Isuzu i-290 Truck Review
Truck Reviewer
The Isuzu I 290 was part of a family of vehicles knows as the I Series from Isuzu. The entire line was the last of the company’s attempts to develop a market in the United States. The Isuzu I 290 was part of that effort in the later half of the series.
Overall, the Isuzu I 290 was very much like Chevrolet Colorado. Sharing all of the same basic engineering and hardware placed its success on the development of the class. With styling that was neither dramatic or particularly unique there wasn’t much draw from the public. Chevy was able to pull in a lot more attention due to its styling.
The Isuzu I 290 was out sold by the Colorado, Nissan Frontier as well as the Toyota Tacoma. The 2.9 liter engine performed reasonably, leaving the market with a 185 horsepower engine under the hood. One of the perks for many of the loyal Isuzu fans was the manual transmission. As the standard transmission the five speed attracted the attention of those who are still looking for the thrill of shifting gears. It was available with an automatic four speed, and either one can be found on the used market today.
Another benefit of the Isuzu I 290 was the choice of cabs. The extended cab or the crew cab option was not available on every pick up truck in the I Series. As one of the last in the line, the cab choices made the 290 a more popular choice. The extended cab offered two seats that were simply not suitable even for children. Most people experienced the seating in the rear as just storage space for anything but the kids. As a storage option, the space is nice. You just can’t expect live human beings to fit and sit comfortably in these seats.
The crew cab version of the Isuzu I 290 came with a smaller pick up bed. At five feet the bed length left many underwhelmed. The main benefit to the smaller bed was the ease of seating in the rear of the cab. While the extended cab had terribly inadequate rear seating the crew cab offered reasonable seating that could hold three life size adults. It also came in a 40/60 split for those items that need a longer bed. Folding one portion of the seats provided additional space to slide the end of longer objects through.
The Isuzu I 290 was only offered as a rear wheel drive. While the air conditioning came standard along with the cruise control, there wasn’t much else to tempt the consumer into a test drive. The interior crafting was marginal at best and the overall feel of the interior was anything but luxurious.
The agile handling of the Isuzu I 290 was considered a nice surprise. Of course, without luring the public in for a test drive there weren’t enough people driving them to realize that the handling was exceptional for a pick up truck. A smooth ride and ease of function made the I Series distinct from most of the midsize truck competitors.
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