The Isuzu VehiCROSS Is the Weirdest SUV You Forgot About 

Is it just me, or all these crazy cheap cars are way more interesting to watch than Porsches, Lambos and Mercs?

I find it cool how Isuzu deliberately gave the owner a letter to let him know he got the very last VehiCross. That's very nice of them.

"Torque On Demand" or as I would prefer to call it Tod. Tod is there to catch you when you slip.

‘Isuzu’s hasn’t been around for like a decade now’ Australians: bruh

The styling of this Isuzu seems ahead of its time. I honestly love the weirdness.

I think the AC vent between the legs should be standard

The horns were a feature that allowed you to confirm from the driver seat that both headlights were working and you'd see which one went out if/when it did. another vehicle with this quirk was a few years later, the Nissan Xtrail which was not available in the US but was available in Canada.

That’s a stellar design Doug… it was certainly ahead of its time

This car look like a pair of Sketchers.

Doug the type of guy to review a bicycle and give it one for acceleration

"With only 2,500 VehiCross available, we cant confirm you'll actually get one, only that they exist." - Isuzu 2001

15:12 "you probably wouldn't know that they're there, unless you know that they're there" very astute observation Doug

Eccentric looks, carbon fiber accents, adjustable leg supports, and a backup camera in the year 2000? Never thought I would say this, but I think Isuzu was ahead of their time on this one.

Back when some car manufacturers made cool and quirky SUVs, now all SUVs are basically CRVs with different badges...

I practically couldn’t give mine away when I needed to sell it about 7 years ago. Let it go for $2700..... oh, and it only had 50k miles on it.

Saw one of these in my neighborhood today. No one understood why i was so excited.

When I was a kid, I thought it was the coolest car ever. It looks like a Hot Wheels car and I loved that.

I had a 2000 VehiCROSS - bought it off the showroom floor. I drove it for six years and put 100,000 miles on it. I loved it! A few corrections and notes : 1. The 18" tires started with the 2000 MY 2. You could have black and gray as the interior color instead of black and red. I know this because mine had the black and gray. 3. That must be an after-market manual case. Mine didn't have that. 4. If I recall, the passenger seat moves further forward than the driver's side so it really wasn't that bad getting in the back seats. Once there, there was plenty of legroom and the seats even reclined. However, that huge C-pillar sure made it feel claustrophobic. 5. I'm surprised you didn't mention the hood black-out piece. Jeep is doing the same thing on all their Trailhawk models - only theirs is a matte vinyl "stripe" where the VX actually had a plastic hood insert. I always considered this ahead of its time. 6. I believe a lot of the pieces were taken from the Rodeo parts bin, including the dashboard, the mirrors, outside door handles and various other things. Thanks for doing this review. It sure brought back a ton of great memories!

Thumbs up if Kanye brought you back to this video.

I give Doug a Weekend Category scorer 2 for calling it weird and totally damning it. It’s a really neat and unique car.

Doug the type of guy to get killed in the beginning of the movie

It seems like they were 20 years ahead in term of styling the interior. A lot of new luxury cars follow the same scheme lol

This SUV is gorgeous! Very proportionate and looks off road capable. This vehicle looks amazing to me. It was simply ahead of its time especially with the nut cooler😂.

Kanye brought me here.

The VehiCROSS was ahead of it's time.

Aztek: "I'm the quirkiest SUV ever!" VehiCROSS: "HOLD MY RIMS!"

The VehiCROSS was wayyyy ahead of it's time. It blends in just fine today. If I could find one in great shape, I'll get it.

Ye car 🕊️

one thing he forgot to mention is, it had a hi tech off road suspension, with a second lateral shock absorber, designed to drive fast off road.

It actually looks better than a lot of SUVs out today.

Ye brought me here

Kanye put me on

This thing isn't weird... It's friggin awesome and doesn't look almost 20yrs old! Also, I'm sure the passenger's side front seat moves out of the way more than the driver's side does for access to the back seats.

Doug, *I'm disappointed you mentioned so little about the drivetrain, that's what made it special!* The story begins in 1997 when Isuzu, mostly known for making big industrial trucks and the occasional cool little sport compact, wanted a way to do the following: go racing, build a halo car (erm...truck), and try out some new technology. So they did that all at once by taking a mothballed concept from 1993 and putting it into production. That truck was the VehiCross and it's a fascinating bit of kit. The body panels are all pressed from inexpensive ceramic dies that are much cheaper to buy, but only last a few thousand runs before warping. This is ideal for short run cars as traditional cast iron dies are too expensive to create for low volume cars (in the case of the VX, 5,958 bodies were pressed before the dies wore out of spec). Borg Warner had a new computer controlled torque transmitting transfer case they wanted to try out, so the VX got it as well (dubbed Torque on Demand or TOD). Underneath, the VX employed aluminum bodied monotube dampers with remote pressure reservoirs, unheard of for a street car in the late 90s, much less a big truck. For racing, Isuzu decided to tackle the Production class in the Dakar Rally with the VX. The VX actually won two stages in class during the 1998 race, and later took the 1999 Australian Safari Rally in Production class. Despite all of this cutting edge 90s technology, the engine is the same tried and true 3.5L V6 Isuzu had been using in the Trooper since 1995. The V6 is a DOHC motor with variable valve timing making a modest 215 hp. This was enough to give a 0-60 in a touch under 10 seconds. The racing inspired dampers, stiff springs, and double wishbone front suspension give the VX surprisingly sprightly handling. You'll never mistake it for a sports car, but for an SUV it's very good. The TOD 4WD and clutch type LSD in the rear axle give plenty of traction both on and off road. For an SUV that needs to do everything, the VX ticks off pretty much every option one could ask for.

As an old guy, I always find it funny when Doug says he never saw that feature... on the early 80's Cadi he talked about the turn signal indicators on the front fenders. It was a feature on many high end cars from the 70's and 80's. On this one, he talks about the AC vent under the dash, that was pretty common in the 80's also. On the 80's imports the the passenger side door was the way to access the backseat, and the driver's seat was supposed to not be used to enter. I always wanted a VehiCROSS.

Came because of kanye

I actually think it is a good idea to have bottom half of your SUV plastic covered. Brilliant - no worries about small scratches or den't which would lead to rusting or would just look bad. Scratched black plastic looks basically the same as not scratched one, so for off road vehicles ideal. More cars should have that, not less.

Bought mine in 2008.Had 69K, now has 150K... Still have it...still drive it daily..Sorry Doug...it IS fun to drive and handles like a sports car because of the mono-tube suspension. This was a Halo car slated for a limited production of 5000. It is getting more difficult to get parts..Not many in junkyards and many new parts have to be ordered from Japan which is an 8week wait unless you can find them used on ebay. Except for a radiator leak in 2016 (i replaced the radiator) and a couple of battery failures over the years, this vehivle has started EVERY day since Ive owned it My old 77 FJ40 Landcruiser is the only other car Ive owned with that record and I am 70 years old. and owned my share of different vehicles.Mine is Foxfire Red Mica w/ black/grey interior.

It really looked weird back in the day... but now it looks completely normal.

I have only seen one of these in my life; when I was 20 I was working @ a coffeehouse & my coworker was the most colorful, eccentric personality - a Welsh woman in her 50s who happened to have an ‘01 VehiCROSS in silver. She worked @ the c’house for fun, her husband was a huge-time attorney who would stop by occasionally in his Porsche 959 (in a strange blue color, never saw such an example!). Oh and that “OK” sticker - my 1st car as a teen was a Subaru wagon passes down by my parents, it too had the “OK” sticker along w an anti-rust sticker that said “Rusty Jones” lol and had an image of a red-haired, mustached white dude...I guess he was Rusty

Am I the only person who really likes the look of this thing

dangit doug. I've been trying to find one of these and you probably singularly bumped the price by 2x with this video.

Should’ve been titled “Doug discovers the famed ball chiller vent”

I think you're supposed to enter in the back seat from the passenger side, the front seat slides forward more. It was made like that on a lot of older SUV with 2 doors, so the driver doesn't have to get out.

Doug Demuro, the type of guy to conduct full house evacuation fire drills at home with the wife and kids, and checks everyone's present with his list on a clipboard

That colour really helps with the looks... It doesn't look so strange anymore. Compare this to something more modern like a Nissan Juke.

12:50 it has a gooch-cooler 3000

I thought the VehiCROSS was ahead of its time on design. I still love this truck!

Your knack for unusual cars is fantastic. Your reviews on cars like this and others (Aztek, Isetta) are much more interesting than your run-of-the-mil $200k supercars. I love all your reviews but the quirkiest cars always grab the most attention. Awesome review.

This car is surprisingly cool to be honest.

I never forgot about these. They have always haunted my dreams.

New Yemobile

I drove a 1999 model from 2001 to 2015 and put over 200,000 miles on it. I really loved that thing and it was my daily driver. Only gave it up when my wife got pregnant and we needed a 4 door. It was always fun to drive and I would get asked about it almost every time I stopped to fill up.

Production stopped in 2001? This thing could have been sold in 2011 and still would have looked modern.

Doug's "this" at the beginning has definitely evolved haha - I'm coming from watching his more recent videos and it's definitely much longer and more pronounced now!

Mine is great! Every stop sign gets gawkers and lots of questions. Also, Doug, the front passenger seat moves forward several inches when the handle is activated allowing better ingress/egress characteristics.

There’s something oddly appealing about it. I personally think it looks amazing but also extremely weird.

This car was so ahead of it's time.... and it's one of those cars that is so unusual it's actually cool!.... Sort of like a Nissan Juke Nismo RS. I wish Isuzu still made SUV's and cars...

Thanks for the review, Doug. There are A LOT of comments, so it may have been mentioned already, but I noticed that the contours on the doors match the headliner...

It makes me happy when Doug says he is having fun because I bet these videos aren't easy for him to make

Keeps saying weird, but I see cool and unique.

Victim of being too forward in design? Some of the current Jeeps seemed to have borrowed quite a bit of styling cues from the Vehicross.

I actually kept seeing this vehicle review but then I saw one sitting in my town and now in watching this.

I actually love the look. The first time I saw one on the road (a few years ago) I was intrigued enough to catch up and see what it was. The only thing that would prevent me from getting one now is that it surely would be a huge pain in the ass getting parts for.

Much nicer than i thought it would be. At the time they were new, they were just too expensive, but I always wanted to check one out.

Damn I love this SUV. For many people its weird but its pretty to my eyes!

I’m back after Kanye bought one

Thanks for this great rundown! I am a bit disappointed that you didn’t force yourself into the back seat :) I’m curious as to whether or not the backseats recline (like the backseats in a Trooper).

Nice to see you doing an old, weird, everyday vehicle again

Vehicross, Aztec, 1st gen iPod and manual Ferrari 360s... the future classics of the early 2000s

For a 20+ yr old design, it’s aged remarkably well.

It reminds me of my 2019 Honda Passport so much! They definitely used a lot of these ideas in the new Honda vehicles

My love for this car cannot be quantified.

I don't care how you do it, Doug, but your fans expect you to get in the back seat. ;-)

The whole idea of the VehiCross was to incorporate Baja racing technology into a regular SUV. Dry sump oil system, external shock reservoirs, and Recaro seats were just a few of the things they included with the vehicle. The intent was to have an off road vehicle with Miata like handling (off pavement, that is).

Vehicross- the only car with a certified ball cooling AC

Doug...I had one of these. To get in the back the passengers seat actually moves forward a lot more than the driver's seat. You forgot to mention many things about the car such as the rally style front shocks which had expansion reservoirs along with the independent front suspension and solid rear which is also a rally vehicle set up. So the car is meant more for rally style off road than for jeep style mudding or rock crawling. The suspension set up is the main reason why the car was a fair amount more expensive as it added considerably to the production cost.

I somehow like the design

Dear Doug, This is the kind of content I depend on you for! Also, please bring back the Doug Score. I liked the way you said “out of ten.” Sincerely, me

This was one of my favorite cars for a long time when I was younger, absolutely love this one

Touchscreens suck so much, I'd so much rather have ergonomic buttons for the climate control and stereo that are identifiable while driving so you don't have to look away from the road.

Doug the type of dude that likes to keep cool in his region down there while he drive

Hey Doug! Doug! Man! Doouug! IT IS BEAUTIFULL !!!

I remember seeing these back in the day. Always wanted one, and this review makes me want one more.

This was a great take at a Rally/Baja/Dakar like truck. The claim to fame was the suspension system and the ladder frame. Looking up this stuff, you will see stock with coil-overs with remote reservoirs. It pretty much help usher in the toyota fj cruisers.

This man doesn't know the difference b/w weird and unique ...

This reminds me so much of my '99 Rodeo. So many memories!

I remember sitting in my school library in the 90's loving that this car came with a special spot for a first aid kit!

The 'horns' in the headlights are most likely to point out the front corners of the car, helps when in right spaces.

Doug the type of guy to admit there's a flaw in his scoring system

Doug you're off on the styling score for sure. Pull up in one of these at a car rally and I guarantee you everyone will think it's cool and isn't that what style is all about. It's good weird. 10 out of 10

The Vehicross is most definitely NOT weird. It is absolutely gorgeous looking. It was so far ahead of it's time in its styling. It's still far nicer looking than most vehicles today. I love it's clean refined lines. The red interior is awesome.

Doug treats anything older than 10 years like its a martian spaceship dropped out of the sky

If Doug was a car he would be this one lol

pretty darn impressive clearance for stock. can't believe i never, ever heard of this thing before. i actually just found it while looking at some parts for my dakota, and when i googled it, there was doug's vid.

thanks for the video, i saw one for the first time in my life the other day on the road

No doug. You barely tried to get in. You let me down on this one. And honestly i kinda like the vehicle

This man bothers me greatly, yet I still watch.

I always love seeing these uniquely designed cars. It's fun to see manufacturers experiment and take risks with their cars

It’s weird watching this and not hearing Doug say, “Be sure to check out Cars and Bids.” A few months back they sold an amazing yellow one that I wish I could have bought. It was beautiful!