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Anyone here have a Sprinter van?

From looking at different van builds on other sites, it appears that the transit is quickly rising to the top of the podium for that particular type of van. The Sprinter seems to have a lot of issues from what I've read, but then again it is the internet so....
 
After reading up on some of the problems MB is having in their Sprinters with the Bluetec engines, I'm now having second thoughts on buying one. Exhaust temps of 1800 degrees? Overly complicated exhaust/emissions system (to meet ridiculous gub'mint standards) that tend to fail? Exorbitantly high maintenance costs? Hundreds of dollars for an oil change? MB mechanics not wanting to touch them? Of all the reviews and information I read, there wasn't very many good remarks. Although the one I drove was by far the "tightest" feeling van I tested, I'm starting to think it might be a poor choice to buy one. Strange thing is, I bought an ML350 2 years ago for my wife and we've been pretty happy with it, although it is a gas engine....


Pm CliffB CliffB , I spoke to him Monday he was in Miami on the way to Kansas City so he may not be checking ODT regularly, I'm pretty sure they have a bunch some with 200-300k.
 
StuP, what problems did you have with them? And, by running a fleet, perhaps were some of the issues caused by the vans' drivers who drove them like they didn't have to pay for them?

There's some truth in that, they were used as commercial vehicles so were on the road all the time. We had mainly turbo, electrical and oil leak problems. A lot of these cropped up at higher miles, but some had problems by 80k.
 
All new diesels are stuck with the overly complicated emissions system due to the EPA. I would not even think of buying a van in this class without a diesel engine in it. RBM of Alpharetta has 2 techs that only work on the Sprinters, I have been pleased with their work so far.
 
I have used 2 different Mercedes sprinter vans for work. both diesels, one short 4x4 and one long bed 2wd. The long one can be a pain to park as it's too long for most parking spaces. neither had back up cameras or windows, so backing them is a challenge if you do happen to pull into a space and have to back out.

I drove them for about 2 years, total of maybe 30k miles? ran like a top, I think one has about 100k on it, the other maybe 40k now?

I took them into the local dealer that is a sprinter specialist (RBM on roswell road) and they were fine to deal with. Not the cheapest to get work done, but I wasn't paying for it and the company wanted factory service done on it.

IMHO if I bought one for personal use, I'd probably remove all the diesel emission hardware. particularly DPF delete. From talking to others that run them to high mileage, the biggest expenses are when the emissions hardware starts to fail. Other than that, there are some changes from year to year so some might be better than others, but overall with the ones we had for the company, we never had any issues with them and they were pretty much on the road all the time. I was a rep and covered from FL to TX, up into OK and back across to NC, so I did a lot of trips where I'd put 2-3k miles on it at a time.

Surprisingly nimble handling, decent acceleration (well, till you hit the limiter at 82mph but that was actually a good thing), and very comfortable to drive long distances.

As with most Euro brands I would probably try to find a good independent mechanic that knew sprinters and get to know him well. I've done that with most of my euro brand cars, especially if out of warranty. I'm sure there's a lot of sprinter specific stuff out there for a mechanic to know about.

I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
 
We have a 2006 with 365,000 miles that I love to drive. Gets 28 mpg and I can run to Orlando and back to Ocala on one tank of diesel. My truck would take 3 tanks to do the same trip.
We also have a 2012 that for the most part has done well. It is around 270,000 miles and would be in much better shape if my father did a better job of maintaining it. We did just have a manufacturer issue that would have been covered under warranty had we not surpassed the warranty 170,00 miles ago.
Lastly our 2014 has been pretty much trouble from day one. Some problems were manufacturer and some go back to maintenance.
With the Sprinters you have absolutely got to stay on top of maintenance and once something goes it is absolutely not cheap. Almost all maintenance needs to go through the dealer due to proprietary electronics that even "Sprinter repair facilities" are not capable of interfacing with.

Promaster would not even be a blip on my radar, Nissan also is not a serious competitor due to their lack of proper engine choices. I would like to add a Transit to our fleet to give Ford a shot. If you are doing high miles spend the extra $8,000 on the diesel. If this van will be a local runabout vehicle I would really be strongly considering a Transit with the ecoboost. Feel free to ask any specific questions about the vans if you'd like.
 
2006 SWB High Top Diesel
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2012 LWB High Top Diesel, 2014 LWB High Top Diesel
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As far as maneuverability, I parallel parked the 2014 in down town St Pete with no problem and it's a solid 20-22' long with no windows.
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I had a friend who owned a late 2000's model and loved it. He now has a 2015 and says because of all the mandated emissions equipment, he's always having problems and the fuel mileage is not nearly as favorable as the older one.
Because of all that I'm learning about these, and how the Transit is rapidly becoming the go-to for guys like me who don't pound out high miles, I'm seriously considering Ford now too.
 
I’ve got half a million miles in a Sprinter over 12 years and I’d try a transit eco boost next. The new power stroke may be fantastic but I don’t have any seat time in the transit to comment on that.
 
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