We spotted this sharp Samurai while driving through Yellowstone park. I’d already parked close to it at three different sites in the park when I finally caught up with the owners…
The young couple we spoke with are from California, and they’ve owned the Suzuki for a while. I pointed out that these have virtually disappeared from the Midwest and South (where, years ago, I owned one), either having succumbed to rust or death by four-wheeling. They told me that in their area, nice ones are “a dime a dozen.”
This nice example is named “Roller Girl”…kind of like a roller board.
Samurais around here (Iowa/Nebraska) tend to be either fully “4×4’d” with ridiculously huge tires, or completely clapped out farm beaters serving in the place of a JD Gator or a Polaris utility vehicle thingy.
I used to work with a guy who drove a slammed Samurai, complete with heavy-duty audio system. I have to say it wasn’t terrible looking, but I felt it really deviated from the purpose of the vehicle; I can verify that the handling was pretty horrid.
I wouldn’t mind owning one as a winter fun/cabin vehicle. It’s like a big four-wheeler with a heater!
these are pretty much gone in the northeast. they don’t stand up too well to the salt. i always liked them for their honest design but then i’m a sucker for anything with a stick shift and an open top. also, james may famously drove one through the south american jungle while fancier jeeps gave up the ghost.
Great episode… awesome show!
I’m going to put on my Carmine Movie Reference tinfoil hat and point out that Roller Girl was Heather Graham’s character in “Boogie Nights.”
Ahem…
Did she fall out the back when the Samurai rolled over?
Notice that this owner has put wide tires on the Samurai, surely making it more tip-over prone as it now can grip the asphalt better rather than sliding the original skinny tires.
They’re “penny a dozen” up here.
Ok Paul. I’ll take a dozen. I always liked them and thought most of the stuff about them tipping was probably like the Nader/Corvair thing. if the suzuki car is half as tough as the suzuki bike I don’t think I can live long enough to wear out a dozen so will take half a dozen. You keep the change.
The tippy thing was no joke. I got ours on 2 wheels on more than one occasion turning from one street to another at a 90 degree angle going about 25 MPH. They were scary.
Interesting tires, but just what are they avenging? Good taste? The constant battle against terminal ennui? Quiet operation? So many questions, so few answers.
There could be an entire post about the weird names given to cheap tires. My current favorite is the Eldorado Golden Fury GFT. The Multi-Mile Matrix is a close second.
Saw one of these here in SoCal (in Azusa, I think) over the weekend. I remember a girl I knew in high school (1986 or so) having one, before the bad publicity from CR killed them off as a viable product here.
Maybe with the wide tyres it would tip ‘up’ rather than fall over, and give a bit more warning in the process. Wheel bearings on the other hand… In any case out here the police would get you first for tyres past the wheel arches, and the track width increase.
Did they say what the rack is for?
The rack looks like a folded up Yakima hitchfork for carrying two bicycles in roof rack style trays.
The Samurai is still semi common in Oregon since they are popular 4 wheelers and we don’t have road salt. A co-worker had a couple of Samurais for wheeling that he bought to replace a full sized Blazer because he could do a weekend in the Tillamook State Forest for a quarter of what his Blazer would have cost in fuel. His Samurai had a full offroad setup and on the road it was like sitting inside a bobblehead.
Thought that might be the case, for carrying bikes more carefully than most racks.
My grandfather had a Suzuki Sierra ute about 30 years ago, they had a longer wheelbase – there was also a lwb soft-top available which I think was a better idea than the normal short version.
I had a Suzuki Sierra as my first car- in the Australian bush they had a good reputation for off-roading in severe conditions with excellent reliability. Mine had the narrow track, steel dashboard and one litre of stump-pulling power!
It’s a shame these were killed off by rust and bad publicity, because I’ve always felt they possessed some positive virtues – such as light weight and maneuverability – that are lacking in today’s Wrangler. In other words, a viable competitor might result in a better Jeep.
Just don’t ever, ever post that sentiment on a Jeep forum. When I did, I got a thorough lashing from a 19-year-old fanboy who proceeded to tell me I didn’t understand what a Jeep was supposed to be. Never mind the legend that Willys omitted one coat of paint to keep the original MB within the military’s weight specs…
I drove my Samurai pretty aggressively, and while I got some tire squeal occasionally, It never felt tippy to me. The short wheelbase made for an incredibly maneuverable vehicle.
IIRC, Consumer Reports was later found to have rigged the tests to achieve the result they wanted (they’ve been guilty of this in other cases as well), but by then, the damage was done.
We sold ours a year before having it paid off (and really regretted it later), due to our first child being imminent – the wife wanted something with four doors for easier baby seat finagling.
Count me as another fan. I have never ridden in one, but I can definitely see the attraction of a tough, durable, simple little 4wd vehicle. But I am in the midwest where they are definitely NOT a dime a dozen.
I think the hardtop versions were the tippy ones… I personally have seen 2 on their sides
They were all tippy, the earlier ones especially. Never rolled mine, but in my town I was in the minority I think! Consumer Reports didn’t need to fake anything…
When I move to California (hopefully in the next few months) it will be between this and a 1986-1992 Mazda B-series for my utility vehicle.
Bought mine new in 1992 have been driving it ever since 280,000 miles or so and semi original. Consumer Reports is full of themselves.
Garage kept, 2 tops and lots of tires. I’m in south Georgia, and they are a valued item here. Nice site
The Crocodile Hunter rented one of these during one of his outings and said he liked it.
When I was in high school, we had a 1986 Suzuki Samurai convertible. I drove it a lot. I took it off road numerous times and never got it stuck. It was small and would go places that even a Jeep wouldn’t have fit. It was a great off roader. However, it wasn’t so great on pavement. It was slow. Really slow. The ride was incredibly harsh. Driving on the highway was an adventure. The little engine didn’t like doing 70 MPH but we never had any mechanical problems with it. Tough little bastard. Its reputation as being flippy was well-earned. Ours had extra wide low profile tires that had been put on it before we got it but that only helped so much. One day I made a 90° from one street to the other and the two left wheels came off the ground. I was 16 and stupid so I tried it again and got it on two wheels again. I was always more careful after that. I can only imagine how easily it would have been to flip if it had the stock tall, narrow tires on it. There was a parking lot at a local grocery store with a bump between two sections of the parking lot. I found that if I hit it at about 20 MPH I could jump the Samurai about two feet off the ground. The thing was about as tinny as tinny gets. It was made of very thin metal and was quite dainty. The doors were about 6 inches thick. It was noisy and the back seat was useless. I had a lot of fun in that little bastard. It was uncomfortable but would go nearly anywhere. My dad sold it to my uncle who still has it. I still miss it nearly 30 years later.