In my younger years, I used to indulge in a lot of MMing about the ultimate vehicle, the one that encompassed all the following qualities: a compact van body, for maximum space utilization and camping; four wheel drive, to get away from it all; and a turbo-diesel engine, for maximum efficiency and good grunt. Obviously no one was hearing me, because no such vehicle really ever appeared. But other parts of the world were rolling in them; literally. And one has found its way to Eugene to taunt me. And it even has another quality I didn’t ask for: a vista roof, like those wonderful old sightseeing buses in the Alps.
This Space Gear reminds me what we’ve been missing for decades. Why were we deprived of choices like this? This is a cross between a Jeep and a mini-van, and given that we owned both, one Space Gear would have done the trick very nicely.
Let’s start with the basics: this is not a mini-van with AWD, like the Chrysler twins or such. The Delica is based on the underpinnings of the Pajero, and shares the 2835cc 4m40 diesel four, in this case turbocharged and intercooled, and making some 140 hp and a hefty 232 lb.ft. of torque at 2000 rpm.
And it’s got a Vista Cruiser-like raised roof with observation windows. Called “Crystal Lite Roof” in Mitsu-speak. Why is it that Japan is crawling with off-raod vehicles and AWD, when folks undoubtedly have very little use for them? Even the Scion xB was available in Japan with AWD (Toyota bB). And I’m taking my xB on rough back roads without the benefit of what the Japanese had to cruise Tokyo at night with.
There’s little surprise about the whereabouts of this cross-border visitor, as I hear BC is crawling with these. Lucky for them.
It is a bit narrow-bodied, which gives it a decidedly “Japanese” feel. Well, that of course leads to its one little shortcoming:
Right hand drive. I’m trying to imagine if I could get really comfortable with that. Maybe. Hey; if I can ride around in a drafty, noisy old pickup, why not a RHD van? Especially when it’s checked all the other boxes.
Love it. I’m still partial to the similar Toyotas [yes, they have turbodiesels, proper 4×4 rather than AWD, crazy roof options, etc].
The stinking 15 year import rule is killing us. Think of all the cool 1990s Hiace/Liteace/Townace or Delica models we could have had!!
So cool. Back when Nissan, Toyota and Mitsu were all peddling their cabover minivans, the Mitsu was the coolest, with its huge second row and swiveling seats. I think in a Pop Mechanics test, it also had the best performance, though that’s saying very little.
I think you’d get used to right hand drive. Also, love the “Crystal Lite” roof; perfect for the mom on the go.
Indeed, moms like Linda Evans (80s overload alert):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6pD2fdOpbI
Excellent stunt acting.
Latest generation 3.0 liter 4 cylinder workhorse diesels are around 200 hp.
Yes, the 2.8 diesel in this pictured vehicle is a low tech 92kw unit, but a fairly bulletproof one if maintained correctly… the engine prior to it was a different story (the 2476cc 4D56T, a 73kw/240nm engine). This engine had early tappet gear failure due to poor engineering design, and it took a major engineering modification (an approximate 30% increase in load bearing surface) to overcome. Even then it was an engine that depended upon strict observance of the 5,000km oil/filter replacement maintenance regimen. The later common rail engines are a huge improvement.. amazing torque and economy for their cubic displacement. So the government taxes the heck out of their use with specially elevated ACC levying and road user charges, making the use of modern petrol powered equivalents very attractive ..any petrol powered vehicle of over 3 litres that returns less than 9 litres per 100kms of fuel use is an equivalently economical vehicle to operate. That’s why I got rid of my Pajero (Montero) and use a 3497cc 6G74 petrol powered Mitsi instead. It gives me 8.9 litres per 100kms on relatively hard open road driving ..and minimal maintence ..and ‘cheap’ registration and a reduced ACC levy.
Once a vehicle turns forty it gets even better …the yearly registration of my ’69 VF is laughably cheap ..and it runs on rockgas lpg at an equally laughably cheap cost compared to both petrol and diesel fuel.
Diesel vehicles are on the other hand very expensive to run and maintain in this country.
Mine is cheap to run 5L/100kms speedo off I do all maintenance and repairs but of course it aint Japanese that helps with spares costs immensely.
More or less out of the blue the Nissan Patrol and Mitsubishi Pajero became popular in the early eighties. Yes, there were Land Rovers and Land Cruisers, but back then these were quite special and rare. Everybody who had a (heavy) trailer to tow suddenly wanted a Japanese diesel off-roader. The square Patrols (short or long wheelbase) with their mighty straight six diesel engines were the most popular. Pure off-road capabilities were less important.
Japanese off-roaders were very well-built, durable, reliable, came with big powerful diesel engines and had enough comfort to drive them all day long. Let’s say all the things other automakers (like Land Rover) couldn’t offer back then.
My brother-in-law had an ’82 Patrol LWB. Far too rusty to be remotely roadworthy now, so it’s used as the fencing vehicle on his large and steep farm. Despite the rust, it’s as tough as old nails, starts first time every time and has Land-Rover-equalling off-road abilities. I’ve been terrified numerous times about some of the farm terrain my BIL has driven me in it!
Yep, that’s the square model alright. I remember the 1984 Patrol LWB that my dad’s boss had very well. Silver metallic, blue striping, big white rims and a blue interior. IIRC it had a 3.3 liter straight six diesel.
It was a beast with the sound of a real truck and it towed heavy tandem axle trailers like no other vehicle we knew until then. Handling and comfort perfectly OK. For professional and daily towing jobs you either used a van or a Mercedes W123 diesel (Mostly the van was also a Mercedes). No other flavors till these Japanese off-roaders arrived.
Lol, my BIL’s is metallic silver with big white rims and blue interior… I don’t remember the colour of the stripes though. It’s a JDM model, has been in NZ since 1988. You’re right, it sounds like a real truck – so easy to drive though, my sister’s perfectly happy to drive it around the farm.
Hello . I am Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear Super Royal crystal light sun roof .I am fan.Do you have this Dream car today??? Where can i am buy Mitsubishi the same car like you???I am live in to Norway hu will help me to get this car to me in Norway.Have ask them some have sold Mitsubishi cars now and Mitsubishi Space Gear they told me is very exspensive to import over to me with transport to send car to Norway. Have you more informasion about your car? Do you know where i am cand find this ca in to sale?in Norway they have never sold this luxus car Long Weel Base to Norway wit ratt pedal consol steering in the left side.You dont know about are the eny cars some have ratt consol in left side?? Sold in Europa?
I drive a RHD vehicle every day for work (I’m a rural letter carrier). Believe me when I say after a week or two at most you’d be switching back and forth from LHD to RHD without even being aware of it. I’d say if you can find one, go for it!
I briefly drove a “wrong-side drive” vehicle on vacation once: On the island of St. John, standard American cars are used, but people drive on the other side of the road. It was disconcerting at first, but I was fine after a few days. I wouldn’t let it stand between me and my dream vehicle.
You may ask: why do they drive on the wrong side of the road in St. John? The best explanation I heard is that there are lots of narrow, cliff-side roads without guardrails. So you want to be able to precisely place your vehicle on the edge of the road when oncoming traffic forces you near the edge of the cliff. Since the driver is sitting on the “outside” of the road, it’s pretty easy to peek out the window and see how many spare fractions-of-an-inch you have.
I heard a different explanation from a relative in St. Thomas about why they drive on the left in the US Virgin Islands. When the US purchased the islands from Denmark in 1916, to prevent the Germans from using it as a U-boat base, the rules of the road for horses and motor vehicles had them using the left side of the road. The US never bothered to make the islands change the rules, and the islands government did not. So they still drive on the left, even though they are a U.S. territory and use US-market cars.
Like you, I found it surprisingly easy to adjust to driving on the wrong side with the wheel on the wrong side, but it helped that traffic moves so slowly on the islands’ narrow and twisting roads.
The Bahamas is the same way – keep to the left, but most of their cars are LHD. Might have something to do with being a former British colony, but being in the US orbit, economically and geographically (1 hr from Miami).
Italian heavy trucks used to be right hand drive in an otherwise left hand drive country so that the driver had a better view of the edge on mountain roads,
Very common in Aotearoa and quite popular, I do see lots of them for sale with engine problems but used ex Jap motors can be had cheap too. Nissan, Toyota et al also produce 4WD vans in this size too so take your pick.
I guess this Mitsubishi has (by far) the biggest engine ? Toyota 2.0 liter I assume, Nissan no idea.
Toyota make a 3.4 Nissan is up over 3.0 my sister and BIL bought a 3.? Mitsu Pajero to tow their caravan in Aussie, Jappas have grown in cubic capacity recently and have discovered common rail injection, they arent up to European levels of engine sophistication but they are getting there.
Those are all diesels ? That’s HUGE for such small vans.
The current Pajero has a 3.2 liter. As far as I know that’s the biggest 4 cylinder diesel available here.
The Mercedes Vito van (about the size of these Japanese vans) is available with a powerful 3.0 liter V6 diesel. But that’s a niche-vehicle/image-builder. Some years ago the Volkswagen Transporter had a 2.5 liter 5 cylinder, but the current model is only available with a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder diesel.
Nobody even considers buying a van with a gasoline engine, regardless its size. Heck, I’m pretty sure they don’t come with gasoline engines at all.
It’s worth noting that the Nissan and Toyota 4WD vans aren’t quite as suited to off-roading though, they lack the same ground clearance and heavy-duty underpinnings. I wouldn’t take one on much more challenging than a forestry road or the old Tukino Skified road.
Living near borders or driving near them sure results in some odd sighting. I have seen a few Tsurus as well as other exotic Mexican vehicles as well as 1990s Pontiac Tempests and other exotic Canadian vehicles. Then there are the mind blowing experiences of seeing European plated vehicles in rural Montana or the Gulf Coast.
Anyway, this Mitsubishi sure is cool though the year of manufacture eludes me. I assume this was not originally sold in Canada due to the right hand drive. The biggest hurdle of switching from RHD to LHD would be if the vehicles were stick shift. Most states do not have regular safety or state wide emissions testing so the 25 year import rule just comes off as silly despite the original intentions.
This vehicle is off the charts cool.
Lovin’ the John Deere steering wheel cover and the lei. Not sure who exactly is driving.
Also, is that a manual transfer case, or just a forward-backward 4×4 with no Low-range?
The earlier model in manual had a hi-lo box but this one seems automatic without it, the earlier Delica/L300 4WD van had quite good mud capabilities I used to drive one in the Tassie bush not much use on a hillside laterally but not as scary as they look all the weight is low down.
They have low range, and frequently centre diff lock too.
Go for it! You could then get a job in newspaper delivery or mail delivery.
The right hand drive is definitely survivable. In the 70s, one of my best friends owned a Jeep Dispatcher. At the same time he owned a 68 Cougar. He never complained of the frequent switch-up. I drove the Jeep from time to time as well and had no problem with it. It wasn’t like it could pass anything on a rural two lane highway, even if you had wanted to.
I just saw one of these last week on the 15 freeway here in Southern California from (you guessed it) British Columbia. The 15 is so great for car spotting considering it runs from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. Any way, it was a really windy day that day and I remember being really worried passing next to it thinking it would tip over on me considering how tall and skinny they are. Probably explains why the driver was going at least 15 mph below.
It could also be because the odometer is only km/h, not the dual mph/kmh found in vehicles bout for the North American market. You are kind of guessing all the time exactly how fast you are going in mph.
There’s like totally a lot of these on Vancouver Island, dude.
I wouldn’t say that British Columbia is crawling with these things, but occasionally you’ll trip over a Kei car or something similarly exotic…
Plus B-pillar located fuel filler, so the sliding door could be opened any time …
I used to run a left-hand-drive Citroen DS20 in London, UK – so the opposite of your concern. The only times sitting on the wrong side was a problem were (1) entering/leaving a parking lot or booth where you had to deal with tickets/tolls/etc, or (2) trying to overtake other cars on a two-lane road. I doubt the latter would be happening often in this case.
Drive-thrus might be an issue as well.
Still a very cool find.
Nothing illegal about going through in reverse.
I hadn’t thought of drive-thrus – they’re not a standard service in central London. But this looks as if you’d have to open the door to get down far enough to use it in any case.
I love these vans, and conveniently the rear seats fold down to make a fairly comfortable bed of sorts. I’d love to have one for camping duty……
Also Paul, in regards to “Why is it that Japan is crawling with off-road vehicles and AWD, when folks undoubtedly have very little use for them?”. Japan is a pretty rugged place, something like 70% of it is mountains, so despite the perception that it’s all endless cities and rice paddies there is a lot of wilderness out there to explore. I think that’s part of the popularity of 4×4’s over there. Of course, like a lot of countries just because there is a lot to explore, it doesn’t necessarily mean that any but a small fraction of the 4×4’s there actually get used offroad!
The AWD options on car based vehciles is a little different, and they are predominantly in the northern areas, which have very harsh winters, but I susupect that it’s perhaps not necesary, as you’ve alluded, but perhaps just a “nice thing to have” sort of situation?
Perhaps the popularity of AWD in northern Japan is due to space being at a premium, so storing a second set of tires for winter is more of a hardship than it might be here?
Or, similarly to Americans, they would rather have one vehicle that could “do it all” if necessary, even if it’s only necessary once a year.
Beat me to it there Styles – it’s definitely the Mountains. That and the Japanese predilection for popping up into said mountains for a few hours of a weekend.
Urban Japan is largely bordered by spectacularly beautiful, startlingly rugged countryside. Much of which is served by absurdly narrow winding roads and tracks along which locals and daytrippers alike thunder as if it were 6 lane blacktop.
After the (terrifying) experience of being driven – at speed – up into the mountains above Inuyama for a family barbeque, by my ex-pat buddy’s Japanese wife in her fat front-drive MINI, I can attest first hand to the strong appeal of, and justification for, narrow AWD cars in Japan!
Neat article. My stepdad had a 1986 Mitsubishi Delica van. I enjoyed everything about it, except that it had almost no traction to the rear.
When at the naval hospital in Yokosuka Japan I drove Pontiac and a Rambler ambulances. The left hand steering wheel never bothered me but the size in those narrow streets certainly did.
Paul, just about every time you post something Japanese I know I’m going to eat myself up wanting it. I have fallen for my 4runner but would trade in an instant. Thanks a lot, I’m going to have fits now.
Wow, what a find. I’d learn to drive on the wrong side (of the interior) any day to use one of these.
These and the square box L300 4×4 are almost as numerous as R32-34 Nissans and Toyota Soarers here in oz. Sorry Mike, that wasn’t intended to be a reply.
These became very popular as grey imports here, and for good reason. It’s hard to think of a vehicle that offers more versiitality than this. The JDM always kept the best stuff for themselves, and it’s the only foreign car market that I envy.
I’m a massive kei car fan, and importing something like a Suzuki Cappucino or a Honda Beat is on my bucket list.
There’s snow and some good skiing in Japan. I saw quite a few Subarus in the Nagano area.
Unfortunately, the 4wd version of the Delica was never offered here in the USA, nor was the turbo diesel engine.
I thought the Mitsubishi van sold here in the 80s did come in a 4WD version? I know the Toyota Van (Master Ace) did. The ones with a manual transmission even had a low range. I could very well be wrong about the Mitsu, though. I’ll have to look that up.
The Toyota Master Ace was available in the USA, although it wasn’t as fancy as the Japanese JDM versions. Unfortunately, the Mitsubishi was never available in the USA. I don’t know why it wasn’t.
Japan really does love the crap out of 4WD. Vehicles like this make perfect sense considering that Mitsubishi does a good chunk of their business in fairly rugged parts of the world, but all those 4WD kei cars? Is there even any kei car sold in the home market that doesn’t have a 4WD/AWD option available? Kinda silly, but in a totally awesome way.
I’d gladly put up with the wrong side steering to own this wonderful machine. So much cool stuff going on here. In the US, Japanese cars have become pragmatic and vanilla, but on their home turf they’re still partying like it’s 1975. What’s with the lamp post style mirror stuck to the rear glass? Is that some kind of parking aid? I do have to admit that if these were readily available in the US, people would probably be flipping them over left and right.
I often get lost in my mind “MMing” about similar “ideal vehicle”-type scenarios, too. One of them that I’ve been obsessed with for awhile now is a Honda Element that had been built by Subaru… in other words, the same exact body, but with a boxer four and Subie drivetrain; preferably with a 2-speed transfer case like the second generation Subarus were available with (and may still have elsewhere in the world). I like the regular Element well enough, but that would’ve been so much cooler!
I saw quite a few of the rear “wing” mirrors on vans in Japan; I’m pretty sure it’s so they can back into tight garages, alleys or other parking spaces easier.
That’s exactly what the mirror is for. Also, the antenna sticking up on the front bumper serves a similar function so one can get as close as possible when parking. I bet the owner has left this one in the up position, as most are motorized to retract and are illuminated at the top point. Now with sonar and backup cameras, both have mostly disappeared.
My parents’ 1985 Toyota Townace (aka Toyota Van in America) had one of those rear door mirrors, it was fantastic. Like a lot of the JDM vans it also has a round and convex mirror mounted on the front passenger side, perpendicular to the front of the van. The combined effect of both mirrors was supreme parking abilities.
If the RHD thing bugs you that much, you could always get a Hyundai Starex.
OK, so never mind about all its other awesome qualities, it’s called a Space Gear for goodness’ sake and it’s got a Crystal Lite roof, doesn’t get any cooler than that, right?!
I’ve seen a nearly identical Delica driving around Toronto on occasion.
On the plus side, parallel parking would be way easier. Not to mention fewer wheel scrapes.
I actually had the cargo-van version of one of these Delicas new as a company vehicle in 2004!
We never got the multi-seated Delica-badged version new in NZ, but of course approximately 35 million have arrived since as ex-JDM used imports. They’re getting on in years now though, so many have been and gone from our roads.
Both the cargo and passenger Delica were available in various wheelbases/heights/lengths. We only got the cargo-van version new here, badged ‘Mitsubishi L400’. It came only in rear-side-windowless form, with the longest wheel base and highest roof. They were RWD and powered by the 97kW 2.4litre petrol 4G64 engine, column-change auto.
I picked mine up on 16 March 2004, with just 12km on it (lowest mileage on any car I’ve had!). Features were limited to ABS, airbag, a/c and central locking; the variety of Delicas in wrecking yards allowed me to buy and fit Delica front carpet mats and cupholders to mine. My employers bought several L400s as company vehicles, having Mitsubishi NZ fit them with rear seats and windows in the sliding side door and in the steel side panel opposite. Unfortunately Mitsubishi didn’t mask the surrounding metalwork when cutting the holes, and the sparks left numerous burn-holes through the paint – so these burn holes began rusting within 6 months, completely unacceptable for a new vehicle…! They were also pretty useless load carriers, as despite being huge, the rear springs were too weak. Filling it with cases of drinks resulted in spectacular tail flop and dicey steering.
Mine was off the road for from December ’04 to Feb ’05. I was in a supermarket carpark on Christmas Eve, waiting to make a delivery when I noticed movement from my right. The carpark sloped from the supermarket doors to the road, about 5 rows of parks away. At the top of the slope was a Mitsubishi Lancer that was rolling back out of its park…the lane ahead of me was gridlocked so all I could do was sit and watch as the driverless Lancer rolled across the carpark, bouncing off two other cars and gathering speed as it accelerated towards my driver’s door! I braced myself for impact…at the last minute the car in front of me moved forward half a metre, allowing me to move forward enough to ensure the Lancer hit my L400 behind the driver’s door, which it dutifully did. It hit hard enough to twist the B-Pillar – the door catch still worked, but the gap between door and pillar was finger-width. Turned out the Lancer’s owner had left it in park but not set the handbrake. Something cause the pawl in the transmission to let go, hence the car’s driverless joyride. The van required a complete new side – the panel was one complete pressing from taillight to door. There were none available, hence the van being off road until Mitsubishi Japan could make and supply the pressing. It proved a VERY expensive lesson to the Lancer’s owner.
Anyway, the van was actually very nice to drive – excellent driving position, great visibility and great seats; the 2.4 was relatively punchy, and ride and handling were very good, all things considered. It was quiet for a cargo van too – considerably quieter than the Hyundai iLoad vans my employers replaced the L400s with a few years later. I only had it for 20 months, as I was promoted to a role that came with a car – so I waved farewell to the L400 and helloooo to my nice new Mazda6.
Of the vans my employer bought, there were two bought for my region with consecutive registration numbers (the VINs were 7 apart). Mine was BRZ632, and my workmate had BRZ631. I jumped on trademe to find a picture of a similar L400, and was surprised to find BRZ631 currently for sale! So if you want to see what my cargo-van Delica aka L400 was like, pop on over here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/mitsubishi/auction-723808356.htm
I think you should come to Chile, Paul. Here you can get a Delica Space Gear, just like the one you found, with LHD…
Used car imports are only allowed in the far north and south regions here, some kind of “help” for those regions for being so isolated. The problem is that no RHD cars can be registered here… so they had an idea… (see the picture!). No kidding! These guys “convert” thousands of cars from RHD to LHD. Quite wired to drive a LHD car with a column-mounted shifter at the left side and turn signal at the right side, just to mention some of the “issues” they have. But you can get used to that as well!
I’ve often looked at Chilean cars for sale on the internet and always wondered why they were all converted to LHD, so it’s good to learn the reason, thanks Gonzo! Because of my interest in RWD JDM Nissans, I’ve studied a lot of Skylines/Laurels in Chile that have been converted to LHD, and the widely varying standard of the conversions has both impressed and horrified me. A nuimber of converters seem to forget to turn the floor-shift auto trans lever around, so gear lever button remains on the left side, meaning it has to be operated with a little finger rather than a thumb.
Some older British cars (eg Jaguar 420G) had the column shifter mounted on the right even thought they were RHD. Regarding the turn signal being on the right, New Zealand is a RHD country, but many of the factory-RHD Europeans cars sold new here over the decades have LHD column stalks, so the turn signal is on the left. So if I see, for example, a Ford Transit coming towards me on a sunny day with the wipers on, I know the driver intended to indicate a turn lol! There are so many cars here with the indicators on the left that switching between them becomes very natural and something you don’t think about.
Paul has all the luck, the most unusual Canadian vehicle I’ve managed to find in Oregon so far was a Chevrolet Optra station wagon in Florence in 2010. For reference the Optra is a Canadian market rebadge of the ubiquitous Daewoo Lacetti which is now sold here as the Cruze.
I’m thinking that something like this with a little more length behind the seats would be great for hauling my family and their mountain bikes. Alternatively, how about a Ford Transit with a County Tractors 4×4 conversion? These were mostly RHD from the 80s, but could probably be converted.
Yes! Been waiting for this one.
I’ve never driven one of these, and see them very rarely, but good lord do I want one!
The 4×4 minivan with decent clearance is a lost submarket in the US–and with a diesel? No way. Add in the functional approach angle and the Delica is downright un’mericun!
According to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, there were 1400 Delicas registered in BC in 2013.
(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/news/industry-news/the-quirky-little-car-inspiring-an-automotive-backlash/article19800544/#dashboard/follows/)
Not sure if I just started noticing them or if there’s been a sudden influx in my Vancouver neighbourhood, but on a 3km bike ride to meet a friend for coffee last week I counted 4 of them parked on the street.
These cars are fairly popular in the Philippines, and yes! They come in left-hand drive. Do check out the funky “5-on-the-tree” transmission.
Greetings, Without going through too many contortions legally. Which used 4×4 minivan would you choose for country driving in California. Anything even close to a space gear?