Ford Transit or Mercedes Sprinter

I have not owned a Sprinter, but I am subscribed to a number of groups (the View Yahoo groups, for example) and read a lot. I read about a lot about Sprinters and very expensive repairs.

From what I've read, you buy a Mercedes Sprinter, you pay Mercedes prices when it comes to parts and service. Here where I live (Austin), there are two places that service Sprinters. However, not all Mercedes dealerships service Sprinters, nor do many Freightliner places. I could not find service on a Sprinter between Austin and Dallas or Houston.

Fords? Virtually every Ford dealership has a Transit on their lot, and parts/knowledge is relatively easy to come by. $8000 gets me a new (not reman) I-5 engine if I do something stupid (like putting DEF in the diesel tank), while on a Sprinter, that will be easily double that. (Of course, labor costs will be more as well.) I can fairly easily order Ford parts and just pick them up the next day at a dealer, or have them shipped. Mercedes? The parts are going to have to cross the pond, most likely.

This isn't to say the Sprinters are bad, unreliable, or anything like that. They are decent, and have more GVWR than the Transits. However, they command a price premium.

Of course, it would be nice to see Ford stick the EcoBoost engine into the cutaway models, because this would be extremely nice come higher elevations.

CharlesinGA wrote:
Transit has a much lower towing capacity. It is tighter getting from the front seats thru to the back, the space between the front inboard corner of the seat the and engine hump is tighter than the Sprinter.
Charles

Ford is now offering a "walk-through" through console option. I haven't seen it yet, and I don't know when RV makers will start adopting it.

Transit has a much lower towing capacity. It is tighter getting from the front seats thru to the back, the space between the front inboard corner of the seat the and engine hump is tighter than the Sprinter. The engine in the Sprinter is very dated, as is the transmission. The Ford uses a license built copy of a German ZF 6 speed automatic. The Ford engine is, cubic capacity wise, larger than the Sprinter at 3.2L and 185 hp vs the Sprinter's 3.0L and 188 hp.

The Fit RV on Youtube did a review of the WBO Fuse last fall, if you are interested in their comments. They used it for a week or so, so its a pretty good review.

https://youtu.be/6K8ri3cHLiE

Charles

I just put 5K on a Winnebago View and I found that it was as easy to drive as a pickup. Seats are comfortable enough to drive all day. It has plenty of zip and power. The German controls take some getting used to, but over all I think it is a good chassis. I have not driven a Transit to compare.

I would guess that you would have better luck finding a ford dealer than a MB one out in the boonies. also their mechanics must use gold plated tools.
bumpy

Sure are lots of extremely happy owners on the Transit Facebook page. Also kinda cool that many of the assembly workers post on that page too, sometimes including pictures of a customer's order as its built. The Sprinter has its place, if you need the extra weight capacity. But the Transit is the better driving platform, with better support and possibly as-good reliability (so far so good.... but still a newish product...)

Ford all the way.

While I've not driven a Sprinter-based m/h we do have several Sprinters in our fleet. I've logged lots of hours / miles in them over the last decade.

I recently drove a Transit and it is a game changer, you can get similar mileage with the Ford gas engine as the MB diesel, far superior performance and much better comfort (Sprinter seats suck!) and visibility for a LOT less money.

If the Euro models are any indication the Transit will not have the huge rust issues the Sprinter does.

A friend of mine bought the Transit last year and he is super happy with it. I will probably buy one as my next van. The Transit seems to be improving year over year.

My biggest gripe against the Sprinter is RUST. Take a look at the older Sprinters, they all seem to have rusty rear doors and rusty body bottoms. I thought rust was so "last century".....

Consider the difference in cost. Sprinters are either sent to Freightliner as knockdown kits for U.S. assembly, to avoid the 25% "chicken tax" or less popular models like the cab-chassis or bare chassis just pay the tariff. Transits sold in the U.S. are assembled in the U.S. (with mostly local drivetrain components except for an imported diesel engine), so you are paying less in the U.S. for what is inthe global market, basically the same thing.

If you are talking about the diesel engines, the one in the Transit is kind of old, not as up to date as the engines from FIAT and Renault (but wait, we don't get that one) but more of a truck engine than the M-B passenger car V-6 used in the Sprinter for North America emissions compliance.

I would likely opt for the Sprinter, recognizing that it comes at a premium price, but if I don't spend the money, mykids will probably waste it sending my grandchildren to university.