Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Road Test: Living the (cargo) #vanlife | Autoblog

Normally I write automotive opinions with the overall thought that somebody studying the factor may truly use it to find out whether or not shopping for one is a good suggestion. But a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cargo Van with the 170-inch wheelbase and excessive roof? Who can this actually be for? The proprietor of a rooter firm? FedEx? The Royal Mail?

So that is going to be totally different: an opportunity to expertise and share what it’s prefer to drive one among these gigantic, excessive roof vans which have turn out to be more and more frequent on this age of e-commerce. It additionally offered a style of what #vanlife can be like for all these of us who purchase a Sprinter like this, jack up the trip top, slap on some all-terrain tires and glamp out the inside to enterprise into the nice open air … and actually piss off everybody at campsites who don’t have one. I’m not solely sure as to why, however I’ve gotten that impression.

In brief, the Sprinter certain is totally different. The driver’s door unlocks with a metallic clack and pops open to disclose a driver seat perched at roughly torso top upon a body-colored metallic field. In this case, Royal Mail purple. You put one foot onto the cutout plastic step space and hoist your self up into the cab, plopping your self down onto the soft, leatherette-clad driver seat. And sure, it’s formally “leatherette” fairly than Mercedes’ traditional MB-Tex. That can be a convincing leather-based substitute. This stuff is pure, sticky vinyl, which certain paired properly with 90-degree days and several other acres of windshield. Butts can be scorched, however not less than it’s solely a $62 choice. No, I didn’t go away off a zero. It’s actually simply $62.

To crank up the air-con to alleviate butt scorching, nudge up the fan pace toggle to max. The Sprinter has handbook local weather management although that toggle and the opposite buttons are usually utilized within the computerized local weather management arrays of different Mercedes. This is only one of many examples the place acquainted Mercedes elements are employed in a really unfamiliar approach. The touchscreen options the identical menu construction and graphics as an MBUX-equipped Mercedes automotive or SUV, however the show is tiny and doesn’t have a redundant heart console touchpad. It would wish a middle console for that. The cool rotary air vents are shared with the GLB and different A-Class-derived Mercedes, however all of the exhausting, scratchy plastic surrounding them most definitely isn’t. Similarly, the steering wheel design, controls and accompanying column stalks could also be shared with a GLB, however it’s not wrapped in leather-based and adorned in metallic plastic trim. Its left-side menu buttons and touchpad function an old-school, black-and-white journey pc display screen between plain-Jane analog gauges. There’s no all-digital show right here with a number of design layouts and dance membership lighting. 

There are a number of seating choices out there, together with a suspension seat, a swiveling seat and “comfort seat” that provides further handbook changes. This Sprinter, nevertheless, got here with the elective Comfort Plus energy driver seat that’s motored into place utilizing Mercedes’ traditional door-mounted seat controls. It additionally consists of handbook thigh extension. With any of those selections, the seating place is akin to sitting on a kitchen chair with pedals at your ft. Taller drivers could discover the seat doesn’t scoot again far sufficient and it’s not clear whether or not this van’s elective partition is guilty. It positively renders the rearview mirror vestigial, although. I simply pointed it up on the roof to remind myself not to have a look at it, however former Autoblog contributor Dan Edmunds discovered that if you leave it in place, it conspires with the partition window and darkish cargo space to turn out to be a forward-view mirror. It will get quirkier.

Above that mirror are plastic cabinets excellent for storing clipboards and such for FedEx drivers, and possibly a boatload of Whole Foods path combine for the glampers. Additional storage is discovered on prime of the sprint the place the USB ports solely reside in a plastic bin behind the infotainment system. There are additionally cupholders up on prime of the sprint’s outer parts, together with behind the instrument panel, which is precisely the place I wish to stash my scorching espresso. There are 4 further upholders within the conventional van location beneath the local weather controls. In whole, there are six cupholders for 2 seats.

Above the driving force is sufficient headroom for Abe Lincoln to sit down comfortably with out eradicating his hat or, alternatively, all 6-foot-3 of yours actually to face upright between the seats with my head simply grazing the headliner. In the even-taller cargo space of this high-roof Sprinter, I can stroll about with out considering twice about ducking. That can be why these make such good campers – fancy off-roading variations or in any other case.

The climb into the cargo space can also be a lot decrease (27 inches) than an old-school cargo van like GM’s Chevy Express and GMC Savana, not to mention a pickup. Lifting a heavy metallic facet desk into and out of the Sprinter’s facet door was exponentially simpler than hoisting it right into a pickup mattress would’ve been. Honestly, I don’t assume I’d’ve been capable of do it in any respect. And that’s just one motive a cargo van like that is wildly extra useful at hauling stuff than a pickup. While I transported greater than 20 packing containers and Rubbermade bins from my home to a storage facility in three journeys in full-size pickups, I managed to lug the entire load within the Sprinter with minimal stacking or Tetrising. There was room to spare, too. Even although it is a fairly excessive van by way of measurement (there’s a fair longer model out there that makes use of the identical wheelbase), this expertise positively confirmed the advantage of having such a low, cavernous and simply maneuvered area for hauling heavy and/or plentiful objects. It was clearly ample for hauling gentle, comparatively unplentiful baggage.

And talking of maneuverability, one try at parking is all it takes to make you go “wow.” The turning circle of this explicit Sprinter model is 47 ft, which can be 7 ft wider than a Mercedes GLS, however this Sprinter can also be 5-foot-8-inches longer than a GLS. The wheels flip a lot that it virtually seems like when a line is hooked up to a ship’s bow to drag it laterally in the direction of a dock; an impression definitely enhanced by the very fact you’re principally sitting atop the entrance axle.

Once underway, that tall, ahead seating place and Crystal Palace windshield offers astonishing visibility. Only buses and different industrial automobiles are sure to beat this. Maybe the Popemobile, however Francis clearly isn’t driving. Pull from the turbodiesel engine is robust and well-suited to a automobile like this (the one fuel choice is a 188-horsepower inline-four, which should problem solely the Columbia Glacier for rapidity), and when unladen, its 325 pound-feet of torque are sufficient that it positively doesn’t really feel sluggish. That mentioned, this van’s elective 3.0-liter turbodiesel inline-6 is being discontinued for 2023. A twin-turbo diesel inline-four goes to interchange it and, regardless of having fewer cylinders, will produce extra energy and torque. There will nonetheless be a single-turbo diesel inline-four supplied, however it’s additionally new. The fuel four-cylinder continues on to race Galapagos tortoises. A nine-speed computerized may also debut to interchange this van’s seven-speed, which was completely innocuous, however extra gears isn’t a nasty factor when hauling heavy hundreds.

Driving a 23-foot-long automobile clearly requires some altering of your driving, with turns being the primary level of focus. You should swing large as you may in a pickup, however because you’re to this point ahead within the automobile, you bodily find yourself even additional out past your regular spot when turning. Imagine being mounted to the hood of an F-350 whereas turning proper and also you’ll get an concept. The trip is first rate, however this was a 2500 mannequin. I’d think about a 3500 or 3500XD can be a tad Flintstone-ish do you have to occur to drive these dually variations unladen.

The different predominant factor to remember is top. And not simply “Don’t drive the 9-foot van into a parking garage.” The sides are so tall that bushes turn out to be a problem when parallel parking on metropolis streets … and even simply driving alongside metropolis streets. This might be a giant motive the FedEx man parks on the finish of your driveway or curiously distant. And bear in mind, this was an unmodified high-roof Sprinter. The glamping overlander variations have jacked-up floor clearance and all-terrain tires, plus in all probability an auxiliary air conditioner, paddleboards and a Yakima cargo field on the roof. I’m not exaggerating, both. There are a number of in my neighborhood, all outfitted like this to some extent.

None are painted Jupiter Red, nevertheless, which was a C-Class colour not too way back. Although a lot of the Sprinters you see are painted black, white or grey (probably essentially the most Mercedes factor about them), there’s a surprisingly vibrant assortment of paints out there. Besides this Royal Mail-appropriate livery, you will get the teal-like Aqua Green, robin’s egg Brilliant Blue, sunny Calcite Yellow, two further shades of purple (Sunset and Velvet) and 4 shades of darker blue (Steel, Vanda, Cavansite and Black Blue).

So that’s what the Sprinter is like in a tiny nutshell. To be completely trustworthy, it’s not like I’m bringing to the ballgame my traditional deep effectively of comparative take a look at drive expertise. I’ve by no means pushed a Ford Transit, it’s been 5 years since I drove a Ram Promaster on a closed course and 10 years since I commanded a Nissan NV. One of GM vans? I’m fairly certain I used to be in highschool the final time Chevy had an Express within the press fleet … and I’m 38.

As such, I’ll go away comparative evaluation together with price, measurement, payload, and so forth, to somebody extra certified. As I see it, although, the one clear motive to get a Ford or Ram as a substitute of the Mercedes is upkeep and restore. If one thing breaks in your glamping overlander in the course of nowhere, it’s going to be lots simpler to discover a Ford vendor than a Mercedes or Freightliner (possibly?) facility. But that’s all I actually received. The predominant level is finally: driving a gigantically excessive and lengthy Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 is an actual journey. I extremely suggest it. If you are able to do so without having to get employed by FedEx first, all the higher.