2004 4x4 Truck Of The Year Vehicles

Isuzu AscenderHighs *Fire-road tuned suspension*Fullsize engine, midsize truck*Gov-Lock rear differentialLows *Overheats in sand*Poor ground clearance*No tow hooks

VerdictGetaway 4x4 that no one will notice

The Isuzu Ascender is hardly a hero 4x4. Its cookie-cutter SUV styling and appliance-white exterior couldn't hide the rebadged Chevy Trailblazer origins from the judges and didn't give us much to be excited about on our test. When you sit in the Ascender you recognize the GM themes, but it's almost as if Isuzu has spent too much time trying to hide its roots instead of building on them.

As a family 4x4, the Ascender should be quite capable of taking three full rows of kids, cousins, and friends on mild off-road jaunts thanks to decent gearing and the Gov-Lock rear differential that kicks in to get you out of trouble. Too bad we don't bring a test family with us for our evaluations because when our judges drive, there aren't any screaming kids to distract them from such facts as: The Ascender has worst overall ground clearance of any vehicle in the test; its unusual length-to-width proportion makes it tricky to negotiate on trails; and it lacks front tow hooks-or any decent frame bracket in the front of the vehicle to attach a strap to, for that matter.

But enough bashing. The Ascender got decent marks for its highway ride, even though some judges picked on its heavy steering feel and the front suspension's tendency to wallow over bumps at highway speeds. The all-aluminum 5.3L Vortec engine is strong, but it's no Hemi-powered Durango, and the judges took note. This is another vehicle that could benefit from a GM-sourced five-speed automatic transmission. If there were two places the Ascender took honors in, it was the sand and the high-speed fire-road sections. Not that it has a lot of travel, but the suspension engineers have done a remarkable job of controlling the suspension movement and preventing the impact typical when the suspension bottoms out and hits metal to metal. We're not sure why the Ascender has this unique talent, but we have to assume it comes from the scaled-down GM four-link rear-suspension geometry that we like so much on the Tahoe, Avalanche, and H2.