NCV3 Rust? (newbie here!)

Hi Folks,

Newbie here. Please go easy on me!

My wife and I are getting ready to order a van for use in her freelance wardrobe, hair, and make-up styling business (for TV shows, commercials, print ads, etc etc). It will mostly be used to transport clothes and do make-up and hair when she is working outside of a studio.

We won't be putting many miles on it at all- we're mostly interested in the dramatic increase in the convenience of buying, organizing, and transporting clothing and other gear. Cherry on top is that I'm going to build some simple removable camping modules. It will also be awesome for transporting lumber, etc (I'm a avid hobbiest woodworker/furniture-maker).

We've picked all of the options we want and are getting pretty excited ($50k sticker shock aside).

However, I just started doing some due diligence (aka googling), and I'm disappointed to find so many people complaining about reliability, and in particular, low quality paint jobs. I'm reading about people with NCV3 vans that start showing rust only months after placing them into service. The most common scenario I'm seeing is hundreds of tiny specs of rust the size of pin heads. I see reports of this issue from people in the Pacific Northwest, where we generally do not salt our roads. Doubly disappointing is the lack of accountability the dealerships seem to take for the problem.

I know that angry people tend to be over-represented on the internet. I'm looking for real-life stories from you folks. Am I over-extrapolating this problem, or is this likely to happen to us?

I just can't stomach paying $50k (a significant premium over competing vans) only to have something as basic as rust from low quality paint.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Peter
Seattle

Paint is the least of your problems,read this board carefully,a lot of info in other problems,the transit and promaster will be stealing from mb sales as you say for50 k you should be getting a lot more for your money.

Sold my white 2010 last summer with no signs of rust.
Driving Sprinters since 1995 and worked on Sprinters for 5 years.
Still don't know what people cry about.

yeesh!

That's not good! I'll keep reading.

The decision to buy a competing van would be easier if they weren't so intolerably ugly.

The Nissan van looks like this dude from kid n' play... Quick poll, who wore it better?



EDIT: weird, I don't know why my image won't show up as an imbedded image... I'm using the IMG code...

Pierps said:

yeesh!

That's not good! I'll keep reading.

The decision to buy a competing van would be easier if they weren't so intolerably ugly.

The Nissan van looks like this dude from kid n' play... QUick poll, who wore it better?

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Guys
I don't consider the 906 or (NCV3) as its often referred to as being a rust bucket.
The stigma comes from the older 903/904 (T1N) models which did exhibit heavy rusting in areas like the windshield aperture however much if its woes were obviously made worse due to international CKD/PKD operations and practices prevalent during the Mopar days.

I see at least 4 Sprinter daily in my shop exhibiting all sorts of problems but overall rusting in the 906 is minimal. However do remember and don't lose sight of the fact that the van is a premium mass produced commercial vehicle and as such will show up body imperfections as the years go by of daily use.

At the moment I have a 2008 906 (NCV3) with 175,000 miles on it.
Out in the yard I have a similar one with 225,000 on it for sale. Both have obviously sat outside for most of their operational life. The former one has been used in construction/rehab in the Chicago area. (In short a builders van).
The cargo area has had the crap beaten out of it, the wheel covers are dented down onto the wheels on a bump stop and we had to break into it to open the cargo area. The owner bought it sight unseen--Fleebay --crazy boy!
That stated with all the abuse the paint in general is quite good with some rust bleeding on the leading door edges which would be expected.
So it is pretty clear to me that the body shell gets a good de-grease after initial construction is then chromated and phosphated before paint is applied .

Peter since you inquired please don't lose sight of the fact that the MB van structure & that includes the car platforms are very highly regarded as very safe crash worthy structures. In many frontal (side Tee bone ) collisions and rear enders the body is able to absorb impact collision with amazing resilience.
Just buy wisely stay off of Fleebay for vehicle purchases get an expert Sprinter familiar mechanic to look over any prospective purchase and you won't go wrong.
If there is any real concern from my perspective it would be the electrical system in the vehicle, a pity that's not so good as the overall mechanical /body build quality.
Cheers Dennis

I don't know what to think about the rust issue. My erstwhile T1N-based RV, after spending eight years outdoors, was totally rust-free (except for some minor bubbling around penetrations that were incompetently done by Airstream). Most Sprinters I see on the road seem great as well. But, every once in awhile, I see a Sprinter in the wild that is truly disgraceful, rust-wize. And, this was rust all over the place, not just around the windshield and door-edges. Maybe they were all T1Ns, but I am pretty sure that a lot of them were early NCV3s.

It has been suggested that only the base "Arctic White" vans had this problem. I have no data to contradict this. Does anyone have direct knowledge of a premium-paint Sprinter with serious rust? Also, there have been claims that Mercedes revamped their rustproofing process starting in 2014. I hope so. I guess time will tell.

Thanks guys.

I'm really torn now. It's difficult to decide. I read lots of very very negative comments every search I do related to reliability of these vans... much more than I see when I do similar searches for other premium vehicles. So I'm led to believe there really are problems here.

But sprinkled in there I also read comments like lindenengineering's- from techs who work on them every day. I've read reports from FEDEX techs who work exclusively on sprinters, who say they are extremely reliable despite maximum abuse.

Then I read comments from guys like jmgasior, who abhor the vans and consider them to be the worst purchase they've ever made. That said, I do get the sense that these unhappy customers are a highly outspoken minority who are naturally over-represented on the internet. jmgasior, that's not to diminish your negative experience- I believe all of your negative comments in your comment history.

I've owned Mercedes and BMWs in the past, and I know all about the tension between fit/finish/handling/technology and maintenance cost. For personal vehicles, I value those positive qualities more than the maintenance cost. I allow myself to get attached to my personal vehicles and so I end up spending more than the average owner on maintenance to take care of them. Part of me actually finds satisfaction in taking care of "my baby", as messed up as it sounds.

But this is a tool for a business. Cost effectiveness and reliability, as well as shrewd decision-making are factors we care far more about than the star on the grille, how it looks, luxury, etc. Let's all be honest- it's a dorky-looking van. I don't expect any romance, I expect the tool to work.

Without warranty claim data, this is really all just a crap shoot given the conflicting points of view. I feel stuck. $50k is a big deal to us. I'm thinking the mantra "where there's smoke, there's fire" applies here. The common negative sentiment toward this van is hard to ignore... So all else equal, I'm thinking it might make sense to just look elsewhere.

But I'm not exactly wowed by the alternatives. Ford Transit is new to the US and relatively untested, but has good reviews from what I've read. Less expensive too. The Nissan and Dodge have been so badly beaten with an ugly stick that I worry it would do damage to my wife's business's brand (mostly joking). They too are relatively untested.

My wife really wants the Sprinter, mostly because they are the best looking and create an up-scale perception.

Ugh. So torn here.

Pierps,
Driven and maintained correctly (yes, there are things you can do in the way you drive and maintain Sprinters that make them far more
reliable overall) Sprinter Vans can be 100% reliable!
I've had 5 of them (2 destroyed in Deer vs Sprinter high speed accidents) and they have never failed to get me where I
need to go.
I traded in one of them simply because I needed a longer cargo area, and the last one (2014) I got because I wanted all the new safety features, and they have proven to be worth every penny!
Reliability= 100% perfect.
Rust= never a problem!
I live on an island surrounded by salt water and occasionally have to drive through salt water puddles or
Atlantic Ocean overwash on the roads (water about 12" deep with small waves lapping across the road) so
if rust were a problem, I would have that problem. (You should see some of the older vehicles on the island).
So, get the Sprinter....establish a relationship with a good Sprinter commercial dealer and you should have no issues that the
new vehicle warranty won't take care of.
They will maintain it for you for probably less cost per mile than if you try to maintain it yourself.
Sprinter commercial dealers are all about keeping their customers vehicles "on the road" making $$.
Hope this helps,
Roger

What about this idea...

Be patient and buy a T1N cargo van in good shape. Have windows added and have it sandblasted, epoxy primed, and resprayed our color of choice (black). Add the gadgets we want (i.e., rear back-up camera).

This way, we'll have a vehicle with miles on it, which proves it's not a train wreck, we'll solve the paint problems that I keep reading about, and we'll spend less money in total.

Like I said, we're not going to put many miles on this thing. So I'm not worried about buying one with 150k+ miles if it checks out mechanically.

Thoughts?

On the rust issue, I saw a NCV3 the other day, a short, low roof, no glass, that had rust stains running down big time from the body side molding area, and what looked like bubbling at the bottom of the driver's door. This was an MB badged unit too.
Did look like it hadn't been washed since leaving Ladson SC. Really surprised me.....

Do yourself a favor and forget any Sorinter! Get a brand new Promaster for under $32k with everything you could want or need and bank the rest! You'll never regret it!

I love my rust, it is a feature, no anger here. Also love the coffee they serve at the Mercedes dealer while I am twiddling my thumbs at the dealer, going into the red for the day as I shell out the big bucks when I am done for my $4000 cup of coffee.

Wow, I have to say I'm pretty surprised to see so many unhappy owners on a sprinter enthusiast forum... Really not a good sign.

Pierps said:

Wow, I have to say I'm pretty surprised to see so many unhappy owners on a sprinter enthusiast forum... Really not a good sign.

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There are only like six of them. They are very vocal, though. Fairly typical for a list like this.

One gets used to them.

We downsized from a Class A two years ago. We looked at many options of gas/diesel, manufactures etc. we settled on a 2007 Sprinter conversion. It had 25,000 miles and was located in Florida. We now have 45,000 miles on it, no rust, and could not be happier. The van has been to Alaska, Death Valley, crisscrossed the USA several times, and has never broken down. I like Dennis's safety comments and Roger's reliability comments. Yes, the horror stories scare me on the Forum. Our experience, and I suspect many many others, has been outstanding. We have looked forward to being on the road each and every time. We hope this continues and with our belief in preventative maintenance, we expect it will.

You will, no doubt, make the right decision for your situation. Best wishes.

David

David
Glad to read a happy owner-- A happy camper no less!

In site of my "frown of MB wiring", we had one in today (2005 TT1N model and 300K on the clock with a burned up wiring engine harness and it was still running albeit in limp mode!
Even the fuel quantity solenoid was burnt to a crisp!
In 3.75 hours it was sporting a "new" engine harness and a fuel solenoid! T'was running like a champ anew!
Try beating that with a lot of the competition?
3.75 hours of shop time to change out the complete engine bay harness, soooh easy!
Like working on Sprinters I do!
Dennis

My experience and what I would do based on that:

Owned a 2003 a 2004 and a 2007

Loved the 2004 only sold it due to rust. Absolutely everyone in Vermont who I've talked to and have owned, or own say the biggest negative is the RUST. My vans never had major problems put 50K miles or better on 04 and 40K or more on 07 sold them both due to rust. I never could find a qualified troubleshooting mechanic in my area and for that reason if I go back to a van I would probably go the transit route with a known motor 3.7 or the ecoboost (that one scares me). Sprinters are definitely a love hate relationship, they bring a ton of positives to the table but also negatives that are so expensive which is hard to swallow on such an expensive van.

If I were to buy another sprinter it would be a 2006 lowboy 140WB painted from out west. Plan on driving it 2-3 years and sending it down the road.

Though I am starting to like the idea of a warranty, so a new van is very tempting, but there is no way in the world I am buying an emission filled diesel of any brand today. They don't have the engineering on the emission system right and for the premium fuel and upfront buying cost, it's not worth it.

Thats just my 2cents, and now I drive an 06 pre-emission chevy 3500 silverado Duramax, 4x4 seats 6 and carries all the same tools but it is 6 MPG less than my sprinter. Way simpler to work on.

Go out into the real world where Sprinters are used for fleet and service vehicles and can not compete with Fords and Chevy's that have over 300K on the clock. Go to http://hvac-talk.com and do a search for Sprinter and read all the real life reviews that they are nice when they are not in the shop comments, and expensive to repair. In this forum you get enthusiasts comments, not people that just own and drive a van for work.

OrioN said:

The resemblance is remarkable!!

View attachment 64789



View attachment 64790​

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That is a good one, for sure.
Probably makes me a snob, but I really like the MB star on mine... hey, but I'm German heritage and never have and never will own an American vehicle... but never say never?