I've generally tried not to listen too much to the "Sprinters suck because they cost so much to keep running" crowd on Sprinter-Forum, at least since I bought mine 3+ years ago. Yeah, there was the US$2000 for the Nox sensors last summer. And the stuff that was fixed under warranty but would have cost a fortune a bit later. And the US$3000 for something or other.
But this one tips me over the edge. We're currently stuck in Grenoble, France (hey, no complaints there! 75F, clear skies, snow covered Alps all around and spring thoroughly underway) waiting for the repairs to our 2010 2500 which will only cost us ...
EIGHT THOUSAND EURO
Not only did we suffer two catastrophic failures with the exhaust pathway (completely broken exhaust pipe right after the catalytic converter, and some other gasket-related nonsense near the exhaust outflow from the engine), but it also turns out that the turbocharger needs replacing (broken fan/turbine blade, scary).
And because they didn't order the new exhaust system (which is US specific) from Germany last Friday, when I authorized them to do so, we are now stuck here until Tuesday. The first few days were actually pretty lovely, and the expected repair cost was on the order of 2000 EU.
But now, include me in the crowd of Sprinter maintainance whiners and grumpy old bastards, because this is freakin' ridiculous. Five thousand (dollars/euros ... it's all about the same now anyway) for the parts alone for the exhaust system and the turbo?
That said, Dauphin Poids Lourds do have a friendly english speaking service guy, and have at least been reasonably good at communicating what is going on and managing expectations.
But this one tips me over the edge. We're currently stuck in Grenoble, France (hey, no complaints there! 75F, clear skies, snow covered Alps all around and spring thoroughly underway) waiting for the repairs to our 2010 2500 which will only cost us ...
EIGHT THOUSAND EURO
Not only did we suffer two catastrophic failures with the exhaust pathway (completely broken exhaust pipe right after the catalytic converter, and some other gasket-related nonsense near the exhaust outflow from the engine), but it also turns out that the turbocharger needs replacing (broken fan/turbine blade, scary).
And because they didn't order the new exhaust system (which is US specific) from Germany last Friday, when I authorized them to do so, we are now stuck here until Tuesday. The first few days were actually pretty lovely, and the expected repair cost was on the order of 2000 EU.
But now, include me in the crowd of Sprinter maintainance whiners and grumpy old bastards, because this is freakin' ridiculous. Five thousand (dollars/euros ... it's all about the same now anyway) for the parts alone for the exhaust system and the turbo?
That said, Dauphin Poids Lourds do have a friendly english speaking service guy, and have at least been reasonably good at communicating what is going on and managing expectations.