On the left, a 2011 Volkswagen Caddy 1.6 TDI. On the right, a 2000 Toyota Corolla E110 1.6 VVT-i. The little ol’ fellow in the middle is still holding its own, and is apparently not retired yet.
A third gen Mitsubishi L300 (Delica) with the 1.6 liter 4G32 gasoline engine. So what these three have in common, is the engine displacement, that’s about it.
I was surprised by the 1,075 kg (2,370 lbs) registered payload capacity of that classic, forward-control van. That’s a genuine, one-tons commercial vehicle.
Over the past decades, shiploads of these and comparable Japanese vans and light trucks must have been exported to Africa and the Middle East. Nice to see that this one is still around, alive and kicking, hauling farm machinery parts.
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The L300 dates from March 1994, so almost 27 years old. Not sure why you left that out Johannes 🙂
Well it’s age is clearly stated in the header, so no need to rub it in.
Errrrr yes of course. No idea why I did not notice that. Sorry Johannes
They were selling these all the way up until the mid 2010s here in NZ, so there’s still plenty of them around. Typically driven by tradies at the lower end of the market (these were always very cheap), so normally in pretty rough shape. They do seem to keep going though.
The last one we had here, was the 1994 4th gen, with the sloping front. Presently, Japanese and South Korean vans are not offered anymore.
What we have are the compact and mid-size Peugeot-Citroën-Toyota-Opel-Vauxhall vans and the mid-size Nissan NV300 and full-size Nissan NV400 (Renault Trafic and Master, respectively).
As an aside, the Mitsubishi Express (Australia and NZ) is a Renault Trafic…
Ditto for Australia,they sold these here almost unchanged for more than 20 years.
Yep, finally withdrawn from the Kiwi market in 2015. Still bucketloads of them around down my way! (Central North Island)
Until a few years ago there was an auto repair place near me that used a Mitsubishi Van (and I think they were just called Van in the US, not Delica or L300) as a parts runner. However, the shop lost its leased and moved elsewhere — and I haven’t seen a Mitsubishi Van since.
The passenger vans offered here had a luxuriously appointed interior, but even those were mighty rare.
The Mitsubishi Van, well, that’s exactly what it is.
Since the days of the Volkswagen Bus (also often spelled as the Volkswagenbus), the generic term here for a panel van is a bus. Or busje, for a small one.
The nicer 4×4 Delica vans are popular grey imports in the US for overlanders but I haven’t seen any of the basic cargo models here.