Sprinter 4x4--what can it handle? Service?

[skyrat]

Originally Posted by diver110

I like to drive a couple of trails near Ouray. One, if I recall correctly, is called the Last Dollar. Most of it you could do in a Civic, but there are always a few parts that are tougher. I am guessing the Sprinter would be fine there. There is another trail right out of Ouray. I have forgotten the name. Most of it is pretty easy, but there is an overhang at one point, and a pretty rocky finish up to a beautiful meadow/creek. Anyone know this one? I wonder how the Sprinter would do on it.

The road to Yankee Boy Basin has the overhang I was thinking of, seems low but I never measured either that or the tunnel above Telluride.
Has anyone here ever driven up that in a 4x4 Sprinter?

[diver110]

Originally Posted by skyrat

The road to Yankee Boy Basin has the overhang I was thinking of, seems low but I never measured either that or the tunnel above Telluride.
Has anyone here ever driven up that in a 4x4 Sprinter?

That is it. Yankee Boy Basin. I have not measured it either, but am skeptical the tall Sprinter would make it. It is also not exactly of uniform height.

[yelnam]

If you are considering a Sprinter 4x4, look also at the new Ford Transit with a Quigley or QuadVan 4x4 conversion. Potential benefits: better handling? Great gas engine, less expensive maintenance/repair, many more dealers in the road, real transfer case ... . Lots of info at fordtransitusaforum.com.

[diver110]

Originally Posted by yelnam

If you are considering a Sprinter 4x4, look also at the new Ford Transit with a Quigley or QuadVan 4x4 conversion. Potential benefits: better handling? Great gas engine, less expensive maintenance/repair, many more dealers in the road, real transfer case ... . Lots of info at fordtransitusaforum.com.

Thanks for the tip. Hadn't thought about it.

[Fitz]

I just thought I would post the first and last sentences from the 4 Wheel & Off Road article mentioned above.

First: " Perhaps the most unlikely candidate to ever enter our 4x4 of the Year competition, the Mercedes Sprinter was also the most surprising vehicle in our test."
Last: "...we were pleasantly surprised that a utility vehicle this size held its own in our test."

As for me, I'm looking forward to learning what it can do.

[skyrat]

Me too!
Very encouraging.

[Christopher Thwaites]

Thanks for this thread. Based on my changing needs and advancing age the 4wd Sprinter will likely take me anywhere I WANT to go. There were times when the SMB took me places where I shouldn't have gone...and brought me out!
Chris and Ruth

[Fitz]

Chris,
Our Sprinter should be home in the Bay Area by August or so. It's an easy drive to/from Santa Rosa, we will have to get together and you can look it over all you want!

[redrock]

Originally Posted by shenrie

imho, the driver is more important than the vehicle. in most instances, a good driver can get an unprepared vehicle further than a inexperienced driver can get fully equipped vehicle.

a really fast racer once told a group of us that this equation fit with most vehicles and i find myself repeating it often...



knowing your limits is also great advice, but following that sometimes robs you of experience.

places weve taken our civic has left more than one 4x4 owner scratching their head on how the hell that stupid little car got to where it was thankfully, weve yet to need their assistance getting said stupid car OUT of where they saw us, lol.

<-This.

A long time ago I had a Datsun 510 wagon that I took on many hundreds of miles of remote tracks. Occasionally I would get high centered. The car was light enough that a little jacking and putting a rock or two under a tire always got me free. I've since been on lots of stuff in my SMBs and Jeeps that the Datsun wouldn't have been able to do, but it was capable of a lot. Many people with 4WD rigs aren't comfortable with the stuff that the Datsun did.

I also did a bunch of remote 2-wheeling in a 1970 BMW 2800S. I went places that I've never been able to go in an SMB or Jeep, mostly because I couldn't take the beating from the harsh roads. The ride in the 2800S made them tolerable. I occasionally didn't have the traction to make it up somewhere I wanted to go, since I did have road tires on it. The biggest downside to the 2800S was that I spent a lot of the time worrying about tearing up my tires or whether I would throw a rock into my gas tank and dump all of my fuel. Neither of those things ever happened. Once I was at Racetrack in Death Valley late in the afternoon in that thing and I arranged with an older couple in an F150 that we would stick together for the return trip because of my tire/tank worries. But it was the F150 that ended up needing a tire change on the route back, even though it had pretty decent tires for the journey.

[WestyToSMB]

I'm trying to collect stories of 4x4 Sprinter off-pavement use, and this seems like the right place to post one I saw: it's from the Sprinter-source forum, and a newbie 4x4 driver took his brand new 4x4 Sprinter around the White Rim trail.

Here is a link to the interesting short story. User kjackson's post is #31 on page 4 of the thread. He then goes on to post a few pictures in post #33 of the same thread.
Has anyone honestly really romped on a 4x4? - Page 4 - Sprinter-Forum