I was looking into a Sprinter van for a possible business idea. I see the 07 is a 3.0 and the 06 is a 2.7. Anything good or bad with the new models vs the old ones?

 

I have an '04 and it's been a good truck. The new motor is bigger, a v6, and makes more power. I never found a lack of power to be a problem, even in the Rocky Mountains.
Check in here to see the discussions about the differences:
http://www.sprinter-source.com/forum/index.php

 

I bought a couple here at work for deliveries. They are 02's. They seem to work fairly well. Mpg is great easily over 20. They are a bit light in the snow and need to run studded tires on the rear here in the winter. Had an injector go out but was covered under warranty. Drivers like them quite a bit. Cant speak to the 3.0 vs the 2.7. When the time comes to retire one of the other vans or add to the fleet I will definitly look at another one.

 

We have 10 of them here at school and they have been great. They all have the older engine and most of them have close to 50k miles of students driving them with no problems.

Powerwise, they are just fine for a van. Even with 10 people in one, they accelerate just fine. The mileage is consistently over 20 which is great. If you put a trailer behind them, they really slow down but that is not what they are made to do.

Driveability and comfort are great in them. They replaced a fleet of E-350s and the change is good. The sprinters have much better seats and much better visibility for the drivers. I find that the fatigue level is a lot lower. I find the comment about snow interesting because I have found them to be pretty good between running good tires and traction control(we do have a lot of weight in the rear though).

One thing that takes a while to get used to is the climate controls. It is worth reading that section of the manual because otherwise it will take forever to figure out from trial and error.

I don't have any experience with the newer engine but the old ones are the best passenger/cargo vans there are.

 

Aren't these the one's that FedEx dumped last year, because of tranny problems. Granted they put a lot of mileage on them, like they did with the step vans, but I haven't noticed any of them sitting on the lots waiting for buyers.

 

My buddy bought an '05 and with the exception of going into limp mode once it's been great. minimal legroom in the passenger seat though. Super quiet and smooth tranny and engine.

 

I'm waiting till they release a 4x4 model here. According to Sportsmobile, they are rumored to be out for 2008 models. They never made it here in the older models. Not many were even made though.

http://www.sportsmobile.com/6_news.html

I came close to buying one last year, but held off for the new model.
They are definitely nice to drive and look to be pretty well made.

The new models are either a gas V6 or diesel V6. Going to have to see how they compare to the I5 they had. I wish they would offer the manual trans. here and the crew cab pickup option. I have yet to see one made in the US yet though. They just opened a new plant in Charleston, SC, but Ive only seen imported vans from Germany so far. They look a lot more refined than the old ones. Lots of cool options. I'm going for the diesel fired heater option!

Well, thats my .02

 

I saw the new ones at the Sprinter dealer here and they are indeed more refinded. Wider track,better styling,but with more emissions,I'm sure. At the '06 Car Show here the 4x4 Sportsmobile offerings were for sale. Upwards of $100,000. Small tires too! They'd sink like a rock in the sand or mud.

 

Good info here . http://www.expeditersonline.com/cgi-...conf=DCConfID1

 

because of bad driving habits from being in a rush. Putting it in park while truck is still coasting to a stop and then to go, turn key, put in gear, and stomp on gas simultaneously. Also shifting to reverse while not completely stopping the forward motion first dont ask me how I know this

 

hate mine... gutless turd. fine for a fleet vehicle if your drivers are mindless drones. I hate it so bad, I'm changing jobs so I can drive a Cummins every day

 

thats why I intend to go self employed at some point soon, so I can drive a cummins all day

 

I'd love to go self-employed, but I haven't quite got the equity yet...

but the new job is giving me allowance and paying all my fuel... hmm... gonna swap the DDP4's for some Dragon Fly's

 

oh yeah... while I'm in mine thinking about it...

don't forget the most uncomfortable seat and the most retarded HVAC controls on earth!

 

I was looking into a local expedited/same-day delivery job. They are looking for vans. Maybe another option could be a 3500 chassis cab with a small box. This would get me 4x4 and manual transmission. But I doubt this would get 20 something MPG. There's always the DuraMax Express vans - not sure how those are.