Class C Sprinter questions

Congrats on finding the new MH you want.

ernie1 wrote:
To add and concur with what bob Nestor has said, my 2018 MB 3500 is not hardly trouble free and very pricey to repair and only if one can find a MB dealer that will actually service your Sprinter. Only certain dealers can service Sprinters and the usual wait is weeks before one can bring their vehicle in for service. Think long and hard abought having Sprinter troubles while you're on the road and have to wait weeks before you can get it serviced.

One of my key fobs quit working and Mercedes told me I'd have to wait until January 2023 before they MIGHT have a replacement. The key fob quit working August 2022! When and if the key fob arrives, it'll have to be programmed for two different functions and then the vehicle also needs to be programmed. Cost will be about $400. only a Mercedes dealer can perform these programs because they have the very expensive equipment and I think the info to do it is proprietary.

Sprinter parts are costly as is servicing. Examples are: $500 for front end alignment, $225 for a fuel filter, close to $200 in parts for an oil change, etc.

I want to add that after the service notification occurs for you to perform the A or B service (oil and filter change etc), it takes you 12 steps to undo the service notification that appears on your dash.

Having owned 2 Mercedes in the past (an E350 and my son's c300) what you state is definitely a concern. Great vehicles - until something goes wrong. Is the ride worth it? Is the general reliability worth it? in a passenger car I can say yes. In an RV it's definitely a concern. I do have friends with a Sprinter van conversion and have been cross country several times with really no issues.

I've driven gas class C's and the ride was rough. Arguably worse than my gas class A's and loud to boot, not to mention horrible mileage. But the drivetrain is bullet proof and easier to find parts and repairs. Is the Sprinter ride that much better to compensate for the risk?

To add and concur with what bob Nestor has said, my 2018 MB 3500 is not hardly trouble free and very pricey to repair and only if one can find a MB dealer that will actually service your Sprinter. Only certain dealers can service Sprinters and the usual wait is weeks before one can bring their vehicle in for service. Think long and hard abought having Sprinter troubles while you're on the road and have to wait weeks before you can get it serviced.

One of my key fobs quit working and Mercedes told me I'd have to wait until January 2023 before they MIGHT have a replacement. The key fob quit working August 2022! When and if the key fob arrives, it'll have to be programmed for two different functions and then the vehicle also needs to be programmed. Cost will be about $400. only a Mercedes dealer can perform these programs because they have the very expensive equipment and I think the info to do it is proprietary.

Sprinter parts are costly as is servicing. Examples are: $500 for front end alignment, $225 for a fuel filter, close to $200 in parts for an oil change, etc.

I want to add that after the service notification occurs for you to perform the A or B service (oil and filter change etc), it takes you 12 steps to undo the service notification that appears on your dash.

midnightsadie wrote:
well mines old now a 2006 sprinter LTV we,ve loved it from day one. couple little problems but a mom/pop shop on the road fixed. has 5cyc engine ,pulls my boat just fine.I,d buy another in a heart beat. look up leisure travel vans before you buy a different brand . they don,t build junk. nothing in our unit has gave us trouble. the frig one time but they didn,t build that.

I have a 2017 LTV on a 2016 Sprinter. It's been fairly trouble-free even though it's made two trips up the Alaska Highway and towed my 2-dr Jeep Wrangler both times. Pushing 70,000 miles on it with about 16 MPG overall. It's my first (and last diesel) and I'm not all that impressed with the Sprinter chassis - no complaints with the LTV coach though. Although it's been problem free for the most part, it's what I consider typical German Engineering - over-engineered, over-priced, over-complicated, high-end maintenance requirements and when it does break you need a team of PhD's to figure it out.

I hear commercial drivers complaining about emissions laws creating havoc in general. Talk to fleet mechanics . They are the one’s who know the vehicle in the wide-range perspective.

I agree LTV’s seem real nice.

well mines old now a 2006 sprinter LTV we,ve loved it from day one. couple little problems but a mom/pop shop on the road fixed. has 5cyc engine ,pulls my boat just fine.I,d buy another in a heart beat. look up leisure travel vans before you buy a different brand . they don,t build junk. nothing in our unit has gave us trouble. the frig one time but they didn,t build that.

cptqueeg wrote:
lack of range on standard tank(24.5gal), and the lack of dealers for service. We have a Winnie Revel based on a sprinter. It has 2 alternators, one squeals on startup, and CW and Benz are reluctant to even look at it. Getting the run around from dealerships and it's 200 miles each way for service. And it's still under warranty from both. SMH There is a Ford dealer 13 miles away.

^This
While Sprinters are generally regarded a reliable and VERY popular in the delivery and hospitality markets, what cptqueeq said is what our company equipment dept came to the conclusion of as well.
Although we didn't have a huge number of them, the cost of parts and availability of service was expensive and lacking.
Mercedes cornered the market with the only van like this 15 years ago or whenever and was the only way to get an efficient little diesel in a van for quite some time.
I wonder if not for the diesel, if they would have gained the popularity they seem to have in the industries.

It's easier to get seated in the EKKO driver/passenger seats by entering through the cab doors, than from the coach. The TV (if optioned) is mounted forward center over the cockpit, facing directly rearward, with no comfortable viewing position located in the coach. Another shortfall. The batwing awning is useless, IMO. We'd never use it. The space where the outdoor kitchen is stored makes a nice litter box storage area, as demoed in the FitRV video. I doubt we'd use the outdoor kitchen either, but that one's still under consideration, if we could afford one.
We'll keep our Sprinter for now. I've modded it to where it's comfortable for us, and it's already paid for. We get around 15mpg solo, 13mpg towing. Keeping the speed reasonable around 60mph, give or take.

I should mention that we will be looking at used. I have our budget around $80k or under. I think that puts us looking at units about 6 years old or older.

The one locally that caught my eye is a 2016 Forest River RV Sunseeker MBS 2400R. Priced at $79k with 23k miles. We like the floorplan.

Moving into a smaller C will be a shock in terms of interior room but the floorplan looks like it would work and it has a fair amount of storage compared to other sprinter based C's.

I hadn't considered fuel tank size. Coming from a 48 gal tank this would literally cut our range in half. But I am guessing it's probably far more nimble to get fuel than our truck and FW.

these numbers concern me a bit:
Hitch Weight 4200 lbs Gross Weight 11030 lbs
Cargo Weight 1100 lbs

Our CRV comes in about 3400lbs. and we have a supplemental brake system - actually ready brute elite bars with built in brakes.

Our biggest consideration is going back to the comforts of a motorhome vs FW and the ability to use everything en-route. But ride quality is also a primary concern. Our gas class A's rode awful no matter what we did. We also want something DW feels comfortable driving. She would never drive our Class A's or the truck/FW combo. She has driven a standard C and felt comfortable.

Get the Li and forget the genset. The 2nd alternator is all you need. The sellers of the Revel I got were going to have some changes done to the cockpit, like remounting the passenger seat. The husband was a portly little dude and he had trouble squeezing in and making himself comfortable.