Isuzu Impulse RS: A Rare Japanese Sports Car
Remember when Japanese cars wore all their features right on their sleeves? Big, bold rocker graphics proclaiming “DOHC 16-VALVE,” “VTEC,” “Twin-Cam,” and that sort of thing. Well, the Isuzu Impulse RS might take the crown for U.S.-market Japanese cars with long-winded decals, with its back panel blaring: “ALL-WHEEL DRIVE INTERCOOLED TURBO.” And it’s all true.
You’re looking at one of the rarest sports cars to come out of Japan during that country’s fantastic era of wild engineering in the ’80s and ’90s, where anything was possible and everything went. Including the Impulse RS, which is basically a Geo Storm with all-wheel drive, passive rear-wheel steering, and a wild turbocharged engine.
OK, we’re being a bit unfair—the Geo Storm is better known, but underneath it was really all Isuzu. The second-generation Impulse ought to be the one we remember, but it isn’t. That’s because Isuzu was on its long, slow decline into virtual irrelevance by then, quitting passenger cars entirely not too long after. But it didn’t have to be this way.
Design and Engineering
The original Impulse, known as the Piazza elsewhere, was based on the Asso di Fiori (Ace of Spades) concept designed by the man responsible for the Lotus Esprit S1 and the DeLorean DMC-12: Giorgetto Giugiaro. It was basically a concept car design plopped straight on top of road-car mechanicals, garnering significant attention at the time for the little automaker. However, the driving experience perhaps didn’t live up to the promise of the sheet metal. For the second generation model, the situation was arguably reversed.
Performance and Features
The design was done in-house at GM, taking cues from contemporary products like the Camaro. The semi-hooded headlights haven’t aged as well as full pop-ups, but who cares when you’ve got a NACA-style duct offset on the hood? The Impulse RS is as fun as it is tiny, packing 160 horsepower, 150 pound-feet of torque, a rear-biased 43:57 front-to-rear torque split, and Lotus-tuned handling. Fewer than 1,000 examples made it to our shores, and a significantly smaller fraction of that survive.
This white example on various auction platforms looks clean and well-kept, with a few blemishes but just 104k miles on the odometer, wearing an understated white over a black interior. The rubber accordion shift boot and unique gauge hood buttons never let you forget you’re experiencing something from the early 1990s, which we think adds to the charm. These vehicles rarely come up for sale, and many carry rough histories with previous owners. If you’re interested in purchasing, it’s highly recommended to have it inspected by a specialist. This advice applies to any auction purchase, but particularly for something as uncommon as this, it’s even more critical. Caveat emptor, but also, a huge yes to the RS.
