For $2,350, Would You Adopt This 1997 Acura SLX Brother From Another Mother?

Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Acura is an adopted model from a defunct (in the U.S.) brand. Seeing as it's really an Isuzu Trooper under those stylized As, let's see if its mixed parentage makes for a straight up deal.

Mark Twain once sagely opined that "the fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time." I'm guessing that few of you feel the same way as America's yarn-ripper as even at its modest $2,500 price, yesterday's death-inviting 1970 Reliant Supervan III cyclecar fell in a 63 percent Crack Pipe loss.

Look, as Twain said, if you're going to live, you might as well live it up, and what better way to do that than with this 1997 Acura SLX luxury SUV?

Now, I'll bet quite a few of you had forgotten that the SLX ever existed as its time as a fixture in Acura dealerships was a short four years, two decades back. Its origins however are interesting enough to perhaps make it worth remembering.

As you all know Acuras are nothing more than fancy Hondas in the same way that Elizabeth Olsen is nothing more than a sane Olsen Twin. You might think that when the original SUV craze took off in the '90s the marque would have turned to their down-market brand for a vehicle to re-badge and up-price, but sadly Honda's cupboards were bare. That's when they turned to perennial also-ran Isuzu for help. Isuzu seemingly had all the right moves back in the '90s. They were nominally a builder of light and medium trucks and hence were perfectly positioned to take advantage of the wave of sport utility sales rocking America at the time.

It wasn't to be the case however, and Isuzu seemingly managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, eventually pulling out of the U.S. consumer auto market entirely.

Before then however, they sold Honda a number of their Rodeo models to market as the Passport, and their luxury Trooper as the Acura SLX. This was Acura's first foray into 4X4s, and the marque's first model not to be based on a Honda.

Here we have a white over grey edition from right smack dab in the middle of the SLX's model run. That means it sports the 190 horsepower 3.2-litre V6 engine rather than the later 215-horse 3.5. It should be noted that the Isuzu V6 is a weird-ass 75-degree unit rather than the expected 60-degrees. Freak! Behind that sits a more pedestrian 4-speed automatic and part-time AWD.

The ad is brief, but does note that the truck is loaded. You're getting leather seating, a moonroof through which you may moon, lots of fake wood, and power everything here.

Mileage is a modest 119K and while the truck does exhibit some dings and dents here and there, it's overall in pretty decent shape. The ad makes no note of mechanical maladies and it's reasonably clean both inside and out.

The question is: would you buy a cast-off car built by a marque that no longer does business here? Well, maybe the more important question is: would you buy one for a mere $2,350?

That's the asking and I just have to say, in my book this feels like a hell of alot fo car for that kind of cash. It's got Ranger Rover level panache at likely a fraction of the down the road maintenance expense.

Or maybe it's just too much of a redheaded stepchild for even that kind of outlay. These have never been popular at all, and in fact were pulled from the market for lack of buyer interest.

What's your take on this SLX and that $2,350 price? Does that seem like a fair adoption fee? Or, is it back to the orphanage with it?

You decide!

Norfolk, VA Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your Kinja handle.