I have had the same dilemma for years as many of you that have posted in this thread. I'm a 4WD guy and wanted a van that could take me into the backcountry. I ended up ruling out the domestic vans (E-series, Chev/GMC) because I hated the way they drove on the highway and the fuel economy is not so great. I wanted to like the Transit but the gas engines don't get very good economy (once the vans are built-out), the medium roof isn't tall enough to stand up in, which forces the mega roof, and then you just end up with odd proportions.
I've read nothing but good things about the new-ish 4 cylinder diesel (24-26 MPG!) in the Sprinters, so I bought one. They don't seem to have the emission problems as the V6 models...go figure that a new engine designed to meet today's emissions laws is not going to tax the aftertreatment system as hard as the old V6 does. But you can't buy a 4WD model with the 4 cylinder, so I ended up getting a 2WD. In the process I learned that Mercedes is offering some great deals on the 4 cyl 2WD models--there ended up being a $14,000 spread between what I ended up with and what the same dealer could do on a 4WD. (The 4WD is a $7400 option, plus it doesn't qualify for the current $3,000 cash back from Mercedes, AND dealers won't negotiate off MSRP very much--I negotiated thousands off on my 2WD.) I ended up paying only slightly more than what a ProMaster costs and about $5200 less than a diesel Transit. I still have a 4WD 4Runner for getting into the backcountry...I just couldn't live with the other van options out there, so any choice would have been a compromise in some way. Now if VW imported the T6 California, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
