Vanagon EuroVan
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Date:         Fri, 26 Aug 2016 16:31:42 -0400
Reply-To:     Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Friday nvc: Sprinters
In-Reply-To:  <CAHTkEu++av_-wATJphoMfZ=yU4kCKtz+LdoYWyX41W8X5zrHog@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

The so called "Sprinters" now come in many different forms for recreational vehicles. There are the ones that are completely based on the as supplied vans and then there are the ones where a "cab chassis" is supplied for the RV manufacturer to add their "house" body. The later tend to be the most popular as they often have the needed room and desired features such as generators and all the goodies some want in a home.

Getting back to the basic vehicles the new generation of Diesels (2007 and later) can have extremely complicated fuel delivery and emissions control systems. In my opinion some of these are still developmental similar to late 70s and early 80s fuel injection. There is still a lot of learning going on due to real world experiences. When they work great, they are great. When they go south even routine maintenance can be extremely expensive and the often the shop, even dealers, are doing some learning as they go.

As these units get modified for RV usage a lot of things change even just beginning with modified suspensions, air conditioning systems and even battery charging systems for house batteries. Add generators and other electrical interfaces and you get some real confusion going on.

Also my opinion, many of these coaches are somewhat expensive for what they actually offer. Being compact is not always of great value and the fuel economy can be quickly offset by the increased purchase cost and a few major repairs. Also, these European designs just don’t have the reserve for use or abuse that conventional American Iron has. In many ways these can become the Vanagon of the future with the unforeseen breakdowns and expenses.

Once you have a coach with the typical add on body you also have all the poor construction that typically goes with this. Most of these are not long term 25 year 300,000 mile vehicles.

For the RV crowd doing a typical 5 to 7K miles a year nothing beats the total cost of ownership as a big V8 or V10. I am a fan of the Ford Triton V10. These things tend to just run, take abuse, and when they do fail they can be fixed most anyplace. Transmission rebuilds are less than a Syncro tranny swap. Yes in a larger RV you will only get 8-10 mpg. In the smaller class C's you may go to 12. When I had an injector (2) failure on my Cat at 57,000 miles and was quoted $6,500 to $7,000 for repairs I gave thought that would replace 2 V10's with installation, not just a set of injectors and a pump. Turned out I did the job myself only replacing the two known bad injectors and at 99K now it is still running so I obviously did not need all 6 or the pump.

Dennis

From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Don Hanson Sent: Friday, August 26, 2016 10:23 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: Friday nvc: Sprinters

"a few hrs old". Should read "few years old"

On Aug 26, 2016 7:21 AM, "Don Hanson" <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:

> Just had two Sprinter people visiting, both with VERY negative > experiences with their Sprinters...one less than a year old and one a > few hrs old. The older one's owner was a Vanagon owner before the > Sprinter, which he says he drives most of the time in "limp home mode"

> because the nearest dealer is over an hour each way and it costs over $300 to have them diagnose > whatever its problems are each time...he hates it. The other family has > one the recently retired Vetinarian bought for camping and mountain > biking...They spent last winter in Arizona, where Sprinters are > rampant...He, too, hates his...it is now in need of another > computer...$3k...and of course that MUST be installed by the dealer. > My brother in law also got one maybe 3 yrs ago...at least he has > close dealers, him being in Orange county CA...His, according to him, > his own Sprinter has spent more time at the dealership than on his > street. He hates it, too. > Ok, so I've been intrigued by those, but I got hints they are > expensive to run and unreliable...But when we got talking...two real > owners and one close relative to another owner... I got it from actual

> owners(except for the brother in law). They seem to be hated...and > usually people can justify all kinds of faults in a vehicle they bought... but these folks went OFF! > on how awful their Sprinters are... Jay even offered his diesel > automatic straight across for my 84 tintop... > So whoever was recently posting about changing to a Sprinter.... > you may want to talk to some owners of them first. 3for3, that's > pretty negative for a vehicle... I was surprised.. >


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