Delica totalled and other stories

[Jonnypeso]

I bought my first L300 last fall after my car was stolen in Vancouver. A blessing in disguise as I really wanted a Delica anyway. After some searching of the local dealers I settled on importing one through Shogo from Japanoid. Since it was my first foray into the world of the Delica, I had some trepidation and some learning to do, and the forum here was really helpful. I also can't say enough good things about Shogo, a man of integrity and a man of his word. I was pretty specific on what I wanted; L300, crystal lite, non smoking vehicle, low mileage, 7 seater, colour specific etc etc. We got lucky, and found one in about 3 weeks. It arrived 3 months later for me to drive away and for 5 months it was perfect - until an idiot kid ran a stop sign while texting and and t-boned me - totalled my vehicle, so sad.

So now I'm in the market again with the same specs. It's been harder finding what I want this time around - perhaps the best vehicles have been picked clean, or perhaps the tsunami has slowed the market down - I've checked out the dealers around, and a few of the private sellers. If anyone has any tips or recommendations please pass them along.

Thx!

[marsgal42]

How low is low mileage? And what colour did you have in mind?

...laura

[Mr. Pistachio]

Have you looked into the L400 models! These trucks are also very interesting and you never know, maybe you'll find what you want in that model!

Good luck with you search.

[nxski]

An automatic with those specs isn't too hard to find, standard is very difficult, I tried for 7 months with no success.

[jessef]

low mileage is not what you should be looking for.

the best Delica's (mechanically) are over 120-150,000 km's

Anything less than that, I don't even bother with as I know I'll have to dump a lot of cash in the near future which usually involves a top end rebuild at least.

Your specs are quite normal and there are many L300's in Canada that would match your description, same with over in Japan.

Sorry to hear about the accident. Never a good thing.

[TardisDeli]

You will be the envy of everyone on the road driving Sebastion Sasquatch-Hunter L300 with the exoskeleton, he just posted it for sale. Well maintained. Cheers, Christine.

[Profister]

low mileage is not what you should be looking for.

the best Delica's (mechanically) are over 120-150,000 km's

Jesse, with all my respect to your knowledge and experience I have to disagree. Tear and wear applies to everything in this world. A vehicle that was rolling for 150,000 km vs. an 8,000-km one cannot be in a better shape assuming that both were treated equally (the second number are taken from my friend's Pajero http://www.delica.ca/forum/hello-from-w ... ght=watson. Let's forget about lemons. If you are talking about rubber parts that are not good anymore because a vehicle was parked for an extensive period of time than yes, they need to be replaced. But I doubt that metal gets stronger being used non-stop for 15 years. My 69,000 km L400 was in a perfect shape mechanically and cosmetically when Mardy brought it from Japan and 20,000 km later it still is . In a couple of years I might consider selling it and it's mileage will still be within you preferable range. What would you buy from a local Delica owner considering both vehicles are in a good shape; a 150,000 km one or a 250,000 km one? I prefer a low km vehicle in a good shape vs. a high km one. This just makes sense.

[jessef]

My previous 250,000km+ L300 pulls harder, runs cooler and has the best compression out of all L300's I've owned and had the pleasure of driving/working on.

My 185,000km+ L400 is the same.

Both were in pristine shape inside and out when I received them because both were single owned since new in Japan, garage kept and serviced at regular intervals. Outside and inside cosmetically, they looked like a new Delica and were indistinguishable from a grade 4.5 sub 80,000km Delica you see coming from Japan.

Opinions vary but I'm speaking solely from a mechanical perspective. Two major factors : A consistently well driven and serviced Delica in the 100-200k range 'should' have a much better chance for longevity (engine/drivetrain) compared to a 10-80,000km Delica that has sat anywhere from 3-10 years without movement. Less coked carbon deposits on the internals and contaminated coolant sitting for years in the coolant passages, etc...

That's my personal preference and experience but with that said, I may have had the few exceptions to the rule as I've seen some gorgeous low mileage Delica's

Went off topic. Sorry OP.

[thedjjack]

low mileage vehicles maybe a fact that they never where driven far enough to warm up properly. Rings never got seated properly. Or it sat so long between running it rust built up on the cylinder wall.

I had a work truck with low low mileage on a ford 460 drank 2L of oil for every tank. It only had 80,000km over 15 years.

You cannot know for sure but too low mileage can have issues. especially if just driven in the city and not warmed up ever...

[konadog]

While I agree that low numbers don't mean a good machine, I also don't think it means a bad one either. I know my own bus came with a mere 64,000 on the clock and has been working fine for the past 3.5 years and close to 70,000 more clicks. There are lots of others out there with similar stories too. If I were looking for another deli I'd pretty much ignore the numbers and go with other indicators of condition.
Good luck on the hunt!

[FalcoColumbarius]

Similar Story (61,000 Km 3.5 Years & 77,000 Kms ago).

Falco.