Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

The Pre-Title Sequence:

Big family (with 5 kids) driving home from Tofino, and minivan conks out for the second time in two months (same problem). Limp into Canadian Tire in Port Alberni, only to discover that the part needed is a $3 spring... and the closest one is in Edmonton. Seriously, they had to fly a $3 spring in from Alberta.


Act 1: Van Shopping

Look at vans while waiting in Nanaimo for our car to be fixed. Nothing seems "just right." All the same old boring minivan. Get back home to North Van and talk with friend visiting from Mexico. He moved his family down there to build houses for poor families on the Baja. He needs a skookum 4wd, and owns a Landcruiser. He tells us if he could do it again he would get a Hi Ace or a Delica. "What are those?" we naively ask. And the love affair begins (cue violins).


Act 2: Forget Van Shopping. Let's go JDM Shopping!

Finally. Something unique. Something that because it doesn't care if it's not cool, is actually cool. Pondering between Hi Ace and Delica. Like the Delica-look better, but really like the Hi Ace dealer. Kids like first Delica we drive (Exceed, I think), but it sold. They like the Hi Ace too, but it doesn't have back shoulder straps. Look at a Chamonix - not us (kids found the seats uncomfortable...). Look on-line at Super Exceed with karaoke (only in Japan can you go 4x4ing while the kids sing karaoke in the back), but don't trust importing on our own with our lack of knowledge. Keep doing our research and more and more like the idea of one of these vehicles.


Act 3: We Lock Eyes Across the Internet

Dealer (Japanoid - great guys!) emails us with a Delica still in Japan: 93 Exceed (darn, no karaoke ), 64,000km, Crystalite, etc. Get pictures and looks mint. It's the one. Japanoid works with us in our pickiness, desire for pristine car and engine, and price. Plus throws in some extras. Incredible - not like when we bought our last minivan. *cough* budget used cars *cough*


Act 4: To be written...

Yeah. It's still in Japan and won't be here and serviced until the end of May. Oh the pain.


Now i have to learn about diesels and delicas. Thank goodness for this forum. I've already become a Delica evangelist, and I don't even have one in my driveway yet. I'll upload some of the pics we were sent, if I can figure out how...

Oh, and hi everyone. Nice to meet you.

"Can I get a Deliiiicaaaaaaaa-a? Amen-a!"

"Can I get a praise Mitsubishiiiiii-a? Yes!"

"No more boring minivans-a! No!"

"Putting all the kids in the back-a! Loving the off-road capability-a, and the cool factor-a!"

"Please send money to support our missions in the darkest regions-a of the non-JDM-wilderness-a."

...okay, I'm done...

Oh, yes, and welcome to the group. Looking forward to seeing pictures of your ride when it gets here. How long?

mararmeisto wrote: Looking forward to seeing pictures of your ride when it gets here. How long?

Six weeks.

Those who get it...get it, and clearly....you've got it!
I've given up caring about convincing those that do not.
For me, it is everything you've mentioned and more in your post.
There is no longer any alternative for me...if Exceedus Maximus was to die an untimely demise tomorrow...I'd be on the phones to all the dealers working the best deal possible to replace my deli asap.

I'm currently on a business trip and rented a lovely Mazda 5 - great sporty little family car, but still doesn't hold a candle to what I get out of my Deli.

As I've posted before, even if the manufacturers came out with a model comparable - offering fuel economy (I know some will take issue with that...but I'm ok with the economy I get), offering true 4x4, with 7 or 8 passenger seating - they would still charge about 4X as much as what I could get a deli for in today's market....

For now...I'm at peace with the choice to drive a deli, and predict I'll be in the same place for years to come!

mararmeisto wrote:"Can I get a Deliiiicaaaaaaaa-a? Amen-a!"

"Can I get a praise Mitsubishiiiiii-a? Yes!"

"No more boring minivans-a! No!"

"Putting all the kids in the back-a! Loving the off-road capability-a, and the cool factor-a!"

"Please send money to support our missions in the darkest regions-a of the non-JDM-wilderness-a."

...okay, I'm done...

Oh, yes, and welcome to the group. Looking forward to seeing pictures of your ride when it gets here. How long?

Wow you must watch way to much Sunday morning TV!!!!

Here is a couple of photos from the dealer's scouts in Japan. Methinks it will need some new mud flaps. Note the 2 sets of sliding windows.

Is it just me, or are these huge fog lamps?


Skookum tail pipe

Methinks it will need some new mud flaps.

if you ever want to get rid of those, I'm sure there would be lots of takers... those mud-flaps are infinitely better than what comes with the vehicle, many people like to upgrade to the jaos ones, but finding them is a challenge.

Ya, if you don't want them, I'll buy them from you...

Update:

It was supposed to be on the May 7 boat, but after emailing Japanoid to get an update, we found out it's been bumped by new cars to the May 17 boat. Apparently (we didn't know this) RORO cars (roll on roll off) are controlled by the new car industry, so they get first dibs on boat space.

Are delays like this common?

It's obviously not Japanoid's fault (blame the folks buying new Mazdas and Nissans ), although clear communication wouldn't hurt. But we're disappointed because it means our delica won't be ready to drive away until early June. Don't know if we want to wait that long. We're trusting that our van will last that long (see first post). *sighs*

Are delays like this common?

very.

it isn't uncommon for RORO shipping to get bumped on every ship for 6 months or more...

I'm sure this is not what you wanted to hear, but this is what forced most importers to give up on RORO entirely just over a year ago and opt for container shipping instead.

Green1 wrote:it isn't uncommon for RORO shipping to get bumped on every ship for 6 months or more...

I'm sure this is not what you wanted to hear, but this is what forced most importers to give up on RORO entirely just over a year ago and opt for container shipping instead.

Oh dear.

So I asked about RORO vs container shipping. Delicas seem to be a little worse to container ship than kei cars because containers are 12m long and delicas are over 4m long (can't get enough on to make it viable, I guess).

Can't wait to stop being posers or "theoretical owners" and actually park a delica in our driveway! I can only look at so many pictures of our delica.

Hopefully they can get it on that boat.

I've learned from trial and error that when an importer/exporter says that it will be on X boat RORO, that I can only take their word once the boat has sailed.

Sadly, it's the way it is. Any used vehicle can be bumped.

Cross your fingers.

March/April were two good months for RORO shipping. Seems that there's a batch of new vehicles as of May. Heard it from two exporters.

If not, container ships pretty much on a weekly basis.

Jesse

Shogo emailed and said that they were told it should be boarding the boat in a few hours....

I hope I have a good update in a few hours.

I export forest products on the same RoRo ships that import those cars - our industry has converted about 75-95% container for the same reason of unreliability of service by not just the RoRo's but by bulk carriers in general. I could go into great detail about the agony not to mention cost my company and customers have incurred as a result of the so called "service" these vessel operators offer. Don't know anything about Deli's in container - but can say that the "bus service" they offer is far superior in reliability.
Best of luck.