Towing capacity of Sprinter motorhome
My wife and I are evaluating the purchase of a 2015 Winnebago View or Itasca Navion 24J. They in essence are the same motorhome except for color schemes. We previously full-timed for two years in ...
Forum Discussion
Well Desert Captain, it's pretty hard to debate a moving target. You first asserted that none of the Sprinter owners are satisfied with towing. When a few Sprinter owners contradicted that, the subject changed to the consequences of tying up traffic. After I responded to that the subject changed to running at the 4,200 rpm redline. The "car not slowing it down" physics are simple, in the gear I run up the steep grades, the engine will pull to the redline, car or no car. Next higher gear, it won't go as fast, car or no car. The Sprinter is peppy in the lower gears, and gutless in the higher gears.
Here I am defending the Sprinter and I didn't even want to buy one in the first place! I first assumed Ford was the answer, then found I couldn't live with the horrible in/out access around the doghouse. The passenger side footwell IMO is a joke. But the killer was that I could not find a single Ford class C where I could put the driver seat back far enough with the slide pulled in. A slide was on our list of must-haves. Then I set my sights on a Chevy chassis. The doghouse isn't quite as obnoxious, the passenger legroom is a bit better, still a joke IMO. I could have lived with it, but all the ones I tried out had the same problem with the driver seat not going back far enough. All that was left was the Sprinter. The no-doghouse roomy cockpit is a joy, and the seat will go back way farther than I need it to.
I hated to spend the extra money, really like the comfort, handling, and fuel economy, and fear horribly expensive maintenance items that have hit a small percentage of Sprinter owners. There's no common ground here, we'll just have to live with me being satisfied with the towing performance, and you thinking I've made all your points about what a bad choice it is. I'm heading out over the mountain pass again tomorrow, with car hanging on the back.
Here I am defending the Sprinter and I didn't even want to buy one in the first place! I first assumed Ford was the answer, then found I couldn't live with the horrible in/out access around the doghouse. The passenger side footwell IMO is a joke. But the killer was that I could not find a single Ford class C where I could put the driver seat back far enough with the slide pulled in. A slide was on our list of must-haves. Then I set my sights on a Chevy chassis. The doghouse isn't quite as obnoxious, the passenger legroom is a bit better, still a joke IMO. I could have lived with it, but all the ones I tried out had the same problem with the driver seat not going back far enough. All that was left was the Sprinter. The no-doghouse roomy cockpit is a joy, and the seat will go back way farther than I need it to.
I hated to spend the extra money, really like the comfort, handling, and fuel economy, and fear horribly expensive maintenance items that have hit a small percentage of Sprinter owners. There's no common ground here, we'll just have to live with me being satisfied with the towing performance, and you thinking I've made all your points about what a bad choice it is. I'm heading out over the mountain pass again tomorrow, with car hanging on the back.
