Isuzu... with an American Heart

We have written so much about Isuzu that we're beginning to wonder if we should add an "Isuzu" tag to our blog.

This time, it's something different—and unexpected. We had a small batch of urgent freight arriving in LA, consisting of only two pallets. Being as stingy as we are, we came up with a plan to utilize a smaller vehicle to save $100+ on the trip to the port. The initial idea was to use a pickup truck, but unlike our Made in America story, these pallets would sit much higher than the cabin roof, creating a hazard on the highway. (We eventually got a pickup truck for a week for other occasions, but we'll talk about that in another article.)

Our compromise was to rent a 12' box truck (similar to the smallest U-Haul) from Budget. With their 20% off promotion, we could keep the entire rental under $100, including gas. The main disadvantage was that this truck didn't have a liftgate, meaning we'd have to ask the warehouse to forklift the pallets onto the truck instead of using a loading dock. This is what's known as ground loading. Plus, once we got back to our place, we'd have to de-palletize everything by hand to unload the truck since we don't have a forklift at home.

But, as the title probably gave away... the rental place was overly generous again and gave us a "free upgrade." This is usually a bad thing for us, but this time it actually made loading and unloading easier, so we took it gratefully. Instead of the Ford E-Series you commonly find, this Budget location actually had a Chevrolet Low Cab Forward, which is just a rebadged Isuzu Elf (known as the N-Series here) that we all know and love.

The biggest difference—if not the only one—is that this truck is equipped with a 6.6L GM L8T V8 gas engine. It makes perfect sense; Budget is more consumer-oriented, and you definitely don't want clueless people moving out of their homes accidentally putting gasoline into a diesel truck.

Once we hit the highway, the might of the V8 began to reveal itself. Instead of having to push the pedal to the floor like in a diesel Isuzu, this truck accelerated faster than a family sedan. We never got a chance to test it with a heavy load (our two pallets were only about 600 lbs total), so we can't speak to how well it performs under pressure.

We were also a bit concerned about fuel economy. In the end, it gave us 9.4 MPG, whereas the diesel equivalent usually sits around 11–12 MPG. However, diesel here is at least 10% more expensive than 87# octane, so... I guess we can rent from Budget again next time. It helps that it's closer to our place, too.

The problem is that, unlike the commercially-oriented Enterprise Truck, Budget also has trucks without liftgates (like the one we intended to rent in the first place). So, if they "free upgrade" us next time when we absolutely need a liftgate, we're screwed.

Let's see if that happens.