L400 about to hit tundra

[Siberia Delica]

I live and work in NW Siberia in a town right on the Arctic Circle. As a linguist studying a minority language here I had hoped to find something that could somehow both get my family around our town and get me out to visit people on the tundra and taiga as I learn their language and culture. After months of searching I found the perfect vehicle. DELICA!

How do we not have these in the States?!

I actually got it today, and without a lot of offroad experience, and with no experience whatsoever with a diesel, I'm looking forward to seeing what this site can help me do with this awesome vehicle.

[39Ronin]

Becasue we live in a consumer nation (North America)! Our governments (more so the US) have a vested interest in the amount of oil we consume, its about filling your vehicle as many times for the least amount of mileage. Consume, Consume and Consume it will keep the rich richer. Look at other markets in the world, Europe and Asia have numerous diesel options. North America hides behind the environment issue with diesels ect.. but they way we measure emissions is crazy. We measure % of particulate, that means an Escalade and a civic might show the same % of pollution. In Europe it is measured by parts per million and therefore a larger motor will show as a heavier polluter. We have a skewed view on needs and wants, do we need a vehicle that excels us from 0 -60 in 5 seconds... No! but we are made to belive we should have one. Enough of my rant.

[jrman]

[quote]How do we not have these in the States?!/quote]

I had the exact same reaction when I saw my first Deli in Japan in 1996. I could not figure out why such a vehicle would not be available in Canada, or anything even similar - they are a natural fit as proven by this e-community.

I didn't know anything about the 15 year rule for importing into Canada (25 for USA) - but had my deli in my driveway 2 weeks after seeing one here in Vancouver (actually - on Gambier Island...no paved roads there!). Haven't regretted the decision once....2.5 years later!

And rant away Ronin! Loving it.

[mararmeisto]

How do we not have these in the States?!

[rant ON]
Because the States is a VERY protectionist market, and as another poster stated very much driven (pardon the pun) by what the producers tell the purchasers they want to drive. Look at the HUMMER: a good part of the ad campaign for that vehicle touted that size=safety and made very little (if any) mention of the fact that the vehicle gets less than 10mpg (original HUMMER, but I don't imagine the H2 or H3 get that much better fuel economy). Carry that misrepresentation to any of the other NAMPOS SUVs or SUTs and you find the size=safety theme in nearly every campaign. Throw in the hybrid system so the greenies feel good about driving a monster, and everyone's happy. So much is this engrained into the American psyche now that when the SMART car was introduced a couple of years ago, practically no-one believed that the IIHS could award a car 'that small' a five-star crash safety rating. "I mean really, how could it be safe?"

The 25-yr rule in America was primarily intended to keep competing sports cars (mostly European) of the era off American roads, forcing consumers to purchase the muscle cars Detroit was pumping out at the time. What this lead to was a generation of consumers who bought big-blocked big cars that handled poorly (compared to their European counterparts), and it was only the oil crisis of the '70s which forced the market to think smaller and better. But instead of building their own small cars, the Datsuns and the Mitsubishis and the Toyotas were 'allowed' into the market, either under their own badge (in restricted numbers) or badged as a Detroit vehicle (a 'captive' import). The Dodge Colt is a good example of this: a very reliable car, being a Mitsubishi, that had the Dodge name on the grille and a slightly different interior than the Mitsubishi Galant of that time. The Ram D50 is another captive import: it's an L300 with a Dodge truck body on it! How many Ram D50s do you still see running around? Considering not many were sold, there's still quite a large percentage of them on the road (at least here in Canada anyway).

I've had a number of people ask me why I didn't buy a NAMPOS and I reply with: "Show me a 2.5 litre, diesel-engined 4 cylinder, 4x4 that seats seven people and gets 20+mpg (I can squeeze nearly 25mpg out of it if I drive conservatively)." They can't. Sure, it won't tow my grandmother's mobile home out of the park, but the Delica wasn't designed to do that. It was designed (I deduce) as a weekend getaway vehicle for a consumer that doesn't drive half the annual distances we do, on highways that have a speed limit of 80km/h, and who won't tow anything bigger than what we would call a motorcycle trailer.
[rant OFF]

But it suits us just fine, which is why we love them so much.

PS: We in Canada, while having slightly different vehicular needs/tastes, have been subjected to a lot of the same 'vehicular recommendations' by the automotive producers. But considering the size of our market is only comparable to that of the State of California, I doubt the Detroit 3 paid much attention to what we wanted.

PSS: In my nearly 25 years of vehicle ownership, I personally have NEVER bought a NAMPOS, although my wife has. I drove them because I had to, and pretty much disliked it every time I sat in the seat (honestly). Everything is in the 'wrong' spot from what I'm used to driving the imports all these years.