Thread: Help choosing high roof van?

Can't claim to know my way around vans, except for the one I have.

Mine is a 2003 Mercedes Sprinter LWB high roof model.
It's only done 88000ks, it had 59000ks on it when I bought it 2 years ago at auction, an ex police vehicle.
As far as space goes, I can get a 4.2mt length of timber in the back, 2 or 3 [pallets will fit, including one through the side door.
I can stand in the back an 1'm 6'2" (OK, I do have to take the boots off to do it)
As it's the high/long model, it takes a lighter load than the SWB and MWB models, around 1400kgs from memory.
It's a pleasure to drive, if not park, and gets pretty good fuels (diesel) economy - around 10 lt/100km.

You should be able to pick one up within your budget range..

Not sure this will be too helpful, but, here goes anyway FWIW. I'm 6'8" and only bump my head about 3 times a year.

at work we run 3 Mercedes sprinter vans. All bought new. All diesel. Small med and large (only the length varies 2 pallet 3 pallet 4 pallet) all vans are hand loaded with cartons of varying weight and size lightest 1kg heaviest 30kg and vary from half full to chok-a-block

small, auto, 200,000 Km's on clock runs around daily up to 500k a day no problems to date
medium, manual, 200,000 Km's runs around 3-5 days and 100k up to 500k no problems to date
large, manual, 400,000 Km's 500k plus daily just spent $8000 on the front end and will replace it by the end of the year.

we have one supplier to us using ford transit vans and the drivers all say they are crap (4 vans in his fleet). They quizzed us on the sprinters but ended up replacing 1 transit with a little Isuzu 4 pallet taught liner style car licence truck.

Note: mercedes charge $200 for oil when servicing haven't tasted it but assume for the price you could eat the stuff.

work will replace these sprinters with sprinters again.
cheers

I have a diesel 2011 transit & it's a bit of rubbish, a set of brakes lasts around 50000km & cost $2200 to replace. Had injector problems which cost $5000 to replace, not good considering it was nearly $50k & has only done 65000km, buy the Toyota!

Originally Posted by Wrongwayfirst

Not sure this will be too helpful, but, here goes anyway FWIW. I'm 6'8" and only bump my head about 3 times a year.

Note: mercedes charge $200 for oil when servicing haven't tasted it but assume for the price you could eat the stuff.

work will replace these sprinters with sprinters again.
cheers

Agreed, I've only changed the oil once and, yes, $100 for 5 litres, 9 litres needed. I haven't tasted it though.
MB are very particular about what fluids a put into a Sprinter. All must be from their approved list

Parts are expensive and generally only available from your local MB dealer.
If you keep the services to schedule and uses the right olis etc, you won't need the parts other than those needed to service.

FWIW my old man got a 12 seater Toyota bus and took all but one of the rear seats out.
I recall something about the vehicle type on the rego and/or insurance having to be changed (after a RWC) from bus to van which made it cheaper.
Drives almost like a van but worse in crosswinds and it DEVOURS fuel when towing, but otherwise consumes and runs as I'd expect a honking big brick...I mean van...would.

The Asian makers apart from Hyundai have lost the plot and the market for vans. We have Sprinters and Vitos at work and twenty drivers who do their best to kill our vans every day. Initially we had a few teething issues but they have all been sorted out and now the are basically bullet proof. BTW Australia Post will begin taking delivery of new vans in the next twelve months so expect some Sprinters to come onto the market next year. I would not buy a Transit with someone else's money.

Cheers for all the replies, all helpful info!

Interesting to hear about the problems with Transits, I previously had the idea that they were kind of the solid, dependable choice in vans. At least it seems so in the U.K.? Maybe different here in Aus somehow?

So I guess I should be very careful of an ex-rental Transit with no service history? Looked at one yesterday, think I will steer clear now...

I will delve into the Sprinters a bit more, looking around the 'net a bit it does seem that they are very good. Although there's lots of mixed stories from the U.S. but it seems that those problems are because the vans are disassembled, shipped to the U.S. and reassembled. But people who use a good dealership have minimal problems (lots of poor service, poorly trained dealers in the U.S. apparently, not all are qualified to work on diesels?). Sprinters in Australia don't seem to have half the problems of the U.S. models.

The trick for getting high mileage seems to be fanatical servicing, probably moreso with the Sprinters? I don't have a problem with that... $200 for oil, seems cheap compared to an engine! Seems that MB vans and motorbikes have similar costs for good synthetic oil, never tasted the oil from my bikes either, but they are at least good to look at (pretty colours).

Any comments about rust issues on the Sprinters? From what I read it seems like the chassis/underside is all well protected, but the paint on the panels is maybe a bit on the cheap side and dings/dents easily rust? No biggie though, I would fix any panel dents/scratches/rust myself.

I know to avoid the Sprintshift models, but how does auto compare to manual? I'd prefer to drive a manual, but are the auto still reliable? More costly to repair when something goes wrong I suppose, how about service costs between the two?

The other thing in favour of the Sprinter is that the high roof version seems to have more standing room than the high roof Transit, more space is always a good thing.

It also seems like an ex-ambulance Sprinter is good value - with the caveat that it's a bit of work to remove the ambo fitout with cabinets & wiring. Gotta check the wiring because they either unplug or just cut it (don't want a short while you're driving along). Unfortunately it seems like all ex-ambo are mid roof, haven't looked yet but I'd guess you can't stand in them?

Well the search continues, think I will focus on the Sprinter now though!

The sprinter sold in the US are very different beasts to those sold in Europe and Australia.

There's an excellent Sprinter forum that you should take a look at if seriously considering one.
You'll find mostly US owners but quite a few Australians as well. More than one member there has had more that half a million kilometres of trouble free motoring from their Sprinters. Just don't mention Transits

Originally Posted by Wrongwayfirst

large, manual, 400,000 Km's 500k plus daily just spent $8000 on the front end and will replace it by the end of the year.

I'm interested in this a bit more now, I've started looking at higher kilometer options and trying to understand how high is too high km...

What are the main reasons for moving that van on? Do you know (or feel) that more repairs would just be required? If you just spent $8k why not keep it? (Not trying to say you should keep it, just trying to better understand your reasons.)

I have looked around Sprinter Source & signed up there, plenty of people with high km, but then I am a bit hesitant to really trust that I can get that much myself. I know nothing about diesels though so you can't blame me for doubting! Just saw a post now from the owner of a 313 CDI in Tas, 1 million kilometres... WOW. And if you go the bigger engine they ought to be even more sturdy?

I've been looking around the auctions and there seems to be quite a few high km vans around. I looked into ex-ambulance as well, but it would take some work to remove the ambo fitout and there's a rats nest of wiring in there that needs to be removed so you can get the OEM wiring all working properly again.

Then there's the option of getting one for cheap that has some dents and small panel damage. I would respray myself, but that's a lot of work again... not sure if I'd be shooting myself in the foot trying to save some money and ending up doing a bunch of work before I even start fitting it out for my own use? Could get distracted turning it into fix-up project of it's own before I even get to put it to use!

Small side point - does anyone know about deleting the DPF, EGR etc.? As far as legalities go in Australia? Has anyone done that?

Originally Posted by mugget

Small side point - does anyone know about deleting the DPF, EGR etc.? As far as legalities go in Australia? Has anyone done that?

It is agin the law to remove any pollution equipment, end of story. Are you going to get caught? who knows. Any move to do a DPF delete will require changes to the engine management software so keep that in mind. It will also push out black smoke from the exhaust like old time diesels which might be a bit of a give away. DPF's cost a lot of money so a lot of people are doing it.

Another vote for a Mercedes Sprinter. Last year we purchased an ex rental Sprinter motor home, it had over 200,000 klm's on the clock. It ran the smallest diesel motor (2.2 litre) and was a five speed automatic.

We drove it all over the place including outback roads and a couple of short distances on real tracks.

It was the LWB version with the GVM upgrade to 3.88 tonnes, meaning it could take a hefty payload. It is the heaviest payload available with single wheels on the rear, instead of duals.

The oil is expensive, but it is a special oil (as far as I understand) they designed the engine around this type of oil I believe.

Fuel consumption remained rock steady at 10 l/h no matter what the conditions, providing you didn't flatten the foot with city driving enabling you to catch the next red light quicker.

After the big trip, we moved it on to a person who was specifically searching for a Sprinter motor home after owning two Sprinters in his business and flogging the guts out of them, he suggested that from about 350,000 klm's onwards things are starting to get a bit dicey if they are flogged.

In almost 15,000 klm's it didn't use a drop of oil, nor any new rattles or squeaks and it pulled steady as anything. The gearbox was so smooth you had to put the foot to the floor to feel the change into top gear or listen carefully to hear the revs drop, I would buy another one at the drop of a hat.

Mick.

MB Sprinters must be good if SA Ambulance Service keeps using them. They had Transhits for a while, about a year!!!

Originally Posted by mugget

I'm interested in this a bit more now, I've started looking at higher kilometer options and trying to understand how high is too high km...

What are the main reasons for moving that van on? Do you know (or feel) that more repairs would just be required? If you just spent $8k why not keep it? (Not trying to say you should keep it, just trying to better understand your reasons.)



Small side point - does anyone know about deleting the DPF, EGR etc.? As far as legalities go in Australia? Has anyone done that?

We were going to replace the large sprinter and about 2 months before estimated swap over tyres were needed. One of the other drivers had the van and said it wasn't going right and a front tyre had "alignment wear". The tyre guys said they couldn't let it out of the workshop as it wasn't safe or roadworthy(front end was going to fall off basically). Regular driver said it had a bit of a knock and the odd clunk on slow turning. We now rotate drivers through the three vans so "new" ears and hands get a turn, stops the problem of little changes over a long time turning into a big "costly" problem.
still going to move it on as it is also looking a bit tired and yes there may be more costs unseen.
re:deleting the DPF etc when MB service the van they hook van up to Internet MB in Europe then spits out a report for the aus service guys to complete. I assume that could cause problems,
cheers

Cheers for the comments.

Yep, an ex-ambo Sprinter would suit me fine (at the right price). Unfortunately LWB high roof ex-ambo are fairly rare. Saw a 2003 model on Manheim and was going to check out that auction, but it was already gone yesterday. Confirmed with someone on the Sprinter forum that it had a buy price of $16,000, had been listed for a few weeks. Interestingly the comment was also made that they had lost count of the number of times than an I4 engine had been listed as a 316 (I5). Hope that's limited to the auctions!

Have been reading and posting over on Sprinter-Source, great place - lots of info. So it seems that Aussie models up to 2006 didn't have any of the emissions gear (DPF, EGR, etc.) But the new models 2007 on get all of that, apparently the same worldwide. The other thing I've been hearing is that the I5 is the most solid engine (changed to the V6 in 2007). So that's what I'm looking for now, 2006 or prior, I5 engine. The only question then is whether or not it makes much of a difference whether it's a post-2000 common rail engine? Worldwide it seems the pre-2000 I5 is the most reliable by far, but in Aus there are very few problems with "black death" on the CDI models, possibly because of the lack of emissions gear? Either option seems good enough here in Aus.

The search continues...