I traded one of my Rams in on a new Sprinter 10 passenger van with the 3.0 Diesel. I have to say I will miss the dually but I still have the SRW 3500. The van is awsome. very comfortable, quite, smooth riding. With the van my wife and I can put a little distance between us and the kids on long trips. e definitely need to put a DVD player in so they can watch movies. Anyway, it was hard to let the dually go but the van is great.

 

I seen a few over this past thanksgiving weekend on the road. They look really top heavy oh. Your going to have to share how it rides....please

 

Congrats on the family hauler. They are pretty nice.

Me and the wife test drove the old 2006 models and actually really liked them. How is the new 3.0 V6 diesel? The new models look like a great upgrade from the last version.

I just wish they still made the short wheelbase version and Im still holding out to see if they begin to make the 4x4 version here or not. If it does happen its supposed to be in 2008, but we'll see. They also raised the roof height a couple inches and I'm not sure if it would fit in the garage. Really cool vehicles.

Hope it treats you well. Have a good one.

 

Well, so far it's been great. I really like the ride. The power isn't like that of the Cummins but then this van is mainly for economy and at 20-25 mpg I'll be very happy. I did see a short wheelbase on E-bay. It was 118" and held 8 passengers. So if you are interested look at e-bay and keep checking. the looks we get are crazy. In the last week I can't tell you how many people have come up and ask what it is. It's like driving an RV. Huge windshield and lots of glass. I can feel the wind but it's very stable. Theres no comparison in ride from the Ram. The cool thing is I can get air bag kits suspension upgrades and a performance ship for it. I have a 7year/100,000 mile warranty so no computor upgrades for a while. I am going to install some guages. Everything is electronic. There is a menu which is controlled from the steering wheel that shows tire pressure and a warning system for the tires, oil pressure, oil level, oil temp, water temp, level etc. etc. etc. Alost to much, besides I like gauges anyway. But it really is very nice and a commercial rig so I hope it lasts a long time. Now when I drive my other Ram with the Cummins it feels like a powerhouse but hey, at $3.60/gallon I don't drive it much.

 

My father in law runs a yacht escort and drives a Sprinter and loves it. Of course he has modded the inside so that it's a homemade RV and at 23mpg's you can't go wrong. I drove the thing the other day and it felt like driving a school bus but I'm sure you would get used to it. If I were in the market for a van, I would definately go this route because you really get a real bang for your buck with this vehicle.

 

The test will be going up 50 to South Shore in the snow,thru Stateline,into Reno and,home over Mt.Rose."Got Chains"?

 

We have 10 of these vans at school and they do surprisingly well in the snow. We have Nokian Hakkapelita(sp?) with studs on them. The traction control on the vans does quite well for snow but it stinks for mud.

Like the report above, they are really nice to drive. I am glad to hear that you are enjoying yours.

 

If it snows I'll be taking the Ram. As a matter of fact I have neglected to drive my truck for a couple of weeks now and finally drove it the other day. I almost forgot how much I love driving my truck and the Cummins definitely has more power than the mercedes diesel. At any rate they are both a pleasure to drive and the kids love the van.

 

We just had one of those come in a few weeks ago at our shop, our local Culligan just bought one and we service their fleet. It did seem pretty nice, a bit of a pain to work on, I guess just because we weren't used to anything like that...being in a kinda small town and all. We had to special order the cartridge oil filter, noone in the area had one in stock, not even the Dodge dealer. Seemed to ride very good though, as top heavy as it looks. And defintetly not Cummins power, but it'll get up and go pretty decent.

 

I would say the power is adequate. I needed it for economy anyway but one day I will put a chip in it. One is made that will add about 40hp which would be perfect. It's called the "Digi CRS Kostal" and is about $650.00. A little expensive but sounds like a reputable brand. If anyone has any experience with this brand please let me know.