I have a 1998 Acura SLX, which is a dressed Trooper of the last gen. I bought it as a temporary replacement for a 100 series Land Cruiser about 13 years ago. That I still have it says how I feel about it. It does a lot right, thought it’s not quite a Land Cruiser, certainly. For utility use, I’d much prefer a Trooper/SLX over a Rodeo/Passport (Honda version) for the space and towing capacity. The Troopers are very over-braked, with a ladder frame and make a great tow platform - I’ve towed horses with it a fair bit, and the tow rating is quite conservative.
The trans issues are usually because of getting low on fluid. They are really sensitive to fill volume and can’t stand to lose much fluid. There is an accumulator cover on one side that can leak in rust belt areas - that does a lot in. Mine got low because of a bad drain bolt gasket after a service and burned the 3rd clutch. I rebuilt it myself. If you see one with a trans working properly, just service it and fix any leaks, then you’ll be good.
The 3.2 engines are adequate but not exciting. They have poor mileage but have no real vices. The 3.5s are a bit better in power but not in mileage, they came out in 98 along with a facelift on the Troopers. The 3.5s have a design defect of too little oil return drains on the piston skirt, leading to clogging and rings sticking, then higher consumption. This does not happen much if a good oil or the correct 10w-30 weight is used and changed regularly. I’ve corrected mine over time with use of ester oil additives and taken it from bad oil burning to acceptable, with it still continuing downward.
The model forum, planetisuzoo.com is a good bunch. I am a mod there and you can go there for advice and info. I have not been very active there lately and need to check in more regularly and help out, to be honest.
This is my SLX and I simply can’t bring myself to sell it. I’ve though many times about trading up to 100 LandCruiser or a good Jag-powered L322 Range Rover, but I just can’t part with the Trooper/SLX.
The late Trooper/SLX models have a distinctly different grille and that’s how you can know the year range and if you are looking at a 3.2 or 3.5, like this (98 with 3.5 and new front end). This is lifted ~2” so it may look a little different. There are really no differences between the SLX and the Trooper other than a slightly nicer interior - very slight.
I should also add this has 193k miles on it and with mild suspension mods and regular maintenance, runs and looks good, drives nicely. They are quality built vehicles on the higher-end of 90s / early 00s Japanese quality. If they had not been twisted into using the 4L30E instead of the Aisin the engineers wanted to use, they would be up there with 4Runners of the vintage in esteem (Isuzu was tied up with GM at the time and GM forced the 4L30E on them vs out-sourcing to Aisin/Toyota).