After a little over 4 years and many wonderful adventures with the Sprinter we decided that we wanted to start over with a new van. We learned so much both while building out the van and while using the van. Our build continuously evolved the whole time we owned it, always finding new and better ways of doing things to make vanlife easier and more comfortable. We also evolved in how we used the van compared to our original expectations. That had us considering bigger changes to the configuration of the van. The one thing we were certain of is that a campervan is right for us.
Choices
We considered a number of options:
- Continue making incremental changes to the van build
- Gut the build and start over in the Sprinter
- Start over with a new van
The reasons for wanting to make a change:
- We’d like to add a fixed toilet inside the van as we boondock more than we originally expected
- The outdoor kitchen is inconvenient on cold mornings and we encounter far more cold mornings that we thought as we used the van more than we originally expected
- I’d consider our Sprinter to have been very reliable. However, every interaction I had with every Mercedes dealership that I visited was a completely negative experience and they just don’t give a F**k. I’d really prefer to never have to rely on doing business with a Mercedes dealership again.
Which Van
After several months of considering our options, we decided to start fresh with a new van. Part of that decision was that if we went with a new van, which one would it be. In terms of overall desirability and holding resale value, I’d rank the full size vans available in the US to be 1) Sprinter 2) Transit 3) Ram. One of our justifications for getting a new van was that we wanted to get a little more space in the new van compared to the 144″ Sprinter. The longest RAM would give us about an additional foot, the longest Transit would give us a little more than 2 additional feet and the longer Sprinters would give us even more than that.
All wheel drive or 4×4 is also a feature we desire as it had gotten us out of trouble in the Sprinter and other past vehicles. The cost and time involved in aftermarket drivetrains eliminated that as an option for us, which eliminated the RAM from contention. Our experience with Mercedes dealerships eliminated getting another Sprinter from contention. It was time for a deep dive into the Transit to determine if we could be happy with it versus sticking with the Sprinter we own.
First Impressions
First impressions with the Transit based on test drives and research in comparison to our Sprinter:
- (-) The doors & body are light & hollow feeling compared to the Sprinter
- (-) The ground clearance and rear overhang are limiting for off-road driving compared to the 4×4 Sprinter
- (-) The wider turning radius makes the Transit a little less maneuverable than the 144″ Sprinter in tight spaces
- (-) There is less clearance for bigger wheels & tires
- (-) Transits don’t have the cachet of the Sprinter and likely won’t hold the resale value that a Sprinter does
- (-) While Transit popularity is on the rise, there is still more information and aftermarket parts available for the Sprinter
- (+) The drivability, acceleration & handling are far better than the 6 cyl 5 speed Sprinter
- (+) Based on the on-line forums, there are far less mechanical complaints with the Transit compared with the Sprinter
- (+) The local shuttle companies that previously used Sprinters exclusively, have all switched to Transits
- (+) No DEF required, no temperamental emissions systems, gasoline doesn’t gel
- (+) Cost of ownership is far lower than the Sprinter
- (+) Ford provides a number of free documents that provide detailed technical information on the Transit that are extremely useful for building out the van
You can read about our first impressions of the Sprinter here and our Sprinter purchase here.
The decision
With that analysis, we decided that while not perfect, the Transit was our best option. We placed the custom order in December and took delivery in April. We feel fortunate that somehow our van slipped through all the plant shutdowns and supply chain issues and arrived just a few weeks later than originally scheduled. Many other folks have been delayed for months with these issues.
I had planned to keep both vans around while I got the Transit built out enough for road trips so that we weren’t stuck without a usable van. Well, like all great plans… A friend heard that we got a new van. She made a compelling story for why we should sell the old van to her now. This was about the time I had gotten tired of shuffling vehicles in our small driveway area and my wife told me to quit working on the old van and get going on the new one.
Stay tuned to see how the Transit build progresses!