Dear All,
I was unwilling to wait and for many reasons chose the 2015 Sprinter 4x4 for the tune of about 60K. 3 days in, the roof leaked, the GPS stopped working and the Radio failed. The antenna on the roof was broken. It was replaced a total of 4 times before I got rid of it. The suspension has serious problems and Mercedes just keeps "upgrading" expensive parts that take weeks to arrive from Germany. The power steering hose came off on a mountain Switch back and their response was That doesn't just happen. Weeks later in Colorado, again in the shop for issues with the drive train, the van in service next to mine had the same power steering failure. The mechanic said it happens all the time and no one knows why. They just reattach and refill. That particular unit was out of warranty and got damaged as the guy tried to drive it out of the mountains and caused $1600 in damage and a $500.00 tow bill.
I drove across Illinois and put 5% Biodiesel in the van, Sensors went off and then failed. I called all the dealers in Chicago, Springfield and St.Louis and No one could get me in for weeks. When I explained I was living out of this as a camper van, and needed to get to my Grandmothers 90th birthday party, they said sorry there are too many people ahead of you that also need work done urgently. I was so livid you can't imagine it. All in the van spent more than 60 days of my first 6 months of ownership in some sort of unusable form. Mercedes wanted to avoid a law suit and offered me $4,000.00 as a apology if I signed a waiver saying I would not sue. There are so many issues with the Diesel engine it is not even worth talking about. The Catalytic converter/DEF system failures are widely known. And the 6,000.00 repair is often not under warranty as they feel it is your fault. Disagree, you better lawyer up. I can go on and on about the $10,000 in repairs they made to my brand new van, but I will save you the trouble.
3 things to consider when buying:
1.) Serviceability. How many service stations are their in total across your areas. (ford has more technicians and more dealerships than both Dodge and Mercedes by a long shot.)
How many of those stations have a trained technician on your vehicle and it's major components. In this case, Ford wins hands down with it's gas engines. Ford, Dodge and Sprinter all fail epicly with their european designed diesel engines. On average only one poorly trained factory technician for these diesel engines per location and many locations have none.
Ford Gas engines that are stuck under the hood of many vehicles and most technicians can service them.
2.) Parts: Are the parts made in the Country and/or readily available? The Ford is assembled in Kansas City. It has a warehouse of parts there. The Dodge Promaster is made in Mexico and has no major US hub for parts as they don't know what to stock and are ramping up, many components are still made in europe, as this is a Fiat Ducato re-badged. the Sprinter has a few hubs for parts, and they are back ordered for most by weeks and months. They can't keep up with all the problems that are on the vans, most especially the 4x4, not to mention, mercedes is constantly upgrading their defective parts. Just in the 40,000 miles I did in 8 months, I had 3 different oil filter part numbers. While I am glad they were upgrading to manage issues, shouldn't most of that be done before it hits the production run? Also, the Sprinter is Made in Germany, a factory will be up in Running in South Carolina for the 2018 model year, which is a new engine and a new build. This means most of the engineering chops is being put on making the new design better for 2018, and less on getting this unit right. with the 150.00/hour service cost and parts being obsoleted by a new engine, and complete new model, don't think they are going to keep upgrading beyond the legal requirements.
The Ford Gas Engines are going in everything from mustangs to F-150's and are easy to work on. By the time you add up the maintenance costs/downtime, for the diesel, you will never beat the gas in total ownership cost, even if it was at 5mpg.
3.) Cost and Re-sale
My Sprinter was Legally a Lemon, and with a 56K sticker, Tax, Title and License put is just under 60K, add in the flight in to buy it and we are over 60K. 3 months in, and after more than $8,000 in warranty work for repairs, more than 60 days in the shop, and I was offered a Value of 40K, Mercedes wanted me to take a $20,000.00 hit on a Lemon. The Lemon Law is not your friend. You have to sue them in court and win. No lawyer wanted to sue MB USA as they have a team of staff lawyers who drag out cases for years hoping to run up mileage, get the vehicle out of warranty force you to pay for repairs and keep you making payments. MBUSA has the largest settlements ever awarded in History for these Tactics. They drug out a case for 6 years and are appealing the 3rd verdict. Can you Afford to own a lemon for 6 years while they litigate you out of business? Do you really want to buy from a company whose own opinion of its resale value is so low? This is their own Van, and they offered me 20K less for it. I know some transit owners are experiencing issues, and ford complies with the State Level BBB mediation rules. You have a far better shot of getting out of a lemon with some skin with Ford. Suing MB USA takes years, all while you are making payments and dealing with issues. It sickens me to think they can offer me 4K for the issues and say sorry, only to say we will buy back our brand new defective van at a 20K loss to you, in addition to all your losses as you were not able to use the van for work...
The Sprinter Vans that are getting resold on craigslist, as almost new, are defective, and people buying are seeing why. Dealers are crushing their very own Customers on this. I know a guy who bought brand new, had it in the shop enough to be a lemon, he took the 20K hit, sold it back to the same dealer, who then turned around and resold the defective and still broken van for above retail. He is now Suing the Dealer for Fraud. MB USA is not acting ethically. Before you buy any Van, stop and see what the resale values are, see what the major issues are and can that be hidden or tested for, as this will play a large role in the cost/value. The fact that MB USA fights it own customers for years as opposed to take a loss on a bad product is beyond frustrating.
After Getting Rid of the Sprinter 4x4 (should be $X$) I got a rental High top extended Ecoboost Transit as a rental to test it. 4,000 miles later and not one issue. It badly needs some sort of 4x4 features for off roading, even gravel roads, but mechanically and electrically I have found it to be sound and far more reliable. It does not have the many features that the Sprinter has, but it works, and it runs. Something I can't say for Sprinter. Mercedes Vans #borntorun-intotheshop
I hope this helps. Sorry if this comes off as all rant. I just want others to avoid the nightmare I got into the Daimler Vans and MB USA. Do not buy a Sprinter, most especially the 4x4
