Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Sprinter Van

Anybody owned one for traveling and camping? How'd you like it?

Parts and repairs are eye watering......

A couple friends have had them, one went to the ford with the eco boost and is happy with it, the other two went pickup truck and slide in camper.

As mentioned above, the repairs were numerous and very expensive. Not reliable enough to trust off the beaten path.

I had a couple several years ago for climbing trips. Those were fine for just me spending nights at trailhead parking lots or at turnouts on decent roads. Really just a place to sleep and cook. Not great for two people even after reconfiguring the interior, so we ended up going to a camper with a little more offroad capability and a little more luxury.

These days there are a lot of off the shelf ones with more capability. Back when I did it you just bought a used van and built the interior yourself.

S


Yeah, simple stuff like brakes and rotors.
3-4 times what you would pay for a similar class American pickup based platform.

Darn near big truck parts.

A buddy and I took their Mercedes’ version hunting several years ago. I thought it was tight, cramped and small with little benefit for the cost.

Thanks all, good input.

One of our mercedes equipped riggs came down with a nasty oil leak. Bill was $7500 to repair. They hah to tear the top of the motor apart. Oil cooler and pan gasket were bad. These bitches arent cheap when they fail

In and around the park lands I was seeing many of those EM-50 urban assault mercedes vans.

My aunt has one and loves it. My brother in law is ordering one within the year for his retirement. I don’t own one but do like them.

Lots of Mecedes overlander/campers pass through Utah

Must be good

When I retired from UPS in '11

My brown truck had a mercedes motor in it

Fuggin govennor shut it down at 72

Bass Turds

My Dad has the ford with the eco boost and all wheel drive.

He has a fridge/freezer,ac, and heater in it, he’s retired and so is his wife.

They spend a lot of time in it fishing and camping.

It’s hard to beat.

I would like one, Sprinter or Ford AWD transit. Great for pulling the boat and sleeping. Hit the coast,crab, fish sleep and repeat for a few days at a time.

This young UTube couple drives a Mercedes van

That would be a good time

Saw one used on a offroad you tube channel. No thanks! 150k and just short of useless.

The flooring company I used to do a lot of work for had 2 after about 5 years both were broken down and have been sitting rotting away for years now. Always breaking down, they got tired of repairing them.

Germany has a pretty sketchy looking manufacturing future. I would not be surprised to see expensive parts become unobtanium parts.

We had a 04 we converted into travel / camper.
It was great to drive got great diesel fuel economy.
Put around 180 k on it mostly between southern states and alaska.
Would not try one again, when they break you cannot find anyone who wants to repair them. Most mercedes shops had excuses to not work on them, so if you want to fix them yourself have at it. having had the transmission apart and top off of engine in addition to a few smaller break-downs i am not planning to buy another one just to have something to work on.

I would build a Unimog if I had such a need...

Lots of videos, but this couple is fun... and fun is good.