1. Fuel Mileage varies substantially based on weather and other factor's. In heavy winds you will get about 9 if you are lucky. Over 10,000 miles I averaged 12 mph going 65-70 and up to 14 on flats or down hills going 50-55mph. This was lightly loaded with a bed rack and about 500lbs of stuff plus me. Winds dictated the MPH more than any other factors. in a 20 gallon tank, this means your range is Less than 300 miles. Add to this that the computer tells you that you are on reserve fuel with about 20% left in the tank and you start filling up a lot more than you thought. One frustrating this about this is the estimated range left goes away after a bit. Seems around less than 50 or so miles it won't tell you what the range remaining is, just States on reserve fuel. If you are in the middle of no where not knowing whether you have 12 or 24 miles left makes a huge difference.
2. Service:
A.) The oil Change intervals for the 2015 are set by the manufacturer at 20,000 miles. Most service reps I talked to did not know this, nor did they know that the 2015 requires a different oil than the 2014. ( need to add pics later)
The specification is for a 229.52, This is a specification that MB created. The 2014 used the 229.51. Right now, both are fully synthetic oils made by Mobile one in a 5W-40 grade.
So far, from what I can tell, I am the only one to reach 20,000 miles and it started burning oil around 16-17000 miles and needed to have oil added. Please buy this oil from your dealership and keep it in the Van lest you need it and can't get it say, over a trip on the 4th of July...
The 2015 takes 13.5 quarts of this custom oil and it has a custom oil filter that does not as of this writing have an or equal after market part available. The quotes for and oil change from San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas and St.Louis and North Carolina were all $185.00 and needed a few days to get me in so plan ahead.
B.) The sprinter is a small but growing portion of the MB Dealer world. Most Dealers charge 150.00+ per hour for thier technicians time and are quick to tell you about it. They are also willing to fight you on any costs they deem your fault, as they know what Diamer Vans/MB will or will not reimburse them for. This means that you will be on the hook if you do anything to the vehicle that they deem violates the warranty and since it is only valid 36,000 miles most of us will find ourselves getting stuck with this hourly rate after the warranty is up.
This becomes a huge issue as the number of trained sprinter Technicians in the whole country is than a a few hundred. Larger Dealers may have up to 4, but in my experience it is one guy who knows his stuff and several younger guys just out of sprinter school. After Speaking to Dave and others at Sprinterfest in Tualitin, I am royally scared of this. Since they don't know what they are doing and are only just now learning, it means the 2015 and 2016 models will be their schooling. So once out of warranty, we are footing the bill for them to figure out how to fix it, which often requires calls to Germany that have to happen during certain business hours, then Germany ships parts here, they try them out and see if the fix works. If not they start over and keep problem solving. Two of the more experienced tech's told me the guys in Germany are jerks who won't listen and in many cases if they go against what a factory Technician tells them what to do, even though they know it won't work they will get threatened with their job. Again, no big deal until you realize this weeks long process and hourly cost is going to cost you(just as it would me if my problems didn't happen in the first weeks of ownership). Some parts are kept in the US, but most of the 4x4 parts are not and it is so new they don't know what to stock.
The part that upsets me the most is I am out the vehicle, which is how I make my living and they won't give me a loaner car. So I have no way to get around, let alone make my living. Some dealers have a loaner program set up, but many times they are not 4x4 and do not have a tow package to haul a work trailer. Look into this if it is relevant to you.
C.) Rotate, Balance and Alignment/Tires
As you might imagine, this large of a vehicle requires special equipment. I was not able to find or learn of a specific schedule of rotations etc, most of the Sprinter Expediters told me they do it every 10,000 miles. Keep in mind these guys also drive up to 200,000 miles a year.
The size denotes that you will be stuck with a commercial truck company or dealer. Factor in this extra cost. I have yet to have a dealer offer me Lifetime Rotate and Balance led alone alignments, so this will be $200-$300 extra in costs every 10,000 miles. The rotation method is in the owners manual.
Tires- I can't say I have had any real issues with my Stock Continental's. Even in light off road use down country roads. That said, every expediter I have run across with serious miles on his vehicle, had Michelin LTX tires. For people who drive these things to 500K miles, That was a pretty strong endorsement for higher mileage folks.
D.) Windshield, expect chips and cracks relatively early and make sure your insurance covers this. The window is a magnate for this and if you are near the desert, Like Phoenix, it will happen daily.
GPS_ The GPS module is a small box about the size of a radar detector that fits in the glove box. Do not put anything in the glove box that will rattle around and can tap it while driving especially off road as it will knock the device lose and you will have to pull it out, push it back in and reset it. Whomever decided to put this here puzzles me. it needs to be better protected. Their is a black plate that goes in, don't lose this like my dealer did as you need it to install/remove this device for upgrades.
Antannae: Radio, GPS, Bluetooth, Keys
Your Antennae is extremely important. It services your keys, which is why you will note you cannot open the van with the fob from the side or back unless it is pointed towards the front. The antennae design is not protected and double redundant so if someone is not paying attention and they break it off in a car wash, at say your dealership, water will leak into the vehicle over the cabin lights. This will affect your gps, bluetooth microphone, Radio, and your ability to unlock and lock your van. I hope they fix this in future models as the repairs on mine didn't seem to take the the keys, radio and bluetooth only work intermittently.
HVAC- The HVAC system works well in the front, the class action law suit over the passenger vans made me not want one in the rear from MB. This however, is a very loud system, one that you cannot conduct a call on when you have the fan on high, so if you are driving down the road and a customer or family member calls with important info, you have to turn the fan down or off to hear them. Driving across the desert in California on I5 or Across Wyoming in the cold, this doesn't help keep the temps and it will get cold/hot quickly without it. The window simply allows in to much heat/cold too quickly.
Rear temps- The van itself can easily get up to 120 degrees in summer heat as lows a 93.
the metal becomes hot to the touch and while I have not been burned I did scald my fingers testing this both in San Diego and Raleigh North Carolina. The van needs to be insulated to avoid this and to keep the available carrying weight up, they sell it uninsulated except the for the passenger vans and from what I have heard those are not greatly insulated.
this means that at some point if you want to avoid the rear from over heating or over chilling the front cabin you will need to invest in some sort of insulation to help reduce the ambient air around the metal cabin from being influenced by the outside temps. I placed 5 temp/humidity monitors in the van. The cabin could be kept at 80 but the middle of the van would be 80-90 and the rear of the van over 100. When in Wyoming the day time was 72, and with winds, it dropped to 40 in the night, and the van took less than 1 hour to drop it's internal temp to 40 degrees. My plan was to add both insulation and rear AC. costs for this run from $12,000.00-18,000.00+
Lights, upgrade the lights and the fog lamps. Once you see it you will understand.
L track Load track, or Airline Cargo track. This is different from E track. I found Mackie Enterprises to be incredible helpful and have reasonable prices on all the accessories. Do not buy the Mercedes accessories as they are a complete rip off and often will not be in the van when you get it requiring someone to order it, then they try to charge you again for it, since it was not on the list of things they needed to get to you...
Rear Lighting- Maybe I have not found it yet, but in the cargo van their does not appear to be a way to turn on the lights in the rear of the van from the front. So if you are driving at night and something falls, and you want to see what it is, you need to be able to manually do it from the rear or open a door. Not super cool if your driving down the highway. Agian, just more money to fix this.
Factory back up Camera/Screen Resolution/GPS
The Factory back up Camera is mainly designed for tow attachments and is not wide enough angle to give you a rear view. Unlike many other manufacturers, they don't offer multiple view angles to help assist you in see what's behind you. The Screen is Small and the resolution is of low quality given todays aftermarket Standards. It can be nice when backing up, but when you consider you can get much higher quality in aftermarket wares for substantially less I would skip this option.
The Built in GPS was nice as it has the speed limit on the maps, but it frequently disconnected until I took everything out of the glove box. Also, it's traffic is no where near as good as google maps. Twice when my phone died or could not get a signal I was glad to have it. That said a 300.00 after market Garmin would have been better with higher resolution screen. Many dealers install high quality RV back up cameras with larger screens. This is typically a much better value.
Sound Proofing, As with any Large Metal Van body, you are going to get rattles and shakes, MB offers a paneling to help with this and everyone I have spoken with say it is pricey and covers only the minimums. This means that to have a reliable quiet ride (read not rattling like a tin can kicked down the road) you will need to install some sort of sound deadening in addition to and before the insulation.
Seat: The seats are all mechanically operated and while not terrible uncomfortable they are not in anyway luxury seats. Options recommended if you keep the factory seats is to get factory swivels and/or the compression air ride seats. I have been told you can have neither, and that you can get both. Depends on your sales rep. If you want something more luxurious, or akin to what you may be used to be driving you can pony up to $3500.00 for a Knoedler Extreme Low Ride Seat that can come with Compression Air-Ride, Swivel, heat, cooling, and lots of supports etc in custom configurations. I have seen some very expensive Sprinter rigs, and most just have recovered the existing seats. This is a serious and Genuine upgrade trickling down from big rigs for the expeditors who live in their vans 24/7.
The one most disturbing thing I have learned I wish I knew before hand, not one of the Expediters I have met would buy another Sprinter. Most of them take issue with the idling problem that ends up requiring an engine rebuild for 6K between 100 and 200,000 miles. and the complete and utter lack of care and service paid to them while such an expensive service was being done, costing them precious time on the road and money in thier pocket. One had just sold his sprinter and bought the Nissan but Stated it was a stupid good deal he could not pass up, but would not buy a nissan again. All of the rest seemed to be interested in the Ford Transit. When I opined they did not offer a 4 wheel drive option, they understood and stated that with the extra 10-15K in expensive maintenance plus money lost while it is being performed they bet I could get something that would work. After the 3rd Expediter said this, I realized if they are all having the same costly issues, then maybe it is time to look at Ford.
As I write this my van is in the shop again. I am not a fan of MB, Daimler Vans, or the reliability of my first Sprinter. I don't say this to jade you, just so you know where I am coming from. I would not buy another one after this experience. The way the problems have been handled is what upsets me the most. If they had taken care of the issues and me, it would be totally different.
My Van was sold to me with a Broken Antennae, which Caused leaks in the cabin and ruined the electronics. Their is a Known issue with the Suspension. At 1600-2000RPM it vibrates violently and causes the whole van to groan. They have been working on a fix and their attempts to date have failed.
Add to this, the Power Steering Went out on a mountain switch back and the inability to get oil when your van is burning it and you come away with a sour experience. I know many people have them and love them. I have yet to meet anyone who speaks of the van or the interiors by others highly after any length of ownership and the growth of the market is not returning customers so much as many people like me who wanted a 4X4 van for fun.
I can't speak to how Ford with do, but I know I will be able to get a least as ****ty service from them for much less money.
I will add more as it comes up, will add pictures soon. If you have questions message me.
