I’m tentatively on the market for a new to me vehicle and one of the vehicles I’m considering is a Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter. Looking at an 2003-2006, 118" or 140" wheelbase, which seems the best balance for fuel economy and purchase price. Mostly as a daily driver/surf vehicle with lockable board storage, but seriously thinking of making it into a low key camper too. It would also need to be able to carry children in the future.
So my questions: Can a 10’ longboard fit in the 118" (I know the bed is only 8 ft, not sure if it would fit between the front seats). I like the idea of the shorter/smaller vehicle, but it would be more limiting as a camper and people carrier. Unfortunately, the 118 isn’t sold anymore, so I can’t easily get a test drive/look at one (not many for sale in my area, I’ll probably have to drive a few hours to buy one).
Any Sprinter owners have any suggestions on what to look for, advantages/disadvantages of the different sizes (particularly for a surf van), buying a cargo vs passenger (regardless, I’m going to need a back seat for passengers). Thanks,
The 118 is a great vehicle for its size… I’ve done conversions on a couple of them and if I came across a decent one for sale I’d probably buy it, convert it and sell it… The wheelbase makes it great for city driving, yet a well designed rear cabin looses little to a 140…
I’m pretty sure you can get a 10"er inside a 118. … My 140 has about 11’ from the rear doors to the seat and I can easily get my 13’5" in there with room to spare…
I say find a basic shell of a van and fit it to your needs…
Do what ever you can to get one of the 118" Sprinter!!! Great mileage, turns on a dime parks anywhere!..plenty of room for mini RV and surf van.
I have had one for almost two years now and I would not change for anything! I can get my 12" SUP in by putting it on top of the passenger seat. Or my 10’6" LB in, on the floor on edge. Actually on edge (resting on the rail) I can get two to three boards inbetween the driver and passenger seats.
I’m slowly customizing it. Sound proofing, insulation, bench seat against the wall behind the driver that opens to a double bed. I’m now working on a 4’x1’ kitchen that will be back of the sliding side door/against the wall.
I get, on average, 30 + MPG!! I add 1/3 bottle of Advanced Desiel Treatment at every fill up.
Oh, ours is a 2004 high roof (stand up head room!). Make sure you find a GOOD/Experienced/specific Sprinter Mechanic! Not just a Mercedes/Dodge mechanic. I had to go to Phoenix to pick it up. The outside/inside looked great, it drove great. I made it home no problem…then it died. I knew of a Sprinter specialist and called him, had to tow it over there. He told us EVERYthing that was wrong, lack of maintenence mostly. He got the van running at minimum cost and over the next few months we fixed everything.
your website is da kine, what a wealth of info in there. Living here in Oregon, currently looking for a used sprinter for tooling around the states and Canada, your conversion threads have some great stuff.
Anyone care to share what they are paying for their used Sprinters and how many miles are on the Vans? I Have been toying with the idea of buying one. Doing a simple conversion.
$28,000 - too much but it LOOKS like new. My wife didn’t want me doing major work on it. If I could have done extra work, put windows in paint etc. I would have only paid $20,000
Mileage- 53,000 - a mechanic said this engine is certified to go 500,000 miles!
Paul— Your work; both your wooden boards and the Sprinter conversions is impeccable. You are a hell of a craftsman and I don’t suppose there is much you couldn’t do with those two hands that methodical brain and a Plan. My dream also; to own a Srinter. Lowel
I’m going for the Fiat Ducato/RAM Promaster. Over on their forum, guys are getting them under $30,000. Getting 19-22 mpg highway on GAS. A few former Sprinter guys buying them too. Guys are tired of the high cost to service and the hassles of a diesel by MB.
I test drove the new Promaster. It was peppy fast with that V6 Pentastar Chrylser engine. The FWD was awesome nice.
Artz------ Google sprinter van for sale. Several sites will come up. Two are the Truck Paper and the Truck Trader. Lots of them in all years, mileage and price range all over the U.S. Lowel
I’m new on Swaylocks, reader for years. I’ve got some info on the Sprinter. I used to work in a Mercedes Truck workshop when this model came. In europe this was the second generation Sprinter. This was an almost failure free model. I do not know what type of engine is in the US model. In Europe it was a 4 or 5 cyl. CDI engine from mercedes, model 611 or 612. In my experience the only things you could do to ruin this engine is wrong type of fuel or run the fueltank dry and start without bleeding (take out air) the fuelsystem. Big advantage is chaindistribution, no maintenance for first 180.000 Km. On gearbox and rearaxle MB says it is good for min. of 250.000 Km without any problems. Only the first series of Automatic Transmision Sprintshift gave some problems. Due to driver.
Maintenance costs are not higher than Fiat or any other. Only the workshoprate is the big difference. Overhere the engineparts are not more expensive than any other. I don’t krow is VW has the LT model in US. Mercedes and VW ran the same model those days, only difference was the engine.VW is some times cheaper on brakes, mirrors, etc. If you have the history of the van, if you can trust it, it is a really good infestment.
I hope Fiat in US is better. In Holland Fiat is not cheaper than an Mercedes because there a lot of other problems that drive up the costs.
number 1 problem, MB is rust bucket. Body starts rusting fast like Japanese car from 1970s. MB is shipped to US as kit. Reassembled here, poorly
Ford is doing demos of the new Transit to commercial accounts. Ford has presentation showing cost of parts at 1/3 of MB Sprinter. Ford is pushing hard to commercial accounts. They may kill off MB sales in US in 5 years. Unfortunately Ford mileage reports are poor so far.
When i read the posts on that forum, they are all recognizable.I can not deny any of them. Compared to US gas engines from GM or Ford they are way complicated. Funny thing is all European Diesel Common Rail engines use the same engineparts for the fuelsystem. Everything is made by Bosch.
Rust is an issue on all European vans. specialy White or light coloured cars, caused by that the factories are not allowed to use 2 component industrial paint on civil industry vehicles. Same problem on cars like Opel(GM), VW, Fiat. Only the French have it under control because they put a zinc coating on the bare plate material. We used to offer the customer to finish the van with a clear coat.
As mentiond in the other forum from the link is that most european RV are based on Fiat and Iveco is because the Cab-Chassis version is one of the cheapest models available. Price qualitlity on this vehicle is ok. We say an Italian car is an experience.
I can’t say you must buy sprinters because they are the best. We have a good dealer network in europe, quite some experience with these engines. I am a dieselmechanic/ maintenance engineer my self. Some engineproblems you can surch for hours when you rely only on the dealer diagnose tools. An inexperienced dealer can screw up your car and bankaccount completly.
We have two in our company that make min. 50.000 km a year without any problems I drive a VW T5 with a DSG gearbox. I have a lot of small breakdown, and a funny noise in the gearbox. Only made 120.000 km until now. I have had a chevy, i can write a book of horror with my experience. There are no good or bad cars.
Moss the Nissan gets very poor gas milage. i have talked to a couple of owners that Like the truck but hate the milage they get.
For what I have seen The Sprinters average about 23 MPG not bad for a truck/van I have also seen a few for sale That ned new engines. They seem to have about 250,000 miles on them Cost of a rebuild is not cheap. The prices are also all over the place. I have seen the same year and milage Vans that several thousand apart in price. Thats why I ask what people are really paying. I one case a 2006 144" MB Sprinter asking $19,500 about 85K miles another with about 100K miles they were asking $12,500.
Thanks for the comments everyone…as always, Paul brings substantial inspiration to the thread, I hope to follow in his footsteps when I find a vehicle.
Artz is right on…pricing seems to follow no rhyme or reason and has no connection to “book” values (e.g., Edmunds, which says a 2004-2006 with less than 100k should be about $6-8K; dealer/private party prices for the same vehicle spec around the LA area seem to be $16-25k), so it is hard to evaluate what is a “good deal”…
People also seem to have really variable fuel economy (in all the vehicles mentioned in this thread…the NVs Moss mentioned seem to range from 16-25+ mpg for the v6, Promasters 18-25, Sprinters 20-30), even in the same model vehicles–so it seems challenging to compare fuel economy numbers directly. My coworker drives an 03, 144" tall, typically 30-40 highway miles a day and says he averages 20-22mpg, better on road trips if he keeps it to 65mph. I’ve heard the 118" gets more like 22-26 mpg.
I’d love to hear more experiences from folks, positive and negative…and other suggestions as well (I hadn’t considered the Promaster, etc, and it is good to have options to evaluate).
Wow, thanks for the insight into why the Sprinters rust. A lot of us have been baffled about this. It all makes perfect sense now. The Sprinter body panels are made in Europe and shipped to US to avoid (what’s known as the chicken tax) on imports of trucks and vans. If sales volume of the Sprinter in the US were higher, they could build entirely in US, Canada, or Mexico, avoid the tax, and give us vans that don’t rust. The chicken tax was added to trucks and vans as revenge for tax on US “actual” chicken imports into Europe.
FYI, that’s why Fiat/Ram setup factory in Mexico for US import. No chicken tax between US and Mexico.
The guys over on the ProMaster forum often quote this guy for comparision shopping prices. 100 ProMaster’s with deep discount prices posted for all to see. Pretty cool. Lot’s for $29,800
The early ones have teething problems. Brake squeaks and suspension sqeaks. This fall it gets a face lift. A much nicer grill. I’m waiting on the new grill. The 2015 below
American mechanics and parts aren’t necessarily Apples or Oranges. You can get the Iveco Diesel(also a good engine) in the Dodge ProStar. Anjyone who’s ever owned a VW- BMW or a Mercedes car in this country has a pretty good idea what even an oil change at a dealship costs. May be cheaper in Stutgart, but in Tillamook, Oregon or even Salem, I don’t think so. Lowel
