Considering some IC delivery work, using a Sprinter van.

Yeah, they're made by M-B, badged by Dodge and Freightliner.
Yeah, D-C is no longer selling them in the US, but M-B will be.
Yeah, there are forums for these things, but they're filled with gleeful owners, not objective dieselheads.

I've got people telling me "500,000 miles easy..."
I've got people telling me "very few issues, just keeps working..."
I've got people telling me "fuel economy in the mid 20s..."

I'm skeptical by nature, so I want to ask for your opinions, concerns, and questions. What should I look out for? What should I absolutely avoid? Any Independent Contractor delivery drivers on here? Does it pay enough to keep you doing it?

Speak your piece...

 

As far as the vans themselves we have a couple at work that we use for deliveries. They are 02 model year. Ours do get low to mid 20s for mileage. They have been pretty good. Nothing major except a couple injectors have gone out. Other than that I would have to say normal maintenance items. Not great in the snow but some studded tires and some weight fixed that. They sure beat the heck out of the GMC Savanah vans that they replaced both maintenance wise and fuel mileage wise.

 

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FrozenAssets:

I hate to be the "bearer of bad news" here Sir, but my local Dodge/Cummins Technician has seen ALOT of problems with those diesel Sprinter Vans! While the mileage IS GOOD on them, he sees alot of them with problems in the fuel system (injectors, pumps etc.) and if they ever "blow-up" or come apart, he feels they are pretty much a "throwaway" engine. The are not built like the Cummins 5.9 AT ALL! FWIW,.....I don't know of ANY that my Tech has worked on that EVER went to 500,000 miles! He did have ONE (1) that I saw in their dealer garage that had 205,000 miles and the motor was going to have to be replaced. That Sprinter dropped a valve and it hit the top of one of the pistons pretty much taking out the whole engine.

Now, with that being said, I am SURE there are some Members or owners that have had good luck with them, but that certainly has been what I have seen through my Tech.

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John_P

 

The I 5 sprinter is the only one I would consider. As John P has said, they do have some issues, but I do see a pile of happy owners who would not give them up for anything. I would say that there is something to the engine issue though,because they list a bunch of rebuilds on Ebay, any time I see something like that, it gives me reason to think.

I also know most of the V6 ( 07 and newer? ) Sprinter guys aren't happy with the mileage.

 

UPS is only getting an average of 100-125,000 out of the engines.

 

I know that my local dealer has about 10 they cant sell and are marking them down 10K.

125k I belive it the ups guys by my house beat the crap out of them. Pedal to the floor all day and shut them off constantly.

 

the I5 also had issues with cams breaking, causing all worlds of internal carnage.

That said, I do know of several units up here, that all have fairly high mileage.

The biggest beef I have heard from the owners of these units, is wiring to the rear of the vehicle. it is junk, poorly put together, and badly routed. Beyond that, the local owners seem pretty satisfied.

 

The ups sprinters are constantly on the back of our tow trucks. They are phasing them out.

 

Good feedback...thanks, DTR.

The alternative is an E250 (gas) cargo van. They're cheaper to buy, but are going to cost me a lot more in gas (even with the "little" V8). At 60K-80K miles per year, I figured a breakeven of just over 1 year (calculated with diesel prices $0.30-0.40 higher than gas).

Would you save some dollars and buy the gasser (then spend more each week at the pump), or take a chance on the diesel Sprinter?

 

I'd get the Ford gasser van. They seem to last forever.

 

Regarding the ford gasser motors, I can vouch for the 4.6 and the 5.4. Both are VERY tough motors, the 4.6 is VERY gutless but got good fuel economy, the 5.4 has better power, but you pay for it. Both motors will take idling all day then run them to red line pulling trailers and shut them off hot. We did that to them for years without issues.

The Chevies we had, would take the same thing, but got overall better fuel economy, the Dodges were the hot rods of the bunch with the 5.7, but the fuel economy was brutal.

 

Personally, I love the sprinter vans, but if UPS is only getting 100-125k out of em.. I wouldn't want to bother...
Scott

 

I had an 05 from new. Blew a glow plug 4 months ago. Parts in Canada are WAY TOO expensive and hard to come by. I could take the head off in 3 hours. Only proud of that because of the times I did have to take the head off to fix it. Definitely NOT made to repair with the undersized one time use hardware. Aluminum head is not meant to have bolts reused in it either. Up side lots of torque for such a small engine. Would not buy another one. happy with my 12 valve cummins.

 

Perhaps you could try looking for a D-max diesel Chevy/GMC Van? They are out there, but they are rare.

I've had high hopes for the Sprinter, but while they seem popular, they also seem troublsome. Let's hope the Fiat based replacement is better - (M-B has struggled with quaility for some time now). Looks like this may be it:
http://www.fiatprofessional.co.uk/ducato/

Overall, I still maintain that Ford makes the most solid van product. It's probably the only Ford product I would consider. I've driven 15-passanger Ford's with the 5.4 and the V-10 all over the US with the univeristy I attended, and overall, they just seem very well put together.

But if you're talking 50K + a year, and diesel engine would save you quite a bit in fuel costs, and maybe maintance. Or just plan to trade E350 vans ever 2-3 years - I would like to have it traded out by 250k, at least, if it were me.

 

Look at Autotrader, and put in "Chevy Express Van" 2005 - 2008. Fuel type = diesel. I noted about 40 of them nationwide.