80,000km I am skeptical

[biggoolies]

Most of the delicas I noticed in Japan indicate they have around 80,000km. For a 1991 that is quite low as you know. Now either they don't drive there anywhere or all the spedometers are turned back. Anybody with insight on this?

[hutch]

Don't be skeptical with this mileage for this type of vehicle. Look at your auction report to see the remarks on the odometre tampering part. Vehicles that might have tampering are usually commercial transport trucks. I've got a vehicle coming in with 18,000km!! It was used on a golfcourse for instance. Imaging driving all your past 15 years on Saltspring Island?
Cheers,
Hutch

[surferboy]

I biggoolies, yes, i am also skeptical about that low mileage on most of those vehicles, but nobody on this site seems to be worried about it, i don't know if there is any way to tell if the odometre has been tampered with, i guess the general condition of the vehicle is the only indicator that shows what kind of mileage the thing should have on it and if the shown mileage makes sense.. as anybody bothered doing a compression test on these? a bad reading would not usually make a lot of sense on an old vehicle with really low k's... let surferboy know what you guys find out about that stuff!

[Green1]

keep in mind that driving is japan is very different from driving in Canada, you simply CAN'T put on the same mileage you get here, japan is very crowded with excellent public transit, owning a vehicle is a luxury and is not normal. people use these on the occasional weekend, and even then only for short trips, people don't commute by car, nor are there any long highway trips to take... as a result mileages on all japanese domestic market vehicles are very low. if the odometer has been tampered with (haven't heard of it yet) it should be marked on the auction sheet as those are very accurate and honest descriptions of the vehicles condition.

[BCDelica]

The two people I know well that lived and worked in Japan both owned vehicles, they said it was more of a North America habit then anything. The urban area's didn't promote driving, my brother in law for one said his walk to work took 20 minutes, but to drive took well over 30-40 minutes!

When I was looking for a second Delica I found two with 12,000 km or less!! A little old lady driving to church only on Sunday would put on more in fifteen years around here. One friend also said that a Delica in Japan is like a AMC Hummer is over here, big and uneconomical.

[hutch]

Like I said before, there is a checkover at the auctions and the odometre, specifically the dash removal, is checked by paint alignment on certain bolts/screws and if these are broken, the odometre could be suspect and this is put in the inspector's report. Does no one obtain their reports upon purchasing or do all on this sight purchase from importers here?
I didn't see any comment on this from others so maybe they just don't get my experienced input.
Besides, in the Middle East, that particular market doesn't really care about the mileage and that's where a majority of suitable cargo-carrying vehicles go to such as vans and pick-ups.
On that note, do people import vehicles on their own or buy locally? This would be an interesting statistic on this discussion group.

[argo]

If you talk to a Canadian retailer they will tell you as many as "80% of the ones sold at auction have the clocks rolled back".

I wonder why they would say that ?