazza was called the Impulse and it invaded the US market in 1983. Thanks to the company spokesman, Joe Isuzu – better known as David Leisure – Isuzu became at least somewhat of a household name in the US.
Unfortunately, the Lotus-tuned suspensions would only be on the 1988 and 1989 cars so this 1984 model didn’t have that feature. They were great cars and they were a great value since they came with almost all of the available options. Customers had a choice of wheels, radios, transmissions, and whether to add a turbo or not – however, the turbo engine wouldn’t be available until 1985. This car looks like it’s in great condition. The seller doesn’t mention anything about the body condition or the R-word (rust), but I don’t really see a flaw anywhere.
In looking at the vehicle history report, it was a southern vehicle until a year ago from what is shown. One thing the seller mentions are the wheels and tires: “Factory 14inch waffle wheels in great condition. No curb rash on them and all 4 center caps are there. 4×100 lug pattern. About 50% tire life left.” Thankfully, this car has a 5-speed manual. For those of us who are into vintage Japanese vehicles with hatchbacks, this car even has its original rear hatch cover which is often missing and are nearly impossible to find. They mention that the headliner is sagging but if that’s it for the interior that’s good news.
This is Isuzu’s G200 2.0L inline-four which would have had 90 hp. Did I mention that these cars were rear-wheel-drive? The seller says that it “needs a drive shaft bushing, and clutch” so be prepared to do some work on this car. They are rare, I literally can’t remember the last time that I’ve seen one on the street, it has to have been at least two decades. Have any of you had an Impulse? I mean, an Isuzu Impulse?…
memory is that this Giugiaro design was intended to be the replacement for the original Scirocco but they chose their internal team’s rendering instead.
it’s a beautiful car, way more elegant than what became second gen VW, & still looks fresh to my eye.
when equipped with the turbo & “handling by Lotus” suspension this was as good as it got for hot hatches in the 80’s.
for a couple grand it’d be hard to go wrong for a budget sporty commuter with character.
Not sure about the Scirocco replacement, but both the Impulse and Scirocco designs were also on the board for consideration by John DeLorean early in his project. A gallery of side views of those designs can be found in the book “Stainless Steel Illusion”. I don’t have my copy of the book handy, but the low nose yet high hood line at the windshield mark it as a very early design, possibly the first or second of that series. If you were to place a ruler along the hoodlines of the various designs in that series, you’d see it slowly get closer to matching the lines of the windows. The final DMC design, of course, being linear in that regard.
This car was to be the replacement for the Alfa GTV of the 70’s and 80’s but Alfa could not afford to make the change at the time and the design was sold to Isuzu. A gain for the public for the build quality was much better with Isuzu. Rust is not a big problem but some of the electrical goodies are extremely expensive and difficult to source. The most critical I know of is the windshield wiper motor. That are almost unobtainable today. I know of one owner who had to have his rebuilt because he could not find one anywhere, new, salvage, anywhere.
I have driven both the Turbo and non turbo versions. The turbo compares very well with a Porsche 944 Turbo but is far more comfortable. The non turbo version is a great commuter car and cross country car. The seats are some of the best I have ever been in. These are very nice cars and very durable as well. Not perfect but as a beginner collectable you would be very hard to do better for a modern collectable.
Joe Isuzu is a honest man .
We should write him in on mid terms !
Hey are the specs on this car..
I hear the impulse is faster than a speeding bullet !
https://youtu.be/nJMq_7alQpU
and can you still get the drive shaft bushing and clutch?
That’s the only problem- parts would be unobtainium.
There are over 80,000 parts listed on eBay for Isuzu Impulse, I scrolled down about 20 items and found a clutch kit for $132. You may not find parts at the corner parts store, but it won’t be hard to keep it on the road.
Steve R
The prettiest Chevette ever made, they’re related, this uses a modified T-car chassis from what I recall, I remember some rich relatives gave the bride and groom a matching pair of these when they go married, a black one and gold one, with the checkerboard wheels just like these.
I had a 1989 Impulse with the Lotus handling package and 5 speed. Even though it was non turbo it was still a lot of fun.
I also had one back in the early 90’s, was a fun driving car as far as handling goes. Could have used a v6 for more power, never really had any problems with it. Our son bought it & drove it until about the late 90’s. Never ever see one anywhere, even in the salvage yards.
IIRC these cars didn’t seem to sell in large numbers. I think the second generation Geo Storm style fared a little better.
The Geo Storm sold quite well but the Isuzu version seemed pretty scarce when new. I really like these earlier ones and this seems like a bargain unless there is some fatal flaw that’s not apparent.
That Guy, I would chalk that up to how many Chevrolet dealers there were compared to how many Isuzu dealers there were.
Lol…..Rebodied Chevette. Showcar called Ace of Spades. Isuzu was embarrassed it was making poor copies of Opel Kadettes.
Did any Isuzu really sell that well? No that they were bad, but they were probably the most under-represented Japanese car brand in the US with the possible exception of Diahatsu, which was only in the US like 4 years.
The Ford dealer near me as kid had Isuzu, and he sold them out of the used car side of the dealership.
I kept meaning to go to the local dealer & get some of those
“Handling By Lotus” badges,but never did.
I still have a few I picked up from the local Isuzu dealer around 1995.
I had a 1985 model, non turbo 5 – speed as a daily driver for several years. Yes, some parts had to be sourced from the home country. The car featured the best tilt/telescopic steering wheel in any Asian car I’ve owned (the steering wheel actually tilts UP and out of the way for easier entry and exit). This was most def a 2 passenger car (I’m 6’2″) although I did squeeze four passengers inside at one time. The car handled and rode well and came very well equipped. All that said, I was glad when I walked away from my “Implode”.
To this day, I’m disappointed that these were never sold in Canada… I think they’re still a great looking car, but would hold out for a turbo model.
I test drove one in 1987.
I was completely disappointed in it.
I was thinking as I was driving it, that if I was going to pay more for the insurance for it being a turbo, I would want it to be able to get out of its own way.
Awesome looking car! That’s when Isuzu made great looking cars. I consider it damn unforgivable that Isuzu no longer produces cars, that they decided to stick with medium and heavy duty trucks.
I had an ’86 turbo, and while it was a competent handler and not totally underpowered, the engines suffered from weak main bearings. Plus it was a really heavy car, considering its size, and performance suffered accordingly. That said, I still liked it, and so did the body shop after it was totalled in a rear-ender. Between insurance and resale to said shop, I made a pretty nice profit…
In the mid/ late 80’s my oldest brother’s crazy wife (now ex wife) had one of these. I forget what year, but it had the Lotus Suspension and a turbo. It was black with red pin stripes. It made quite an impression on me, compared to all the big chevys we had were like tanks compared to the Impulse. I remember the controls that jutted out from the dash, on each side of the cool tilt wheel. IT didn’t seem to have a huge amount of power, but was decent and the 5 speed shifted smoothly.
I wonder if an LS would fit in it without major modifications.
I’m sure there’s a bolt-in kit… :)
I had a 1988 turbo with LTS. It was a lot of fun. Insurance wasn’t a problem.
And I thought it was pretty fast…. Until I drove my brothers Eagle Talon Turbo.
Still I liked the car. Loved the pods on the sides of the steering wheel. It handed Minnesota winter’s alright with a set of Blizzaks.
I had an Isuzu turbo engine with body and handling by Lotus, a 1991 Elan, also called M100. It would spin the front tires like crazy, never should have traded it. Anyone ever see the 90s Impulse with turbo and 4 wheel drive?
I had an 84 special edition. I also had the magazine advertisement saying it was more rare than a Ferrari. It was quite the Frankenstein of cars. It had a Japanese body, American Iron Duke 2.0 engine, Chevette suspension and a German transmission. After the third transmission I had to sell it