paddlenbike
Adventurer
I purchased a big metal box on wheels last month, but want to provide the back-story first. I've been on this forum for a number of years, mostly hiding deep in the bowels of the Toyota section. I have a 3rd gen 4Runner I've owned since 2005--it is lightly built with a 2.5" Tundra/OME lift, some body protection and a factory locking differential. The 4Runner has been a great all-around vehicle; one that I will likely never sell. That said, I've had the itch for some type of camper for many years now, which was perpetuated by having a 2-year old daughter and the desire to not have to deploy a tent nightly on extended trips and the desire to have a hard-sided shelter that will allow us to comfortably travel year-round.
The only RV I have owned is a 4Wheel Pop Up camper I had mounted on my e-locked extended cab Toyota pickup. It was a great little unit, but I think the lesson learned was I did not enjoy off-road travel with the camper on the truck. Even though I had a capable truck and a light-weight camper, having the weight and my possessions sloshing around in the back didn't make for an enjoyable experience. Dirt roads were fine, rock crawling was not. This experience weighed heavily into my decision to forego a 4WD van, but more on that later. I also decided to skip a towable trailer--loved the little R-pods, but being limited to 55 MPH in California while towing, having to pay to store it offsite and like the camper, lacking the interest in shaking one to death on 4WD trails, I ruled this out too. The spontaneity that is afforded by a van parked in my driveway was very appealing.
I think I have looked at every RV made and have attended over a dozen RV shows in the past few years. Another thing became clear, no one makes an RV I wanted to own. Too much precious space taken up by inside showers, oversized closets, etc. I basically want something we can't buy in the U.S., a euro-style camper with a small galley, seatbelted seating for 4, sleeping for 4, a place for 4 to eat and play board games, diesel heat and outside shower. Sprinter forums has a great DIY RV section, which led me to the conclusion that 1) I would have to build my own and 2) with patience and a lot of time spent learning individual mechanical systems like batteries/inverters/solar, plumbing, etc., I could do this.
I decided a high roof van was what I needed, but not a Mercedes...their DIY camper forums are great but the vehicles are too expensive and the diesel emissions equipment too troublesome. I saw many small class b RVs based on the Ram Promaster, so I started by looking at those. I had some concerns with quality since my family and friends haven't exactly had great luck with Chrysler products. After seeing build quality issues in person and I was becoming more aware of transmission problems and traction issues that stem from a loaded-down RV conversion with a front wheel drive architecture; there was one final nail in the coffin--a friend was excited to tell me that he rented a Promaster for some work he had to do out-of-town, and then the next day he texted me to report the Promaster was on a flatbed as he had experienced transmission failure (shattered flexplate) on the freeway. I took it as a sign.
This led to the Transit. Great vehicle, but it has a proportion problem. The medium roof isn't as tall as the MB Sprinter and would force me to the mega roof in order to have headroom. Those are REALLY tall. That change forces the extended body, which I didn't want. And then there's the gas mileage...most report they get around 16 MPG after a camper conversion, with both the 3.7 and the 3.5 ecoboost. The diesel option is $5k and actually put it's price over the Sprinter. Adding a high top/pop top to a low roof van costs $5-8k, and the stealth factor isn't there when camping, so that was ruled-out too.
I was curious so I went to see a Sprinter in person. Truth be told, it spoke to me. It drove great, the steering actually has more feel than my now-sold 2013 Acura TSX. The proportions were right, the powertrain was great, but that price though.
This led to several months of my spare-time being spent on the Sprinter forums. I can provide more detail on this for anyone deciding between powertrains, but I had to rule-out the 4WD model. 4WD's are V6/5-speed only, which eliminates the ability to have the highly-praised 4 cylinder diesel with the 7-speed auto. It drives a lot better than the V6 diesel (mostly because the 4 cylinder has twin turbos that produce considerably less off-line lag than the V6, and 2 more gears in the transmission with much better programming), the 4cyl gets 6 MPG better economy, but the key for me was the 4 cylinder has a much less troublesome EGR/diesel exhaust emission system. The price spread between a 2WD 4cyl and a 4WD was $14,000. (Not a typo.) There is a year waiting list to order a 4WD and thus few people are able negotiate more than $1k off MSRP, AND MB does not offer the $3k cash back that is offered on the 2WD, + the cost of the 4WD option at $7,400. That's real money. Had the 4 cyl powertrain been available with 4WD and at a more reasonable price, I would have been all over it. Given all the pros and cons of different platforms and my previous experience with an offroad camper, I decided a 2WD van would be capable of taking me to most of the locations I wanted to go (dirt roads/fireroads, etc.), and for everything else I'd much rather be in the 4Runner anyway. That combination of rebates put me in MB for way less than I would have thought.
The only RV I have owned is a 4Wheel Pop Up camper I had mounted on my e-locked extended cab Toyota pickup. It was a great little unit, but I think the lesson learned was I did not enjoy off-road travel with the camper on the truck. Even though I had a capable truck and a light-weight camper, having the weight and my possessions sloshing around in the back didn't make for an enjoyable experience. Dirt roads were fine, rock crawling was not. This experience weighed heavily into my decision to forego a 4WD van, but more on that later. I also decided to skip a towable trailer--loved the little R-pods, but being limited to 55 MPH in California while towing, having to pay to store it offsite and like the camper, lacking the interest in shaking one to death on 4WD trails, I ruled this out too. The spontaneity that is afforded by a van parked in my driveway was very appealing.
I think I have looked at every RV made and have attended over a dozen RV shows in the past few years. Another thing became clear, no one makes an RV I wanted to own. Too much precious space taken up by inside showers, oversized closets, etc. I basically want something we can't buy in the U.S., a euro-style camper with a small galley, seatbelted seating for 4, sleeping for 4, a place for 4 to eat and play board games, diesel heat and outside shower. Sprinter forums has a great DIY RV section, which led me to the conclusion that 1) I would have to build my own and 2) with patience and a lot of time spent learning individual mechanical systems like batteries/inverters/solar, plumbing, etc., I could do this.
I decided a high roof van was what I needed, but not a Mercedes...their DIY camper forums are great but the vehicles are too expensive and the diesel emissions equipment too troublesome. I saw many small class b RVs based on the Ram Promaster, so I started by looking at those. I had some concerns with quality since my family and friends haven't exactly had great luck with Chrysler products. After seeing build quality issues in person and I was becoming more aware of transmission problems and traction issues that stem from a loaded-down RV conversion with a front wheel drive architecture; there was one final nail in the coffin--a friend was excited to tell me that he rented a Promaster for some work he had to do out-of-town, and then the next day he texted me to report the Promaster was on a flatbed as he had experienced transmission failure (shattered flexplate) on the freeway. I took it as a sign.
This led to the Transit. Great vehicle, but it has a proportion problem. The medium roof isn't as tall as the MB Sprinter and would force me to the mega roof in order to have headroom. Those are REALLY tall. That change forces the extended body, which I didn't want. And then there's the gas mileage...most report they get around 16 MPG after a camper conversion, with both the 3.7 and the 3.5 ecoboost. The diesel option is $5k and actually put it's price over the Sprinter. Adding a high top/pop top to a low roof van costs $5-8k, and the stealth factor isn't there when camping, so that was ruled-out too.
I was curious so I went to see a Sprinter in person. Truth be told, it spoke to me. It drove great, the steering actually has more feel than my now-sold 2013 Acura TSX. The proportions were right, the powertrain was great, but that price though.
This led to several months of my spare-time being spent on the Sprinter forums. I can provide more detail on this for anyone deciding between powertrains, but I had to rule-out the 4WD model. 4WD's are V6/5-speed only, which eliminates the ability to have the highly-praised 4 cylinder diesel with the 7-speed auto. It drives a lot better than the V6 diesel (mostly because the 4 cylinder has twin turbos that produce considerably less off-line lag than the V6, and 2 more gears in the transmission with much better programming), the 4cyl gets 6 MPG better economy, but the key for me was the 4 cylinder has a much less troublesome EGR/diesel exhaust emission system. The price spread between a 2WD 4cyl and a 4WD was $14,000. (Not a typo.) There is a year waiting list to order a 4WD and thus few people are able negotiate more than $1k off MSRP, AND MB does not offer the $3k cash back that is offered on the 2WD, + the cost of the 4WD option at $7,400. That's real money. Had the 4 cyl powertrain been available with 4WD and at a more reasonable price, I would have been all over it. Given all the pros and cons of different platforms and my previous experience with an offroad camper, I decided a 2WD van would be capable of taking me to most of the locations I wanted to go (dirt roads/fireroads, etc.), and for everything else I'd much rather be in the 4Runner anyway. That combination of rebates put me in MB for way less than I would have thought.
Last edited:
