Junkyard Find: 2002 Isuzu Axiom

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

Remember the Isuzu Axiom? Of course you don’t, because this Rodeo-based SUV was sold (in tiny quantities) for just the 2002-2004 model years and was then replaced with the Chevy Trailblazer-clone Isuzu Ascender.

Oddball, 21st-century marketplace flops are interesting to me, for whatever reason, so we’ll follow up the Kia Rondo Junkyard Find with this Denver wrecking-yard inmate.

The owner’s manual was still inside, and it included this mysterious graphic.

I’m hoping to find a Suzuki Equator next.

Even Joe Isuzu himself couldn’t move the Axiom out of Isuzu showrooms.

There is at least one Axiom with Lambo doors and 22s out there.







Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Flybrian Flybrian on Dec 09, 2015

    Fun Fact - with the SUSPENSION warning lamp illuminated, a Axiom suddenly transforms into Dynaride mode. A blast to drive.

  • Rocketrodeo Rocketrodeo on Dec 10, 2015

    The VehiCross was the unicorniest of the Isuzu SUVs. Limited production combined with actual offroadability means that these have quite a bit of collector value, if you ever see one for sale. The styling was pretty shocking in 1999 but it seems to have worn pretty well. These are recent enough that there would probably be quite a bit of utility left in these.

  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
  • EBFlex The best gift would have been a huge bonfire of all the fak mustangs in inventory and shutting down the factory that makes them.Heck, nobody would even have to risk life and limb starting the fire, just park em close together and wait for the super environmentally friendly EV fire to commence.
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