Viking7 wrote:Hi There,
I am not a Delica owner (yet), but I'm starting to get serious about getting one. I've been doing my research for quite some time now (and I find that this website is a treasure trove of information). I have a general question regarding the longevity of these vehicles, in particular the engine and transmission. My current '97 CR-V has well over 300k on the odometer, and will probably break 400k before it dies. I attribute that to my good maintenance practices as well as a good engine design. I have not however seen any high mileage Delica's out there at all - in fact the highest I have ever seen had only about 200k. I have also run across a few instances of people having to rebuild their engines at the 150k, which is strange to me because I thought diesels lasted forever.
My point is that if I take the plunge and buy a Delica, I really want it to last. It would be comforting to know that if I hold up my end of the bargain (ie, regular maintenance), that the engine and tranny would hold up theirs. Just wondering how much life I can hope to get from them.
Much thanks for anyone's thoughts on this.
Your fears of no long-distance vehicles coming out of Japan is a bit misplaced if you don't understand some of the factors at play in that country (compared to Canada and/or USA):
- -Japan is a smaller country and there aren't the distances to be covered like in Canada. We simply live further apart, further from work and we don't think much of driving those distances because we're used to it. As a consequence, our vehicles travel greater distances before the vehicle is replaced.
-due to the greater numbers of people and the shorter distances, transit is much more an option for most Japanese. Because we have all this space in our country, we have room to put our vehicles when we get to our destination, so we take our own mode of transport instead of using transit.
-due to government regulations and inspections, it becomes increasingly difficult (both mechanically and financially) for most Japanese to continue owning an older vehicle. It's a form of forced replacement towards purchasing a new vehicle.
-along with those regulations to ensure the viability of the vehicle, cost of insurance is a factor, and in some cases, insurance is based on availability of parking (i.e. you can't get insurance unless you can demonstrate you have somewhere to park the vehicle, at least this is what I've heard in some of the larger cities).
All of that taken into consideration means that the majority of vehicles we are seeing coming to our shores are going to have less distance on the odometer than similarly-aged NAMPOS.
Finally, after being on this forum for three years, the blown engines you hear about are mostly those that weren't maintained when the vehicle was imported, and/or the driver did not adjust their driving style to suit the vehicle's capability. Most North Americans are used to a vehicle that will accelerate from 0-100km/h in less than 10 seconds (5 would be preferable) and continue at speed up
Kootenay Pass with a full load of passengers while pulling a trailer - and our car industry has built us vehicles that will do that! We don't have a lot of diesels, for a variety of reasons (but that's another thread), so we're not used to driving them and when you drive a diesel like a gasoline vehicle, something's going to give (and it's usually the engine).
- I appreciate the experienced opinions and it has served to quell some of my fears (and reassure my understanding of diesel longevity). My current vehicle doesn't allow me to drive aggressive (it's pretty gutless), so I suspect stepping into a Delica wouldn't be much of an adjustment. I think the pyrometer idea is great to - I hadn't heard of these until I started lurking these forums.
