Sprinter Curious

[Taylor3633]

I am considering selling my extremely nice 2014 EB350 4x4 CCV and trying out a sprinter and I am looking for opinions, particularly on the reliability of the Sprinter platform.



A little background:


My current EB350 V10 is awesome, and I love it. I would say that the setup is a transformer which suits my needs very well. After taking a trip last week I started to analyze the actual use of my van and that led me to consider a Sprinter. I have realized that my family and I use the van predominantly for travel with a few overnights in fairly accessible spots. We often take trips that involve long highway drives and very little, if any, heavy offroad. I am interested in the Sprinter for fuel economy, highway comfort, and headroom. That said, the last thing I want to deal with is a maintenance nightmare as I live three hours away from the nearest MB dealer. I would love to hear you'alls opinions.


Thanks

[Grampswrx]

Keep in mind you cannot service the sprinter at anything but a sprinter dealer. Not just an MB dealer, but a sprinter dealer. If you are wanting good mileage, the diesel is the way to go and the diesel emissions systems are pretty reliable up to about 100k miles. Then when pieces start to fail, they are really expensive. My plumber buddy sold his sprinter at 120k miles after spending $18k in one year on maintenance. So get a warranty and live close to the sprinter dealer, and you are set. Otherwise, I would go Ford Transit, but the mileage will only be about 16-18.

[REF]

I’d keep and enjoy your current rig....especially living in MT(it’s in your sig), I don’t think you’d be happy with the Sprinter 4X4 system coming from a 4X4 converted Econoline.....just sayin

[jrobe]

I haven't had any problems with mine but you can service a Sprinter at any Freightliner Dealership. Do a search and you will see that there are lots of them. I even bought mine at my local Freightliner Dealer and brought it to Sportsmobile just to build a local relationship. My service facility is even open evenings, Saturdays and Sundays for the truckers. I get better service there than I get at my auto dealerships.

I would have considered a high top Ford Transit but it is probably the worst looking van I have ever seen and the medium top is too short. They definitely didn't design it for the RV industry. There is a reason that the majority of Sportsmobiles are now built on Sprinters.

https://freightliner.com/dealer-search/

[BroncoHauler]

Before committing either way, at least try to rent a Sprinter conversion for a week and see if it meets your needs.




Herb

[TomH]

You might consider buying one off a dealer's lot. I made my deposit to SMB in 2016 and there is still no Sprinter in sight at SMB West.

[86Scotty]

OP, you answered your own question. If you live 3 hours from the nearest Freightliner/MB/Sprinter dealer or mechanic then do yourself a favor and do NOT buy a Sprinter! They are not the maintenance free workhorses your old Ford is.

As noted above I would steer you towards a Transit. They are not perfect either but surely there is a Ford dealer closer.

The myth that you can fix anything on any new vehicle (Ford, Sprinter, whatever) in your driveway and keep going is just that, a myth. They are far too electronically advanced for shade tree mechanics. Your 2014 E350 was designed in the 80's and has been sorted and perfected for 30 years of production.

Good luck!

[sierraskier]

I am also curious, primarily for drive-ability and comfort. Meaning my v10 is extremely loud and drives like a 10K lbs tank. But I require good 4WD performance as I live in Tahoe. I do have a 4" lift which provide plenty of ground clearance but I rarely need it, as I'm very rarely (like only once) doing anything worse a bad fire-road/doubletrack. Curious on the maintenance comments and trade-offs.

[eddyturn]

You could do the Transit and have either Quigly or Quadvan do the conversion to 4x4 and always have Ford dealers around. I was hot for a Sprinter for a while and glad it never came in and canceled the order from the dealer. 3.5 - 4 hours to the closest Sprinter center in ABQ but they only have one technician and what if he quit? Then off to either Denver or Phoenix. Just too much to risk. Keeping the Bigly van. Hell, just did a 6600 mile road trip long way there and back to FL and it wasn't so bad driving that thing for that many miles. We had a hoot.

[rallypanam]

I was also Sprinter curious. Bought one, sold it a few months later. Thankfully kept my E350.