Pros and cons over a Delica or truck, (ford ranger,ect)

[Vanislanddeldude15]

Good morning Delica owners and fans.....im very new to this site and to the Delica world in general. I've had my eye on them for a few years, and when the opportunity presented itself, i jumped at the chance. I bought a lifted black 97 2nd gen diesel chamoix. I've had it for couple months now, but have been pondering giving it up for a Ranger or truck, and realize i possibly just dont know that much about them. I've added a nice sound system, new toyos, alarm and remote start and am in process of camperizing it . Looking for experienced owners to give me their opinion please on the pros and cons.....it has 125,000 kms on it, and not familiar with longevity of the 2.8Lt turbo diesel, or the van itself......and i guess the fact that it is 15 yrs old may slightly bother me as well......HELP....

[Feds]

Rangers are way better. If I were you I'd drop that Delica like it was hot. You know what, I feel so bad for you having purchased it that I'll take it off your hands for $2500, easily twice what it's worth.

Seriously, if you don't love the Delica, do get rid of it. It will cost more to own than a similar domestic pickup, and will probably require a little more care and attention.

That said, I've used mine to get to my cabin 5kms down an unplowed road with 18" of snow on it. I've towed my boat and my pop up camper hundreds of kms at a time, I've taken my family of 5 to Florida and back, I've rescued stuck cars, taken 6 nieces and nephews to otherwise inaccessible trail heads, carried a literal tonne of building supplies in it, etc, etc, etc.

It offers a combination of 4x4 capability and covered cargo/people hauling that is hard to match. If you don't need those things, or don't want to turn wrenches once in a while, then you definitely don't need to keep a Delica.

[Vanislanddeldude15]

Thanks for your reply and personal insight on owning a Delica ....I did however purchase it to do some remote campng, hiking, biking and wknd or longer/spontaneous getaways. I've always had big trucks, but like the thought of getting out of drivers seat and going back for for a siesta or on a whim just taking off somewhere. I guess what i was asking was about the 4x4 capability, reliability ect as opposed to the truck, again, i dont know much about them yet so thought i would throw the question out there for feed back from other owners who may have owned both. I'm not terribly concerned about passenger capability as i am about 4x4 abilty and reliability.....Man i hope this is making sense....lol....i do like it, just looking for the absolute answer, which may not exist...lol...Thank you for your input, it is appreciated......cheers all....

[Rattlenbang]

Honestly, North American trucks can't really hold a candle to Japanese when it comes to reliability. Individual makes and models can vary from year to year, but there's a reason that NA vehicles depreciate much faster than imports. You can't predict anything when it comes to individual vehicles (we are talking overall statistical trends), but a 15-yr-old Delica would likely be a lot more reliable than a 15-year-old Ford. But if you can buy a much newer Ford with the same money, and you're willing to do research, you could end up with a more reliable vehicle.

That does assume of course that reliability is your major concern. There are a great deal of vehicles out there that will beat a Delica in a specific category, be it payload, price, power, whatever, but a lot of people go for these vehicles because they have a unique combination of attributes, including the oddball factor. Rangers are invisible in a crowd, a Delica stands out; that is enough for many. A lot of guys went from VW buses to Delica for the same reason: we love unusual quirky vehicles that do things others can't. If that doesn't appeal, then there are probably other vehicles more suited.