Isuzu I-Van Test Drive Report

***Just reposting my road test of the Isuzu i-Van as posted in the car comparisons thread.***

EDIT: The I-Van has its own Facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Centro...333483?sk=wall

If you just need to haul bodies or stuff, ok na ito. Yung tipong mga hindi mo naman kilala o kamag-anak ang sakay mo. And hindi mo naman personal na sasakyan at ipapa-drive mo lang sa driver, pwede na din. Otherwise, I'd look at something else.

First off, Isuzu can boast all day about their 'legendary engines' but at the end of the day a 4JB1-TC engine is still a 91 horsepower pick up truck engine forced into a truck body and forced to carry all the weight. Acceleration is slow to say the least and you can barely crack 120kph. I'm not expecting a sports car but I wasn't expecting it to be so slow either. The engine is heavily taxed and on long trips, you will be rowing through the gears like a mad man to keep the engine within the power band.

And yes, there's that shifter. It's so notchy I thought I was rowing through a bowl of rocks. But I can live with it, not just very comfortably.

The ride is what you'd expect from having four rock hard leaf springs on all four corners - very bouncy. Bring your Bonamine for the rear passengers. Bumps that a Hiace or Urvan can easily take results in a crash boom bang concert in the i-Van. Isuzu recommends very soft tire pressure for the front to soften up the ride as well as using Bridgestone Dueler light truck tires on alloy rims instead of heavy duty truck tires on steel rims. I guess it helps, but you cannot hide the primitive underpinnings of the truck. As a cargo truck, it works well enough, but it seems ill fitted for people carrier duty.

And speaking of primitive, I wouldn't trust anything with 4 wheel drum brakes! At highway speeds, stopping distances are very long and there's no pedal feel to speak of. The pedal just reaches the floor and you pray that you don't hit the vehicle in front. It may work for city speeds but after repeated stops from highway speeds, the brakes have already faded (weakness of drum brakes since they are unable to dissipate heat fast enough like disc brakes) to the point of being dangerous. Isuzu NHR trucks can be had with disc brakes in other markets, why can't we have them, too? And yes, I can hear some Isuzu fanboys now arguing that even 10 wheelers and semi-trailers have drum brakes and can stop. Yes they can stop because the are using air brakes (doesn't boil over like hydraulic systems) and they have extremely huge drums with a large friction surface area. But still, more advanced trucks in other markets are already switching over to discs.

The truck handles nervously at speeds above 100kph. A combination of being slab sided and having a primitive suspension set up. Constant corrections are required to maintain a straight path.

And how is the rest of the vehicle? The conversion from cargo truck to van seems to be poorly executed. The vinyl trim feels cheap and there are a lot of glue marks and oversprays on the trim. The ceiling is interrupted by a bare metal bow and the front edge of the headliner is held up with nothing but the sunvisors! The rear a/c vents aren't even lined up squarely. The right rear swing door has scratches on its door jamb from grinding with the door opening. The rear door panel made up of fiberglass and feels very cheap. On the unit I tested, the screws are exposed and the door pocket has been cracked already (the unit had less than 1500kms on the odo). Also when the swing door is closed, I can see sunlight entering the lower edges. The lift up tailgate, considering how tall the truck is, doesn't even lift up high enough to clear my head when I'm loading stuff. The struts (a German brand) seem to be too short for the job.

Up front the Isuzu cabin is pleasant enough. A tilt and telescope steering wheel is a nice feature. As well as a standard tachometer. The Sony Xplod head unit has an aux-in port also and the a/c is very effective. The rear a/c control is also up front so rear passengers have no control over the system. And speaking of rear a/c, an unattractive mesh grill mars the rear quarter panel to accommodate the low mounted rear a/c evaporator.

In the engine compartment, you need to go under the vehicle to access and check the air cleaner (just like the Urvan) and because the coolant jug used to rest behind the truck cab, Isuzu simply deleted it. So I guess the radiator just dumps the coolant on the road as the system boils over? Which is kind of dumb on a modern vehicle.

Some photos:

"Proudly Built by Isuzu"
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020120.jpg

Why don't you just change the oil and oil filter at the same time?
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020121.jpg

Even Isuzu is not sure how much oil to put into their own engine. hehehe
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020118.jpg

Engine compartment with add-on Sanden A/C
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020117.jpg

Front wheel drum brakes. Bridgestone tires. Alloy wheels. They didn't even bother to change the lug nuts to something more matched to the alloys.
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020071.jpg

Foton's version of the 4JB1. Even they managed to engineer a coolant overflow recovery tank. Something which Isuzu just unplugged and deleted because the OEM coolant tank of the NHR series rests on the back of the truck cab.

http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/DSC02281.jpg

The Foton's jug is under the driver's seat near the intake manifold and behind the fuel filter priming pump. Not exactly easy to check and reach but at least its still there to do its job.

Even if Isuzu reintroduced the Fargo it would be more suitable than this workaround.

A bit too pricey for P1.245M. The same manufacturer for Mitsubishi L300 FB, Hyundai H100 Shuttle Van, Isuzu NHR Flexitruck, Hino Passenger Van, etc..

Centro Manufacturing Corporation

....so another "FAIL" for the "proudly pinoy" fan-boys?


Given the reported poor quality of design and assembly, it's not surprising we haven't seen much of these on the road.

What is the 'real' price of this thing? In their website it is just under the million peso mark. Or was it just for the truck? Even then it seems a bit overpriced already...

Yeah, fan boys can hate but I just tell it how it is. I have nothing for or against any unit I test.

The Isuzu I-Van was publicly displayed on April 16, 2011. Here is the thread for that show: http://tsikot.com/forums/isuzu-cars-...-future-79574/

Official I-Van photos (by Isuzu Joe) of said event:
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...e/55bff1de.jpg

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...e/9dfffdc1.jpg

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...e/6e5ce88b.jpg

That's the rear a/c ducting going up the driver's side D-pillar.
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...e/8239af56.jpg

Specs:
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...e/9b946fcd.jpg

I think the same ride quality with jeepneys and the difference is only it is airconditioned:grin:

hahahaha

all brake drum? that is so sad

sabi ko sa inyo Isuzu Phils. sells us crap

4jb1?

serious? for a minibus?

who the hell uses 4JB1 na elf? yung mga walang alam sa elf

experienced elf users will never buy an elf that isnt 24 volts (4BC2, 4BE1, 4HF1, 4HG1 etc)

mga PUJ nga naka 4BC2, 4BE1

4JB1? that's really pathetic

nhr truck nman po i2.. hndi na elf.... importante isuzu engine yan at extra heavy duty reliable yan still fuel efficient..... konti modifications lang sa van body nila.. like gwing foldable lahat ng seats(hope there is a minimum configuration of 23 seat), higher ground clearance, sliding doors...

Some minibuses based in the NHR frame are very popular in Colombia, but fitted with side-mounted hatches to perform technical inspection in components like the coolant overflow recovery tank and the air intake box. Also, what I really don't agree is the usage of galvanized iron instead of aluminium and fiberglass, that are currently the most usual materials to make a bus body worldwide due to the weight savings (thus improving fuel-efficiency and reducing brake and suspension fatigue).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mondragon

nhr truck nman po i2.. hndi na elf.... importante isuzu engine yan at extra heavy duty reliable yan still fuel efficient..... konti modifications lang sa van body nila.. like gwing foldable lahat ng seats(hope there is a minimum configuration of 23 seat), higher ground clearance, sliding doors...

---

hindi elf?

NHR, NKR, NPR elf lahat yan (known as elf in japan. N-series outside japan)

NHR is lighter than NKR, NPR

extra heavy duty? pinaka light duty na N-series yan. kaya maliit ang makina

pls check your facts

we used to import japan surplus trucks

kung NKR gamitin nila pang minibus mas ok pa

Apologies to the "Isuzu Manila Sales" and "Centro I-Van" Facebook pages where I borrowed the following photos:

Pre-production Isuzu I-Van. Notice that it wears the more attractive D-Max wheels. Also not sure if the "Elf Microbus" tailgate trim made it to production.
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o..._6276179_n.jpg

http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...088149_n-1.jpg

Official I-Van brochure as per Centro (no high-res version available):
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o..._7554947_n.jpg

http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o..._7293913_n.jpg

I was planning to test drive this, actually... but I'm unsure about the truck-like driving position, and the shifter was a turn-off... from your report, seems like it's even worse on the move.

The interior trim is really terrible. It would have been better if they'd simply tacked fabric or vinyl trim onto plastic parts to disguise the low-rent nature of the materials.

You should've seen my face when I pulled down the sun visor (to reduce glare) and realized that it was what was holding the head liner up! hahaha.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OTEP

You should've seen my face when I pulled down the sun visor (to reduce glare) and realized that it was what was holding the head liner up! hahaha.

---

Did it look something like this?

http://cyncity.typepad.com/photos/un...struckdumb.jpg

haha

kala ko pa naman maganda gawa ng centro

More photos by OTEP:

Rear a/c evaporator and aux fan in quarter panel. Mesh screen is already dented and distorted.
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020085.jpg

The headliner just ends. No trim to finish it off. Just cover it up by folding the sunvisor. Wow.
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020095.jpg

There is vinyl and glue overlap. And the door literally scratches itself in normal use.
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020079.jpg

Fiberglass door panel. Cheap looking with auto self destruct function. Note the exposed mounting hardware.
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020078.jpg

Exposed steel beam above driver's head. The vinyl trim has lots of glue marks and finger prints.
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020067.jpg

Sitting in the cockpit.
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/o...p/P1020068.jpg

Fail.


Ambulance? Alam ko mabibilis ang mga ambulance eh. Hindi kaya mag expire mga pasyente dito sa sobrang bagal and tagtag? Or dahil mababangga pag biglang preno no thanks to the 4 silly drum brakes? The ISUZU 4JB1-TC engine is just plain pathetic. Mas mataas pa nga ang HP and torque ratings ng 2KD-FTV ng Hiace.


Akala siguro nila gagana pa ang marketing nilang "it's tough because it's an ISUZU".

sir otep alam ko, sa nhr flexi truck: 3800kg(Gross weight),1475kg(Curb weight) so the payload is 2325kg..
sa i-van:3800kg(Gross weight), 1520kg(curb weight) so payload nya is 2280kg...

so yang naka hilight ng blue is for i-van ambulance and flexi truck? sa bagay mukang ms magaan eh... gaya nga ng mga comments sna mapataasan nila ung ground clearance ng body anu? tapos gawin foldable ung seats.. kahit gayahin nlng nila configuration ng 18 seater na urban pero 6x6 ung sidefacing seats para at least 23 seat..