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.

If it were me, I'd get a F250 and slide in camper. Much more off road worthy (4x4) and much more reliable.

Mercedes?

A friend had one, it was pretty nice

I had lunch with a former colleague a couple of years ago and he was having one built by one of the "custom shops". I am not sure what the base chassis was. I'm thinking he was looking at $200K or so. I have not spoken with him since so no idea of the outcome.

We haven't owned a camper van but my wife loves the idea. She's always looking at camper van web sites about all the neat things people do to and with them. I HATE the idea. I don't want to be tied to a camp site where we have to pack up everything to go see anything and I HATE the extra cost of yet another vehicle to repair, register, and insure.

We ended up with a compromise - a Casita trailer. And, yes, it is a compromise. There are dozens of web sites about all the neat modifications people do on them. Most of them are adding things that Casita should have done at the factory. I've spent a lot more time 'modifying' it than camping in it.

Oh - you guy's looking at the Mercedes Sprinters - are you aware that they make an e-Sprinter version? You're welcome.

We saw several of these and a couple of Unimogs in Glacier National Park this week.

https://storytelleroverland.com/pages/2023-beast-mode

My dad built one from a dealer’s parts delivery van. Added rear a/c, bunks and a shower pan. He used it as a base camp for hiking the AT. Drove it from NC to Montana on a sightseeing trip. It threw a belt in SD and the belt tore something else on its way out. Had to be towed about 400 miles to a MB dealership for repair (unlike me he was an outstanding mechanic, so not something that could be repaired just anywhere).

As long as you have the camper package. I slept in one as a skinny kid. I can't imagine sleeping in one as an adult.

Do a deep dive into parts/labor costs of items that can and DO routinely fail on these, as well as the reality of getting towed to the nearest Mercedes dealer, which could be a looong ways away. In particular, research the exhaust system components.

Having done the above, where I ended up was an AWD Ford Transit. MUCH cheaper parts, WAY more dealerships, and lots of commonality with other Ford rigs so you might be able to get what you need at a NAPA.

To be clear, I don’t own a Transit. But we’ve been looking pretty hard at this and that’s where I’ll land if we go this route.

The good campers have a queen sized bed, room enough for a fat hunter and a girl friend.

Mrs. JeffO,

Thanks for sharing that you almost thought of buying something.

LOL

Fugkin' loser.

What level of fugking idiot thinks they need that to camp in Glacier National Park?

LOL

No one cares what you think ped_o

Ordering one for a retirement gift is the worst thing one could possibly do with money saved lol. Might as well pay someone to kick him in the balls every day

Most mercede delaers wont touch them which really sucks, because you will need help for sure. Any camper is an awful investment. These seem to be a bit worse than many

Sprinter dealers work on camper conversions all the time without question in my experience. Not all Mercedes dealers are Sprinter dealers.
RVs in general are poor investments, that's not why most people buy them. In recent years Sprinters have held their value pretty well.

In 7 years of ownership I've spent $30.00 on parts for my Sprinter and that's because I chose to go OEM instead of aftermarket windshield washer nozzles. I do think it's stupid that I had to replace them when on every other vehicle I've owned they've lasted the life of the vehicle.
The lack of dealers is a valid concern when traveling or if you don't live in a major metropolis.

Good to know, moto.

I’ve certainly read about lots of “van life” folks having much worse luck than that, usually with the newer ones when they made the exhaust system into a Rube Goldberg device. I also ran across a thread where a guy supposedly running a small commercial fleet of them was at wit’s end over it. Said there’s 3 main components to said exhaust system; each costs $2k; and each can and will fail, and you are beholden to the dealer for parts and labor for the repair.

A fishing buddy of mine has an older Sprinter (back when they were branded Dodge) and has had good luck with it, but I don’t think the OP is looking at 15+ year old versions.

Whereas, I like what I’ve heard about the Transits. They don’t have the snob appeal but who cares.

My takeaway, having debated this one round and round with my wife, who wants to play around as van-lifers, is there is no perfect solution. I can find a fatal flaw in a panel van, an over-cab camper, a trailer, a big SUV conversion, a camper van, and so on. Pick your poison.

Some of the new lightweight over-cabs are interesting to me because I already have the truck- which is half-ton so it would have to be an ultralight shell- but DAMN those things are expensive!

We thumbed a ride from a couple our age in NM this spring.. they were pulling a hard-sided pop up trailer behind a Forerunner. From the back seat, the Toyota hardly knew the trailer was there. Certainly it felt like less weight than my 20’ aluminum boat behind my Tundra. They were proud of their solution and we oooh’d and aaah’d over it when we got where we were going and they deployed it so we could check it out. I liked it. More importantly, my WIFE liked it. I think that’s the route we’d go, but, it’s far from perfect to be towing something for long distances. Says the guy who replaced the seals in one of his boat trailer hubs this morning. Trailers are a PITA.

The nearest Mercedes dealer to me is 140 miles. That's a no go.

You would be surprised how many times a week i hear someone say that their rv is their investment and sprinter dealers are harder to find than a mercedes dealer that will work on an rv

I have heard this elsewhere regarding Sprinter type vehicles. That would be a huge turn off.

Is that the only reason keeping you from buying?

Buy a Ford

And yet...: My parents bought a retirement property in Georgia several years back - pretty far from my sister and I and our families in Idaho. With their advanced age (in their 80's) we both committed to visit them 4 times a year each, on staggered schedules, to ensure their health and safety. She commissioned a Storylander in 2019, and my wife bought, as a present for me, a Winnebago Revel in 2020. Sis has near 40,000 miles and we have near 45,000 because we decided to buy a hunting property in the southeast that we visit more frequently.

Problems: 0
Recalls: 0

ALL maintenance at Mercedes dealerships. (I don't know where these internet truths come from!!???)


As an aside my wife and my main home is in pretty rural Idaho and we both drive AMG's as our primary vehicles with ZERO issues related to dealerships... Wanna bet there aren't too many ao's more remote than us from a dealer?

People go for them because they're the cheapest high-roof vans on the market and can sell under $5000 if you look hard enough. The 25 highway mpg is also a bonus.

I own a 2006 Sprinter and the parts aren't that expensive compared to other diesels. I've driven from NY to Key West and back, never broke down. The van is super easy to work on and an authorized mechanic is not required if you have basic mechanical skills.

Don't the American Pickers have a Sprinter van ? Never heard them complaining of frequent break downs.

I follow a couple chicks on IG that do the van life. They make it work.

Ford Transit is the best. Promaster pretty good too. Mercedes is far away the worst. Built out two Transits and 2 Promaters. Old Mercedes under Freightliner when diesel was cheap and diesel engines were not crippled by EPA, were fantastic. Today they are horrible.

We love van travel. Over 60,000 miles cross country. Promaster with front wheel drive handles like a minivan and gets same mileage. We aren’t huge people and prefer the bigger ones. No reservations. No schedule. Pull over anywhere. Transit is more substantial. Power steering sucks. Diesel makes no sense today. They have to run so hot to pass emissions is one big problem. Gucci prices another. And just [bleep] components in general for Mercedes.

The key is to not neglect maintainance and don't ignore check engine lights. Also, this van is the widest, allowing even a tall person to have a horizontal bed setup without hitting the walls.
One note: to handle rough roads require a seriously tough build. Even just rough fire roads will have you cringing at the sounds you hear from the back. For a nice build, bite the bullet and get a pro job. It's expensive and slow but unless you're a 12v electric expert, know how to do conversion kits, or an expert in upholstery and propane installation - you're gonna have a mess on your hands.

When I vacation out west, I see sprinters all over the place. Are the Ram ProMasters the same vehicle as a Sprinter?

They were the same until 2018 but then Ram and Mercedes went their own way. Very similar.

Sticka shock😵‍💫

Also the smell of the people living in them.

One of the women I work with has a sprinter thather and her husband travelled around in for a couple years. She’s back to take care of her elderly grandmother now, but is looking forward to getting back on the road.

Of course, the first time I met her, I had to ask:

If I ever with the lotto, a Unimog will be on the list. Dunno that I’d want one in camper, at least where I live. They don’t exactly do highway driving well, at least not any decent speed. I’d love it for runs to the hunt camp, though.

Buy a clean used one or a short bus and put a fire breathing Drivetrain in it

Heading west after being back home in Virginia visiting family, I took a frontage road off of I 40 west of Albuquerque in New Mexico. They had a dealer selling them there... They had several out front with the sticker price, printed large in the front window right out front. They went for $190k to $220K.

My son does volunteer work, teaching Explorer Scouts at an Ambulance Agency over in Medford... they went from the Ford Diesel Ambulances to the Mercedes ones. The Mercedes got better mileage. they keep their ambulance 200,000 to 250,000 miles, as they are on running or idling 24/7. My son was saying they were having to replace the Mercedes Diesel engines, two to 4 times during the 200 to 250K service life they give them on their books.

My opinion

There is no perfect solution

40' toy haulers do not interest me or my budget

Class A MH's at a kool $250K...nah

$150K Sprinter

My set up with a 20+ YO Lexus/Cruiser & tear drop works now for me under $50K

I can camp in BFE when needed and not a soul around for 50 miles

Definitely a certain appeal to that. Wife is not a camper, but I could get into have an over-the-road home.

I really like that rig (trailer mostly)... plenty of logic... spare tires... Sleep/Stuff access etc.

Ballpark $ (if that is not a rude question)... how much is everything (including gear) aft of the truck hitch?

You have no obligation to answer of course... I am just curious on value/bang for the buck... Kinda thing.

Point being... I can spec a 8.5 x 12-14 enclosed with a high roof for maybe $9k on a pair of 5k axles.

Nowhere near as sleek, but still damn rugged and functional for my zone.