delica mileage vs domestic

[Sybil_Disobedience]

Hello everyone,
So the time has come, my tahoe no longer has reverse and the brakes are going, in the last standing debates with my DSH we have come to the topic of mileage. I have done some research, when I get my delica it will be a family mobile with only some back road use so I have decided on gas over diesel, but I was wondering what kind of mileage they get on average, and I want to know from people who drive them. We have agreed that we are looking at the boxier body styles and not the newer spacegear body style. Also the other vans we are looking into are the dodge caravan model and some of the older toyota vans, and we have been smaller suv people up to this point. (Chev Tahoe, Ford Explorer with v6) So that's the comparison. I'm sorry to post this if there are already threads available. I have 3 small children and precious little time on my computer. Any info or links to previous threads would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much everyone!!!

[Morganizer]

Hi, not sure how helpful I can be, as I have an L300 diesel. I get 11L/100km, though I've been told that's high consumption, and I should be getting more like 8L/100km. Other owners report similar consumption here:

http://www.delica.ca/forum/mileage-1838.html

The advantage of the L300 is it has a 4cyl engine, and is boxy but small, so should get better milage than some of the North American SUV's. But the down side is it's heavy, so you're lugging all that 4WD chassis around everywhere you go. And being that these vehicles are all imported from Japan, you don't know how well the previous owner(s) treated it. You may own it for a while before you get it running as anticipated.

The other thing working in your favour is that the L300 is notoriously underpowered, which means you'll save fuel by not accelerating briskly (because frankly, you can't -- especially with 3 kids in the back.)

I'd highly recommend, if you can find one, get an L300 with double side doors, one on each side. The single door on the RHD is on the traffic side, not the curb side, and it will be safer wrangling 3 youngsters if you've got that curbside door.

[Yokohama]

USA spec L300 P04W (REAR WHEEL DRIVE), 4G64 SOHC (gas), 4-speed auto, 4.22 differential: average 21-24mpg highway at 50-60 MPH+/-, high teens+ city (in good tune, 87 octane, synthetic motor oil, conventional trans/diff fluid).

Note: clean distributor cap and rotor at regular intervals, use factory NGK Laser Platinum spark plugs.