Get Sprinter or GM camper? Please advise

Get Diesel Sprinter or GM gas camper? Please advise

I want to buy a class B camper and like your opinion about choosing a Mercedes Sprinter or a GM conversion van. My plan is to travel all over the US and maybe up to Alaska.
My concern is reliability, quality and available service in case of a breakdown.
I like the Sprinter campers better but worry about the quality of the engine and the lack of service stations. There are horrible stories about breakdowns, being towed long distance, waiting for parts and finding a good diesel mechanic. I believe the 3-liter Mercedes engine is small to push an 11,000-pound camper through mountains and long distance. This engine is turbo charged, after cooled and has to work pretty hard. I do understand diesel engines with high torque at low rpm vs. gas engines. It is always easy to find breakdown stories on the Internet, but I like to read about Sprinters with high mileages, few breakdowns and easy service. There are really not many Sprinter Dealers and service stations in the US.
The advantage of a GM camper like the Roadtrek is that there is a service station in almost every small town. The GM V8 engine has been reliable and it comes with a heavy-duty transmission. The gas camper takes more fuel than the Mercedes Diesel engine and I am sure that the Mercedes Sprinter Camper keeps a better resale value.
Any advice and help is very much appreciated.
Thanks, Gerhard

Based on this weeks national average fuel prices (3.68 gas- 3.90 diesel), and assuming you will get 13 mpg in the GM gasser and 18 in the Sprinter diesel..

For every 10,000 miles the Sprinter will save you around $660 in fuel costs.

The more miles you drive the more the Sprinter will save you fuel money, which might make you feel better if you do have issues.

If you find a GM with a Duramax...and drive/accelerate the same way you would in a Sprinter (ie at the same slower speeds), it will return similar MPG's...again if you keep your speed/acceleration under control.

Do both units cost the same to buy?

I just noticed you said class B....you can get 15-17mpg in a class B GM unless you drive like Johnny hot rod. You'll also get better than 18 in the Sprinter, likely 19-21mpg.

My 08 Sprinter has averaged about 20.3 mpg in 45,000 miles of driving. It is a conversion that weighs about 8000 lbs. or 500 under GVWR. I am sure the Sprinter would drive much better than the GM. It is a pleasure to drive. That said I would buy the GM or wait for the Ford Transit. Mercedes parts are expensive and there are very few service locations. The Sprinter diesel is very complicated with all kinds of add on stuff to meet smog requirements. I have decided to buy a gas engine in my next van since they are now simpler than a diesel. Driving down the coast of Oregon I passed many Ford dealers and no Mercedes dealers. Makes one think. Sprinter is designed to be serviced only by a limited number of Mercedes dealers who have the required mother computer to diagnose a problem. Sprinter is fine if you only drive within easy towing distance of a Sprinter dealer. Not so fine if you are wandering around the country.

I've driven mine 50k in all parts of N. America, including some pretty out of the way places, no except for hitting a deer, it has been all good. More power than you need, 20.5 mpg. Service might be an issues, I buy AAA platinum for RVs which give 200 miles of towing. Couple that with my regular insurance and I get a 300 mile radius. Very few places are 600 miles apart, even on the road to AK.

That said, most modern vehicles suffer from issues that are based on their high tech nature. I would trust the MB platform to be as reliable as any Ford or GM product(more so actually) but finding reliable service is an issue.

If you are buying new, you have the benefit of the warantee (I think which also includes towing) and if you are really worried you can spring for an extended warantee.

Icarus

The Sprinter also has an incredible sway control system that none of the other vans have. It makes driving a little bit more fun (less stressful) when you don't need to worry about wind and such with a large vehicle. There's good reasons they cost more.

Based on this weeks national average fuel prices (3.68 gas- 3.90 diesel), and assuming you will get 13 mpg in the GM gasser and 18 in the Sprinter diesel..
For every 10,000 miles the Sprinter will save you around $660 in fuel costs.

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Here in Seattle/Portland gasoline and diesel are (momentarily) about the same price: $3.99 per gallon (usually diesel is $0.50 more expensive).
So 10,000 miles would be (using piper's numbers) 770 gallons of gas, or 555 of diesel.
215 gallons difference, or $857

But: i would assume that it'd be easier to find service points for Ford/GM than for the Sprinter.
OR you could wait a half or full year and look into the Dodge RamPro and the Ford full-size Transit.

My suggestion is to *rent* an example of each... go out on the road and see how they feel.

--dick

Climbing steep grades might be an issue, but don't forget that a turbo-charged engine loses very little power at high altitudes, unlike a naturally-aspirated engine. I had a Dodge-based RV before the Sprinter. Any grade at altitude meant 25 mph.

I've had one issue outside the warranty period, a cracked turbo hose. Didn't stop the van from running and if I had been a little more vigilant, I probably would have caught it before it was a problem. Don't forget, Freightliner depots are common on major highways and most of them can service Sprinters.

david_42 said:

Climbing steep grades might be an issue, but don't forget that a turbo-charged engine loses very little power at high altitudes, unlike a naturally-aspirated engine. I had a Dodge-based RV before the Sprinter. Any grade at altitude meant 25 mph.

I've had one issue outside the warranty period, a cracked turbo hose. Didn't stop the van from running and if I had been a little more vigilant, I probably would have caught it before it was a problem. Don't forget, Freightliner depots are common on major highways and most of them can service Sprinters.

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Having recently crossed the US with our new Sprinter-chassis class c, right at gross weight, I will say it climbs fine! We roamed around a bit (5000 miles FL to CA...) including quite a few mountain roads, and crossing the Divide a couple times. As long as you are in the right gear, you won't have a problem climbing. I would go as far to say it has more climbing ability than the typical Ford V-10 class C chassis, based on our experiences with rentals over the years.

chromisdesigns said:

Having recently crossed the US with our new Sprinter-chassis class c, right at gross weight, I will say it climbs fine! We roamed around a bit (5000 miles FL to CA...) including quite a few mountain roads, and crossing the Divide a couple times. As long as you are in the right gear, you won't have a problem climbing. I would go as far to say it has more climbing ability than the typical Ford V-10 class C chassis, based on our experiences with rentals over the years.

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Agree^^^^^^^^^^^^

In class C form the Sprinter gets almost double the MPG as my Ford V-10 chassis(sold).

The V-10 would get 5 to 8.5 MPG depending on conditions and load.......

The Sprinter will get never ever get less than 11 with avg 13.6. with a range 11- 15.5. fully loaded with a trailer.

The Ford chassis was larger in width and length........and it handled like crap even in good weather and road surfaces. Wonder and loose steering feel from new........sold it before I did the caster mod that is suppose help those problems.

+1 on the climbing. in a very hilly area right now. it may not go 70 up the hill, but it sure won't quit, no matter how steep thehill . my loaded rv climbs any steepness like a champ.

You won't have any issues or do any damage trying to climb the mountains with a Sprinter. Just keep it at about 45mph at 28-3000 rpm, and you'll make it right up easily.
We've had 2 Sprinter RV's, one was a 2008 class C, and our new 2013 class B van. Admittedly the '13 runs way better than the 2008 did, which is because of the emissions changes allowed by the DEF fluid, (which by the way is no big deal at all, it's available about everywhere).
We previously had a class B Chevy van which while excellent in itself, was low on power, especially going up hills. Now we had a 2006, which was less powerful and had a 4 spd Hydramatic, vs today's 6spd HD Hydramatic, so that's a factor. We would not consider any Ford Econoline based RV because of the power and gas factor, not to mention the handling.
The worry about service locations is a valid one. That's part of the reason we have a road service plan that has unlimited mileage towing to a Sprinter capable garage. Freightliner stores that currently service Sprinters, can work on them, but not warranty work. For instance, I just found out last week that our only Sprinter dealer in the Kansas City area can't do a front end alignment on our long & tall Sprinter van because of length issues. It'll have to go to a Freightliner shop here.
We bought our second Sprinter RV about 3 months ago and really wouldn't have considered anything else at this time. The new Ford Transit and Ram Promaster will be smaller than the Sprinter. The Ram is wider by a few inches, but will only be equivalent lengthwise to the shorter 20' long Sprinter.

bobojay said:

The new Ford Transit and Ram Promaster will be smaller than the Sprinter.

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Do not think this is a correct statement.