Shopping Sprinters

[RampNOW]

I figure to join this forum and get opinions BEFORE I buy a Sprinter.

I have a business in Chicago and we drive 25,000- 30,000 miles per year. Of course the dealers say the Sprinter will last 500,000 miles and get 28 MPG. That sounds appealing. It seems the reality from lurking the forums is that the life expectancy is 100K at 18-21 MPG if you don't hammer the throttle. Is your experience better or worse?

When I saw that Chrysler had lifetime warranty on drivetrains I started seeing Sprinters in my sleep. I know now that the warrnaty does not apply to Sprinters so life expectancy and maintenance costs are important.

The things that we haul around are not exceptionally heavy but they are sometimes long. We currently use pick up trucks where are goods and tools are exposed to the weather and to passersby.

With the Sprinter, we could carry more inventory, so that we would have fewer trips to the warehouse to get extra parts and such.

For a cargo van, I believe we could use the 170. We frequently have a 3 man crew.

I am considering a 170" with 3.92 rear end, dual passenger seat, tow pkg., power outlet, xtra keys, power locks, bumper, cruise

What else do I need to have?
Are heated mirrors, heated windshield, Xenon lights, aux heater, engine heater necessary for Chicago winter? Aux A/C needed for summer?

Any feedback would be nice.

[anomaly]

I thought long and hard about whether to buy a Sprinter. I too was concerned about total cost of ownership. Clearly the replacement of the diesel particulate filter is a significant expense, and I heard that getting parts was sometimes a challenge.

I took the plunge anyway. Frankly I've not been thrilled with the performance/reliability/TCO of Ford and Chevy vehicles, and I figured it was a safe risk to try the Sprinter compared to those options.

Also, I have a friend who works for UPS. His comment about the Sprinter trucks that he drives? "They never break." An exaggeration for sure, but compared to the other options, not a bad assessment. Also he said that when he was a missionary in Romania, the orphanages would buy a used Sprinter shuttle bus from a hotel, after the van had 250K miles on it, and that would become the "reliable transport" for the orphanage.

My impression of large vehicles is "They cost" to purchase, to operate, to maintain - they just cost. My hope is that the Sprinter will cost less over the operational life of the van than the competition.

We'll see. Good luck finding the right transport for your company. I've had my Sprinter for about 6 weeks. So far I have not had any buyer's remorse.

Hope this helps.

[jdcaples]

I figure to join this forum and get opinions BEFORE I buy a Sprinter.

I have a business in Chicago and we drive 25,000- 30,000 miles per year. Of course the dealers say the Sprinter will last 500,000 miles and get 28 MPG. That sounds appealing. It seems the reality from lurking the forums is that the life expectancy is 100K at 18-21 MPG if you don't hammer the throttle. Is your experience better or worse?

When I saw that Chrysler had lifetime warranty on drivetrains I started seeing Sprinters in my sleep. I know now that the warrnaty does not apply to Sprinters so life expectancy and maintenance costs are important.

The things that we haul around are not exceptionally heavy but they are sometimes long. We currently use pick up trucks where are goods and tools are exposed to the weather and to passersby.

With the Sprinter, we could carry more inventory, so that we would have fewer trips to the warehouse to get extra parts and such.

For a cargo van, I believe we could use the 170. We frequently have a 3 man crew.

I am considering a 170" with 3.92 rear end, dual passenger seat, tow pkg., power outlet, xtra keys, power locks, bumper

What else do I need to have?
Are heated mirrors, heated windshield, Xenon lights, aux heater, engine heater necessary for Chicago winter? Aux A/C needed for summer?

Any feedback would be nice.

Greetings and Welcome!

My thoughts:

Regarding Reliability/Durability: Any vehicle is a risk; you pays your money and you takes your chances.

As for the average lifespan, we won't know how long the average North American NCV3 will stay on the road for a couple of years, in my opinion.

Across the globe, the Sprinter has a great track record for reliability.

Most trades/businesses in the Pacific North West retire their vehicles after five years of service. How long do you keep your pickups. I'd think you'd keep the Sprinter(s) at least as long. If your business name is on the side of the truck, you may be like a lot of businesses local to me: keep it looking nice and present a positive image... when the wear and weather make it hard to keep the vehicle presentable, dump it and get a new one.

As for the options:

Rear Axle: People seem happy with the 3.92 rear axle. No one seems to long for the 4.18 or regrets ordering the 3.92.

Some 4.18 drivers wish they had a 3.92 rear axle.

I haven't seen anyone say, "Fully loaded, I can barely make it up a 10% grade with the 4.18... I don't know how you people live with a 3.92."

No one's said, "Thank God for my 4.18. I wish I could have a GM 4.78 rear axle behind this v6 diesel engine!!!!"

Climate: This is personal. I hate the cold. I'd appreciate the heated seats, the heated mirrors, windows etc if I worked for you.

If I were a business owner, I'd ask my employees what they'd prefer (and I'd ask them to consider the economics of the situation because it would speak to my ability to keep the paychecks from bouncing).

A/C: I don't think you can buy a Sprinter w/o it. Climate control for payload area is job specific.... I didn't order heat or A/C for my cargo bay.

Do you need to keep things warm in transport? I mean, if you're carrying jugs of water in the winter, you might want to keep them from turning to ice.

You might want to reach out to Bandago either here or from a contact link on their website: http://www.bandago.com. They have a rental fleet and have probably seen all the ups and downs of Sprinters.


Good luck, man.

-Jon

[rsalejandro]

The lifetime warrenty does not apply to the Sprinter.