Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 11:42:04 -0800
Reply-To: Ty Graham <tyg@OZ.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Ty Graham <tyg@OZ.NET>
Subject: Drove a Sprinter and liked it ...
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Am I going to hell? I feel so dirty.
I went down to Freightliner in Portland a couple of weeks ago and looked
at Sprinters. They had more than 20 on the lot including a camper
conversion. I spent 3 hours over two days asking questions and crawling
around. I test drove the camper conversion for ~5 miles.
Overall, I am very impressed. It is a very nice modern van, though has
much more in common with a bread truck than with our Vanagons.
140" wheelbase plus a hiroof feels super spacious for three. It would
be wild to do some sort of conversion on a ten(!) passenger rig that
allowed for future birthday parties or soccer team hauling. I'm 6'3"
and could around walk easily. It felt like only a slightly lower
ceiling than the AWs I've been in.
Ergonomics seemed pretty good with a four way adjustable seat and
adequate legroom. All the modern conveniences were there, though not as
nicely implemented as in my MINI or Volvo. Typical of any new car pitch
I've had, the presence of cupholders was prominently featured.
For such a long, spacious rig, it drove great. I made a bunch of
parking passes and donuts and was blown away with the turning radius.
My wife kept saying I was making tighter turns than her new MINI - not
true, but it felt like it.
Power felt good, but not great. It certainly pulled as well if not
better than our 2.1l Vanagons. I didn't measure fuel economy, but folks
swear that they get 22mpg all the time and can get 27mpg or more on the
highway. 500 miles between fill ups would be sweet. Diesel clatter was
there, but well damped. The noise seemed lower than in the Ford Transit
I drove in France this year. It was a chilly day so I didn't try the
Windows down test.
The camper conversion I drove was too much of that tacky sort of
American overstuffed, Sportsmobileish interior. Nothing seemed very
engineered and was just not my style. The rear bed sure was huge,
though. The salesguy thought one his customers had put a Westfalia
poptop from Europe on one, though I have yet to find a picture or any
info on the web. I haven't asked Steve Lashley yet.
Net net: I am very tempted to get a 140" hi roof and build my own
camper conversion. I will probably rent a Sprinter camper in Europe
first to get some real test time.
For folks that are interested.
Here's some info and pics of the camper I test drove. ($55k, I think)
http://www.sprinterus.com/
The Sprintervan group on Yahoo is pretty active, though not up to
Vanagon snuff.
These are the folks we rented an RV from in the Netherlands.
http://www.arrantea.com/
TyG