Sprinter as daily driver.

what best describes your Sprinter use?


  • Total voters
    989

asimba2

ourkaravan.com
I would drive my 4 cyl/7-speed 144 Sprinter every day if I weren't worried about it being stolen/vandalized at my crappy work location. It gets 24-27 MPG versus my daily-driver Toyota 4Runner that only gets 17 MPG. It's comfortable to drive, easy to maneuver, has a kitchen and is amazing to have when you've got kids involved in after-school activities/sports.
 

brianzig

New member
2005 170 3500 Sprinter has been my daily driver for the past two years. I'm a professional photographer/videographer and avid mountain biker. It's perfect for my daily needs.
 

EUG

Member
My 144 Passenger 3.0 has been my daily driver for about a month now. I'm using the Gas Log app and just averaged 19.1 mpg on my last fill up. That's almost all city driving and heating up the van with my S2 D2 every morning from 630-7am lol. My jeep Wrangler gets about 15 in mostly city driving. I can park anywhere I normally park with the Sprinter so it's hard to make an argument for driving the jeep. The only change I've needed to make is not going through drive-thru's. Getting into a nice and warm van when it's 40 out is a nice trade off.
 

GLJones

Active member
Instead of drive-thru, many places, including McDonalds, have a pick up parking area. Use their mobile app to order and when you arrive, park in the numbers spot and they bring it out. The nice part is, that spot is on the end 95% of the time where the van length isn't even an issue.
 

AV8R

New member
We use our Unity as a 50% driver, Honda Crosstour is other vehicle. Wife and I are both retired, Unity handles traffic well, easy to drive.
 

Axiom

Mike from Florida Van Man
I sold my ticking time bomb 2000 Sebring for a 2006 Sprinter 2500 HC. It's the 140" wheelbase with a standard roof making it a perfect daily driver. I find the engine much more pleasant to listen to and hearing the turbo spool is loads of fun, not to mention it is more practical and reliable than the car it replaced. There have only been a few instances where I wished I had a sedan instead. Florida is all about travel, so the small diesel engine that would sip power made the most sense to me.

As a kid, we had a few E150s and they were okay vans but didn't have the charm or economy the Sprinter does. Not to mention, my standard roof Sprinter is taller than the high top Ford vans we used to buy.

Seating position is second to none, being that high up and not seeing much of the bonnet is ideal IMO. The mirrors are also the best hands down, especially if you have the "towing" mirrors that you see into the other lanes around you.

I may actually have a hard time going back to a sedan (eventually I'd like to get a 300D or E320 CDI, the E320 is pretty rare here in Florida and the 300D's are starting to go up in price).

The Sprinter is used for both recreation and commercial needs.

PS I'm averaging 21-22mpg with 18" G-Class wheels. In a van with over 220k on the clock that drives better than the Sebring could ever hope to despite the Sebring only having 95k on the clock when I sold it.
 
Last edited:
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Deleted member 86082

Guest
I now use my sprinter as my daily driver. I decided to sell my v8 Touareg, which only used premium gasoline, simply for the fuel savings. We now have three diesels, Jetta, Ford f250 and the Sprinter and are loving it!!
 

Surfwagonmax

New member
How Many of you use your Sprinter as your primary mode of transportation? I am thinking about trading in my gas guzzling H2 but still have some reservations about driving the Sprinter everyday.


Im going to try and create a poll, hope it works...

-J
I had a 2018 Chevy Silverado HD 4x4 crew cab 6.5 ft bed gas. Fully inflated tires and with a roof rack on the camper shell I roughly got between 9-11 mpg around town and short trips on the hwy. On the long trips on the hwy I averaged between 12-17mpg (usually 14) depending if there was a surfboard on the top of the rack. Pretty poor mpg

I traded it in for a 2019 Sprinter 4x4 v6 diesel.
I Avereage around town 14-15mpg and on the hwy 18-20mpg. not bad for a huge vehicle with a 4" factory lift. I use this as my everyday driver. In the city its the best as you can see so far ahead for accident avoidance. The Sprinter has probably the BEST views out the windshield than any car or truck/suv I've driven. Get the Sprinter, dump the H2. You won't regret it unless you drive some serious off-road tracks on the daily.

hope this helps.
 

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