The first year with our Sprinter went fast; there is probably very little originality in that statement.  This posting is a summary of what we’ve learned about owning a Sprinter van and some of the smaller upgrades that did not warrant posts of their own.  We feel like we are meeting the objective for getting the van. We now have the ability to stay just about anywhere at little cost with comforts far beyond tent camping, often in locations where there are no VRBO’s, Airbnb’s or hotels.  The Sprinter van is making it more convenient for us to ride in more remote locations while keeping the bikes protected from theft and road grime.

General Impressions of the Sprinter Van

The Van:

2016 144″ Wheelbase High Roof Crew 4×4 Sprinter van

Reliability:

After 1 year, 18,000 miles and 9 states & provinces we’ve had no mechanical problems or reasons to go to the dealership for warranty work.

Drivability:

Well, it is not like driving other types of Mercedes vehicles; the creature comforts and luxury items that you expect with other Mercedes vehicles are very absent in the Sprinter.  However, for a 10 foot tall vehicle, it is remarkable adept on the road with excellent visibility and handling.  Sue particularly likes driving it because you are high above other cars and SUVs in traffic and you are positioned over the front wheels.

Fuel mileage is remarkable for a vehicle of this size.  The biggest factor being whether you are driving at 65 mph or 80 mph on the highway where we get 18 or 14 mpg respectively.  Windy conditions can make a difference as well.  The increased wind and road noise as your speed increases on the highway is another incentive to keep the speed under 80.

Fuel range is a bit disappointing with only a 26 gallon fuel tank.   The low fuel alert comes on with about 9 gallons left in the tank.  This seems early, but better safe than sorry, I guess.  I generally fill up early & often, so this has not been a real problem for us.

Time Delays:

It seems that there is considerable interest in these vans, especially in the community of folks interested in outdoor activities.  When getting ready to head out at a trailhead or loading up after a ride, people want to view and talk about the Sprinter van.  This has delayed us as much as an hour at the start of a ride.  I could pretend to be annoyed about it, but I am really not.  I’m always happy to talk van-talk.

Options of note:

Auxiliary battery package – so far this has proven adequate for us.  We don’t run any electric kitchen appliances or air conditioning, so our electric consumption is light with charging batteries for our electronics, running the Espar D2 heater, and the Maxxair fan.  We also never stay put more than a couple days at a time, so the alternator charges the battery fairly regularly.  The battery with this package is not a deep cycle battery, so its lifespan may be diminished.  So far, so good, it has allowed me to delay the investment into a house battery, charging, and monitoring system.

Bi-xenon headlights – these are great, especially for us when we are driving in the mountains.  The high beams are impressively bright and have allowed us to put off adding a light bar to the front, possibly indefinitely.

4×4 – we’ve used this with the stock tires in snow, ice, sand and deep water with all good results.

Heated Seats – these are nice because they often add some comfort before the engine heat has a chance to warm things up when the temps get really cold.

Audio 15 Stereo – this is truly the worst example of a car stereo in terms of sound quality and functionality I’ve seen in a long time.  Replacing this was one of our earliest upgrades.

Rear view camera – this is also pretty terrible with a very narrow view and a weird affect making things that are next to the van look like they are behind the van.  The magnified side view mirrors are what I use most when backing up.  The camera will get replaced with something better at some point in the future.

Lane Keeping Assist – this is nice, but offers way too many false alarms when lane paint is faded or lanes widen.

Trailer Hitch Package – I get this option on every car & truck I buy when it is available.  Sometimes the option comes with an additional transmission cooler which makes your transmission last longer regardless of whether you tow or not.  Also, having the hitch provides a place to mount accessories like a bike rack.  Aftermarket hitches just never seem to integrate into the vehicle as well as the OEM versions.

Peculiarities of the Sprinter:

Noise – There were some rattles and squeaks that were easily mitigated on a DIY basis.

• Slider resolution described here by WindTrackMind on Sprinter-Source.
• Rear door squeak, essentially wipe the door weather stripping with silicone

The sheet metal of the van vibrates when driving, giving the feel of being inside a bass drum.  One of the first things we did was to apply sound deadening material as we discussed in the First Impressions post.

Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) – this is the first diesel vehicle we’ve owned.  Exhaust fluid seems like something that comes up when you are being punked, like blinker fluid or changing the air in your tires.  But yes, the diesel exhaust essentially goes through a bong filled with fluid that has a main active ingredient of urea.  This is all explained better here.  Anyway, the DEF is highly corrosive and crystalizes as it dries.  There are many warnings in the Sprinter community about the sensors in the DEF system can fail due to the corrosive nature of the fluid.  The best way to mitigate that is to keep the sensors wet by keeping the DEF tank topped off.  Using refillable, spill proof  bottles that thread onto the DEF tank make this easier.

Idling – the “clean diesel” systems can build up carbon if the engine idles for long periods of time.  There is no definitive answer for how long is ok to idle.  Best advice seems to be to keep it to a minimum.

Cold starts – since you don’t want to idle very long, leaving the van to warm up is a no-no.  Also, idling (aka puffing) is against the law in Colorado.  My driveway heads up a 9% grade and the Sprinter with a cold engine doesn’t move very well.  I usually give it a minute or 2 to warm up and just head out.  It is a very slow crawl up the driveway as the accelerator just doesn’t respond until the drive train gets a little warmer.  As long as you don’t need to merge into traffic right away, this is not a problem.  Best advice here, is to start driving right away but take it easy until the engine and transmission come up to operating temperature.

The Buildout:

We are roughly 50% complete on the buildout.  The necessities are in, but we have a long way to go for some additional comfort and efficiencies.  I have many other posts on the build out, but I wanted to mention a couple things here that did not warrant posts on their own.  Click here to see write-ups for the bigger projects we’ve done.

Bully Utility Hitch Step – If you have the hitch, adding the step is super helpful considering how many times you will be in and out of the van when working on it.  Buy the Bully Step here.

Blinded by the light – the Mercedes emblem on the steering wheel is chrome and angled such that the sun can be reflected right into the driver’s eyes.  I blacked this out by masking and painting it with plasti-dip paint as described here.

Organization – for as big as the Sprinter is, there is a lack of efficiency for storage by the driver.  As a short-term solution, we bought one of these organizers and temporarily duct taped it to the floor.

Longer-term, we’ll build something like the console pictured in this post with closed storage under it.

Interior lighting – the crew van comes with a bunch of ceiling lights that can be switched on or off or activated by opening the doors.  The bulbs are bright and get very hot.  The heat can be a problem once you add insulation and interior panels to your van.  These LED bulbs alleviate the heat issue and provide good light.  The only problem with this is that even when the lights are switched off, the van provides a little bit of current, causing a low visible glow from the lights.  Presumably, the van is doing this to test to see if any bulbs are burned out.  Soon, I will abandoned this circuit and install separate interior LED lighting.

Outsourcing – We’ve outsourced a few upgrades to a local van upfitter because I didn’t have tools or courage to take them on.  These include:

• Fiamma F45S Awning
• MaxxAir Roof Fan
• Drivers side bunk window
• Aluminess Roof Rack and Drivers side ladder
• Espar D2 Heater
• Bench Seat modified from a 3-seater to a 2-seater.  I found Mike from http://shopdogmotors.com/ for the bench seat modification. This is one talented dude, the cost of this job was worth it for a tour of his motorcycle collection alone. The bench seat came back looking like it came from the factory, just smaller and just as solid. The 2-person bench seat is much more practical for our needs.

Now that I’ve been doing more work on the van, if I had to do it over, I’d consider doing at least the first few items myself.

Maintenance:

In addition to keeping the DEF topped off mentioned above, I’ve cut the oil change interval by half, to every 10,000 miles instead of the 20,000 mile oil change interval recommended by Mercedes.  It may be a waste of money, but I want this engine to last as long as possible.  This seems like a small enough investment to preserve the longevity of the engine.