Greetings.

[double-0-newb]

Lord help me.

I have this problem, see. I like odd, out-of-the-ordinary things.
I grew up with a 1972 Citroen DS-21 station wagon, just before Citroen left north america.
I owned a '91 Accord EX-r wagon....5 spd.
I have been doing Aikido now for 10 years.

You know. Odd.

And for some strange reason I am absolutely hooked on the idea of owning on of these awesome vans, which until this morning, I had no idea these vans even existed, and that a vibrant and established community existed in Canada.

That is all. Carry on. And thanks in advance.

[mararmeisto]

Have you seen any in the Montreal-area? Other than here on the forum, where have you seen Delicas? Elsewhere on the 'Net, maybe?

[double-0-newb]

Hi mararmeisto.

I do not recall seeing any in MTL, but was made aware of small, AWD vans during a visit to Japan in '02.
Fast forward to now, and after a colleague at work showed me a AWD Yaris, I remembered the vans; so together we went looking for sites I had seen before (http://www.japan-partner.com/ etc)...which brought me to this site.

Just got word from the other partner (i.e. The Wife); not too interested in owning another older Japanese vehicle. That was a rocket and a blast to drive, but I was naive when I bought that thing...and least I like to think I am no longer that naive.

[mararmeisto]

Well, I can assure you these ain't rockets, but they are fun to drive.

[Erebus]

... the other partner (i.e. The Wife); not too interested in owning another older Japanese vehicle.

See if you can find one to take a test drive in. That might go a long long way to convincing her.

[mararmeisto]

... the other partner (i.e. The Wife); not too interested in owning another older Japanese vehicle.

See if you can find one to take a test drive in. That might go a long long way to convincing her.

Ya, here's a plan (my wife suggested it): fly out here to the Coast (the Left Coast that is), buy a Delica, drive it home to Montreal. There you go - your summer adventure, and the wife has the opportunity to familiarise herself with the unrocketlikeness of these vehicles. Tell her it's the honeymoon you never took, tell her you want to spend more time with her in close quarters, tell her you want to see the majestic beauty of the Rockies, whatever will get her onto that plane, but if the pickings are that slim out there, you gotta come out here!

(All of the above spoken in the exaggerated announcer voice of a television sales ad. )

[Erebus]

Ya, here's a plan (my wife suggested it): fly out here to the Coast (the Left Coast that is), buy a Delica, drive it home to Montreal.

And stop in and visit Delica owners enroute home, so your SO see that only wonderful people own Delicas

You could probably even charge all the Delica owners here on the forum who are scattered across the country a small fee for delivering parts from the Left Coast.

In addition, you could give us ex-Montrealers a dose of nostalgia, which would cause us all the move back and help create a vibrant Montreal Delica community.

See all the good things you could do by doing this? But no presssure

[ghmorris]

We're doing exactly that.

Will be on the Island starting the 19th of March, start driving back around 1 April, and should be home just north of Toronto before the 16th.

I guess we're about to find out for real if 5 Star/CC Autos really does know what they are doing refurbishing Delis. The adventure is about to begin!

Fortunately my wife has a terrific sense of humour. (and I suspect she's going to need it.)

I will report on the trials, tribulations and good times encountered on the path.

George

[mararmeisto]

We're doing exactly that.

Will be on the Island starting the 19th of March, start driving back around 1 April, and should be home just north of Toronto before the 16th.

I guess we're about to find out for real if 5 Star/CC Autos really does know what they are doing refurbishing Delis. The adventure is about to begin!

Fortunately my wife has a terrific sense of humour. (and I suspect she's going to need it.)

I will report on the trials, tribulations and good times encountered on the path.

George

Having driven trans-continental four times in the course of my naval career, you're right... she's going to need that sense of humour. That aside, it is a wonderful trip, especially if you're taking the time to make it interesting: although I usually dipped south of the border to make good time, once I drove entirely through Canada (just to say I had) and it was really something to see all the provinces along the way (Ontario is huge because you have to drive through most of it to get east-west). Only places I haven't been are the Rock (Newfoundland & Labrador) and the Territories (someday).

Why did you pick 5Star/ccautos? Just because of the reviews? If so, WOW! That alone would be testament to what has been going out here in our neck of the woods.

[ghmorris]

Yup, forum concensus recommendation did the trick. Have spent lots of time on the phone since with Jack and Glen. Very impressed with their depth of knowledge. Needed to be someone on the island as we are going to be in Sidney for my Mum's 90th anyway.

I'm also very impressed with Mardy's participation and knowledge.

Its amazing just how big an impression you can generate for good or bad through your presence on the net. (Just had to throw that in being an ISP! )

I've done the trans-Can trip three times so far, once through Canada and twice through the States. I'm ex-Navy and did a couple of inter-coastal transfers by car.

George

[jwfchase]

Well George, look us up if you're stopping in Kamloops.

Jamie

[double-0-newb]

Sorry for not posting back sooner.

Funny, up until recently the SO and I had been discussing getting a newer car, as well as something we enjoyed driving a little more (our base V70 is very, umm, competent, just not a lot of fun to drive). We had equated that with a little more zip, not neccesarily power, just peppy. Now that I see how much fun these things must be to drive, I am re-evaluating what "fun" really means.

Now of course I can bring up the whole WVO angle, which appeals to her landscape architecture sensibilities of moving away from fossil-fuel based living (we are in the heart of the city, but she was raised in the 'burbs).

ghmorris: do keep us posted. Perhaps next time I visit my dad in Oakville we can stop in and say hi and take a first-hand look at your new baby.

General question to everyone: what is the maximum comfortable highway cruising speed you run at?

[jwfchase]

General question to everyone: what is the maximum comfortable highway cruising speed you run at?

Ours gets to 100km/h no problem. Given a flat highway, no headwind, and about 1 minute it'll reach 110. Given the same conditions and about a further 2 minutes, it'll be roaring at 122km/h. By that point the wind noise is unbearable and you can see the fuel gauge dropping, so back down to a happy 100km/h we go!

[Erebus]

Mine (auto tranny) has no problem getting to 130 on level ground. Have to watch the gauges to keep to a reasonable speed. Doesn't exactly do it in 7 seconds, but then this makes it easy for my brain to keep up

[marsgal42]

My usual freeway cruising speed is about 105. At this speed a number of resonances come together and Gumdrop sounds just like a Greyhound bus.

The straight-line performance reminds me of an air-cooled VW. I haven't measured it, but would estimate 0 to 100 klicks in 15 seconds or so. Ample for traffic and freeway use, in other words, but no speed demon.

...laura