Cup of Joe: 1988 Isuzu Impulse
The Impulse sales in North America started in 1983, but things didn’t get really good until the 1988 model year introduction of Lotus tuned suspension as standard. The unusual combination of Japanese durability, Italian styling (Giorgetto Giugiaro) and rear-wheel-drive means that you should own one. Find this 1988 Isuzu Impulse offered for $5,500 in Cave Spring, VA via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
From the seller:
1988 Isuzu Impulse
condition: good
cylinders: 4 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 119671
paint color: red
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: coupe
Selling my 1988 Isuzu Impulse 2-door hatchback coupe.Runs, drives, and shifts. Lots of fun. During ownership I replaced the shocks, brakes, ball joints, power steering rack, shifter boot, clutch cylinders, accessory belts, and installed an XAV touch screen head unit in place of an aftermarket Pioneer radio (never had the original). Before purchasing previous owner replaced the water pump.
Currently won’t pass inspection due to an issue with the turn signal indicator – it will signal left but signaling right turns the hazards on. Electrical shop said it was an issue with a component on the circuitboard inside the switch module.
Its got some squeals and rattles, occasionally idles rough, the AC sometimes blows warm air, and sometimes takes a little extra throttle to get going, but once its going there arent any real issues.
Bought this car in May of 2022 and I’ve put ~7000 miles on it since as a weekend cruiser.
$5500 OBO, serious inquiries only.
See a better way to drive impulsively? tips@dailyturismo.com
Isuza Stole the styling from the VW Scirocco
Hired the same stylist, actually.
Not exactly. From what I gather, Giugiaro never had a chance to even propose designing a successor to his Mk1 Scirocco before finding out VW already had their own Mk2 Scirocco design in development.
We can only speculate he *might* have started initial sketches of this design privately thinking of it as a possible successor to his Mk1 Scirocco before he found out VW was rolling their own, then turned it into an Isuzu project when they commissioned him to design a successor to his Isuzu 117 Coupe design. It’s clear his final Asso di Fiori (“Ace of Clubs”) concept car was meant to be on Isuzu’s GM T-platform from the outset, which then went into production as the Piazza/Impulse with minimal changes.
That said, this was a significant design bellwether for Giugiaro and the industry overall in what he called his “fifth Copernican revolution”, incorporating multiple innovations of his into a single, production-ready car for the first time, which ultimately became common practice across the industry, notably: flush-mounted windows, monolithic clamshell doors and rear hatch fully integrated with the body contours, drip rails eliminated and replaced with gutters molded into the door gasket concealed by the upper door frame.
It’s amazing what Giugiaro could do to a crap-box Chevette.