Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi----I am new to the forum and the answer is probably buried in here somewhere but I would like some information.. I have only encountered one Delica out here in New Brunswick and it was brought in from B.C. We have an Outlander for a family car and a Ford F-150 for a work vehicle.

I would like to pick up a Delica to do up as a camper van.

I used to be a Subaru fan but when they went away from what I considered a real 4 wheel drive with a low range transfer case and started running an all wheel drive set up I found them disappointing for slow going in rough trail conditions.

The older Delicas I gather were standard transmission with a low range transfer case and what I would consider to be a real 4 wheel drive set up. The newer models I understand have gone over to an all wheel drive set up. Am I correct in this understanding or not ?

You are half-way correct.

Older (L300, toaster-on-wheels) models have 4wd with low range with NO centre differential. When in 4wd, the transfer case locks the front and rear driveshafts together. You have 3 modes of operation: 2wd, 4-hi and 4-low. Neither 4wd mode should be used on dry pavement.

Newer (L400, minivan-on-steroids) models have 4x4 with low range AND a centre differential, so you can lock the front and rear driveshafts together in low or high, AND you can run AWD-mode in high range. You end up with 4 modes of operation: 2wd, 4-hi, 4-low, and AWD. You can run AWD on dry pavement as much as you like.

This all gets complicated by the fact that mitsubishi calls AWD "4H" and 4-hi "4HLc" and 4-lo "4LLc", but the short answer is that the later vans are "real 4x4's" AND subaru-style AWD at the same time.