Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

This is off another post but I thought it deserves it's own topic..

You can ignore the speedo readings on a lot of second hand Japanese cars. It has possibly been wound back on more than one occasion. The process is known in Japan as " Haircut ". This is done to avoid taxes on high Klm cars. EG.....I buy new car and keep it for 60,000ks. I get it wound back to 35,000ks. New owner drives it till 80,000ks and gets it wound back to 60,000ks, new owner drives it till 100,000ks and winds it back to 85,000ks so that Deli has 85,000ks on the speedo but has actually done 145,000ks instead of the 85,000ks on the speed. Also dealers in Australia, I am sure yours wouldn't do this, get them wound back before they are shipped. that is one of the reasons they wont want to show auction sheets. That and the fact that the "grade" my be low or non existent. We know this happens as we have members in Japan who can track particular cars. We have caught a couple of dealers, one in particular we have caught out a couple of times winding from 189,000ks back to 85,000 . That doesn't include the haircuts it had already had. That is why you see Delis with worn out timing chains (makes a chuffing noise) on car that have supposedly done 120,000 or what ever ks. A timing chain should last 400,000+ks. Do not believe people when they say " Japan is a small place so their cars don't do many Ks... I have seen quite a few Delicas and not just 15 year old ones with over 500,000ks. I saw one at TAU once with 700,000+ks on a 96 Delica which looked quite nice. To avoid detection they often don't service their cars as that makes it trackable as the ks are shown on documentation. It is an illegal practice. You need to look at pedal wear etc etc to try to determine usage. New pedal rubber is not a good sign.. Don't let this put you off buying an L400 as there are many genuine good Delicas for sale. Only buy from the southern island auctions as there is less chance of rust..They export 120,000 second hand cars a WEEK , that is 6 million a year. Hope you find a good one.. Cheers..

I have to disagree.
It is exceedingly rare for Japanese vehicles to roll back their mileage. The only reason people keep perpetuating this myth is because people don't believe that the Japanese could really drive so little. These people just don't understand the nature of vehicle ownership in Japan.
You just have to realize that people own vehicles in Japan for a completely different reason than they do in Canada or Australia. We buy vehicles for transportation, to get places, or to do activities. In Japan people have vehicles more as a status symbol, in any Japanese city you simply wouldn't even consider driving to the store to get something, never mind the fact that frequently you have to take transit just to get to where your vehicle is parked.
There is just simply nowhere to go. low mileage is the norm, there's no reason to roll back your odometer when you genuinely only do 5000km or less a year.
You shouldn't expect the Japanese to drive the same way we do in Canada or Australia, the country and culture are just simply that much different.

do you really believe japanese people buy cars for status? I'm sure they are just like everyone else and drive them to go to work, go shopping etc. have you ever watch the news and seen the 30-40klm traffic jams over holiday seasons on the expressways? seems like a strange way to have status by sitting in your car in a traffic jam. not everyone lives in the cities where public transport is easy and convenient.

delicabits wrote:do you really believe japanese people buy cars for status? I'm sure they are just like everyone else and drive them to go to work, go shopping etc.

You obviously do not understand Japan in the least, very few people would even consider driving to and from work, their transit system is amazing, and their roads suck.

If you want to believe that EVERY vehicle leaving Japan has been rolled back, feel free, but please don't perpetuate that ridiculous myth to everyone else.

You should also realize that we only buy the best vehicles from Japan here in Canada, we never see the ones that have 500,000km on them because nobody wants those ones in Canada.

Stiful wrote:This is off another post but I thought it deserves it's own topic.

There are four current threads going on the same topic and there are past discussions on the same topic.

You, delicafan and wetcoast seem to enjoy stirring the pot when it comes to importing yourself vs buying locally and false mileage complaints.

It's getting repetitive.

Green1 wrote:

delicabits wrote:do you really believe japanese people buy cars for status? I'm sure they are just like everyone else and drive them to go to work, go shopping etc.

You obviously do not understand Japan in the least, very few people would even consider driving to and from work, their transit system is amazing, and their roads suck.

If you want to believe that EVERY vehicle leaving Japan has been rolled back, feel free, but please don't perpetuate that ridiculous myth to everyone else.

You should also realize that we only buy the best vehicles from Japan here in Canada, we never see the ones that have 500,000km on them because nobody wants those ones in Canada.

when looking at maps of Japan they don't seem to have such a good transport system outside of the major cities. what part of japan did you live in that you know the roads are so bad? is it possible to put all the posts under one thread. does get a bit confusing jumping from one to the other. its hard to work out who has actually been or lived in japan and is talking first hand compared to those regurgitating from friends or what they have read about japan.

delicabits wrote:

Green1 wrote:

delicabits wrote:do you really believe japanese people buy cars for status? I'm sure they are just like everyone else and drive them to go to work, go shopping etc.

You obviously do not understand Japan in the least, very few people would even consider driving to and from work, their transit system is amazing, and their roads suck.

If you want to believe that EVERY vehicle leaving Japan has been rolled back, feel free, but please don't perpetuate that ridiculous myth to everyone else.

You should also realize that we only buy the best vehicles from Japan here in Canada, we never see the ones that have 500,000km on them because nobody wants those ones in Canada.

when looking at maps of Japan they don't seem to have such a good transport system outside of the major cities. what part of japan did you live in that you know the roads are so bad? is it possible to put all the posts under one thread. does get a bit confusing jumping from one to the other. its hard to work out who has actually been or lived in japan and is talking first hand compared to those regurgitating from friends or what they have read about japan.

To much wild speculation, theories and urban legends in these odometer threads. Creates confusion and makes people shy away from JDM vehicles.