Should I Buy a Passanger Sprinter

[JustinJ]

Hello,

My wife and I are considering purchasing a 7 passanger 2007 sprinter for family trips and around town. We want more room than a mini van would give us.

I am going to have to travel to even look at purchasing the vans. I live in Central Pennsylvania and there are not any dealers around me.

I am a little nervous after reading some problems with reliabilty. Also, we do not have a lot of money to spare to have a van in a shop for repairs. Since they are no dealers around me, I would think that this could cause some troubles.

I am looking for the positives and negatives of the vans. One negative is the brake wear that I have read about. My wife had an old BMW and it seemed I always putting rotars and brake pads on the car. I actually bought a troque wrench for just reparing the brakes on the vehicle.

Any help that you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Also, what should I expect to pay for a 7 passanger van with out the frills.

Thanks,
Justin

[wh2o]

JustinJ,

I just bought a 2006 passenger Sprinter. 118 with a High Roof. I bought it for the family as well.

I read alot of information about the vans, and realized that most people using them are working out of them. Not using them as family vehicles. This must be taken into consideration, due to the fact that it will be driven much differently. Mind you that tools and what not are heavy and they are rarely moved out of the van. Using it as a family van, the weight will vary greatly therefore extending th life of the van. Just my .02

I decided to go with the 2006 because there is a big difference in size between the 06 and 07's. Plus, right off the bat, the dealership dropped the price $4000. 07's were alot more even before they discounted. 2006 only in diesel. 2007 offers both gas and diesel.

As far as dealers, check out egolfmotors.com out of Hendersonville, North Carolina. They can help you out finding what you need. They have sold them all over the US. Ask for Dean in the sales dep. Not all dealers can sale Sprinters. The dealership has to meet a certain criteria.

I would go for it.

Hope this helps.

Michael

[jdcaples]

...
I am a little nervous after reading some problems with reliabilty. Also, we do not have a lot of money to spare to have a van in a shop for repairs. Since they are no dealers around me, I would think that this could cause some troubles.

I am looking for the positives and negatives of the vans. One negative is the brake wear that I have read about.
...

Any help that you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Also, what should I expect to pay for a 7 passanger van with out the frills.

Thanks,
Justin

Positives: the brakes have been upgraded in 2007, it's likely you'll get better fuel economy - and longevity - in the diesel version as opposed to any other full sized passenger van, regardless of engine

Negatives: 2007 represents some upgrades to the Sprinter line that I wanted before I placed my order... there's extra "risk" in that this is the first year of those upgrades being available in the states

Much text has been written in forums, and most of it scary. I was nervous for a while, but I realized that those who are posting are likely having problems and are reaching out.

I suspect most of the commercial users are experiencing more trouble-free day-to-day operations than otherwise.

Talk to people in person. Talk to Fed Ex or DHL contractors that are owner/operators contracted by those expediters. Get their take on things.

As for what to pay: It's really up to the dealer to dilute the margin. Get several quotes and at least pretend you're trying to make them win your business.
The shortest Sprinter Wagon has a list price of $34,350. I recommend the diesel, but that's a personal choice. The gas engine is $1840 cheaper. I'm not interested in gas engines any more, but - again - that's a personal choice.

If you want the taller version so you can stand upright as you walk to the back of the rig, get the high roof ( add $1800 to the msrp bottom line).

A dodge dealer indicated to me that he'd go $1000 below list.

I got a better deal at a freightliner dealership. Keep in mind that these vehicles are not MotorTrend's preference, so the lack of excessively common demand creates a dynamic that you might be able to leverage.

Then again, you're competing with a savvy bunch of consumers who might just pay list for a Sprinter Wagon on the lot.

Could you get a lemon? Sure. Could you end up having a 200,000 mile, trouble-free, ultimately cheaper-to-own experience? Sure.

I ordered an owner's manual from techauthority.com. It helped me figure out what "options" were right for me.

You have Freightliner dealerships in Harrisburg and in Cannonsburg.

You probably have more Dodge dealerships than Freightliner dealerships in PA.


Good luck

[JustinJ]

Thank you for your help. I found a Dodge dealer 65 miles away and talked to them about a price. I was quoted about 1750 off MSRP but would have to wait 6 months to get one. My wife likes the silver color which I found out adds 900.00 to the van. I feel that I can do better than 1750 off msrp.
It sounds like a lot of people are happy with their vans.

Justin

[elfamiglia]

Well, how many people are you shuttling most of the time. The Sprinter is very imposing and pretty much "stripped down" compared to an Odyssey or Sienna at that price. You can't park it inside a building or shopping mall. You can't take to an automated carwash or it would be a pain to wash it yourself. You might have to pay more at tollbooths(you might have to look into this). Plus the reliability of Mercedes is kinda in question right now as compared to the Honda or Toyota minivan.

I too was in the market for a 10 passenger (not 8 passenger) but all the negatives outweighed the positives. I will have 7 people to shuttle around. I decided to go with an '07 Sienna with 8 seats. It has curtain airbags for all row standard (none in the Sprinter), leather can be retrofited easier than in the Sprinter etc. plus the price was 26500 which was 5000 under MSRP. You can go to a Limited with 7 passengers plus AWD for the price of a pretty much stripped-down Sprinter.

The diesel version gets about the same MPG as the gas version of the Sienna or Odyssey. The negative for me was that I live in the Washington DC area and diesel pump was difficult to find. The closest one is 15 miles from my house. Within 1/2 miles from my house, there are 4 gas stations.

The gas version of the Sprinter gets very poor mileage. My dealer said to expect around 15-16 MPG which is in the same league as the Chevy Express and Ford E-Series Vans (which I did consider but reject right away).

So unless you constantly shuttling around 7 adults with lots of luggage, then I would consider the 10 passenger instead of the 8-pass one. Otherwise a minivan of any make would be a better choice.

[BlackBlue]

Buy the passenger version.
You can use the passenger version for working and cargo but you can't use the cargo version for people.
Also, the passenger version is quieter.