Pros and Cons Comparing Vans

[Whitehot]

Lookin into buying work van, the Ford Transit or the Mercedes Sprinter. Both would be diesel , both would be Long wheel base, and the tall ones... Anything i should be looking at ??

[Scrape]

I have no idea why I thought this thread was about these Vans.
31362

I guess Marketing works. lol

[5.4MarkVIII]

fuel economy. cost/ease of service. comfort of drivers seat.

those are the big three for me.

[Zutz2v]

Generally the Mercedes is more to maintain. Both great work vehicle’s. I wish I had a Transit 150 for myself personally.


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[ZR]

I'd also compare cost to operate gas vs diesel once out of warranty.

[redo75]

Can you buy extended warranty for vans that includes regular servicing items?

[Zutz2v]

If I had proper parking I’d even consider an enclosed trailer.


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[StAnger]

If I'm not mistaken, didn't Ford discontinue the diesel in the Transit?

[ChickenLips]

diesel EGR systems are a source of a lot of maintenance woes. That said I had a Sprinter for just over 100k with few issues and great mileage. I drove it very conservatively, no winters. Drive train is generally good, body and wiring is a known soft spot.

Dodge is another option.

I believe there's a gasoline version of the Sprinter available. In general I find Mercedes design to be typical over complicated German philosophy. If Toyota or Lexus made a van I'd look very closely at it.

I'm all about cost of ownership over the life time of the vehicle. Initial outlay, operating cost, maintenance cost. There's reasonably good info on all three contenders on all fronts for this. I'd also look into the vanlife YT, FB and socials as these folks have a lot of long term use experience.

[Whitehot]

I am leaning towards diesel , alotta out of city driving ...

[5.4MarkVIII]

I am leaning towards diesel , alotta out of city driving ...

I can’t speak for the transit size but the extra maintenance cost of the diesel in out medium duty truck far exceeds and fuel savings we have seen over any gas one we had previous. Especially since diesel is no longer cheap. It’s usually more at the pump than gas is.


There is a huge following for these vans in the “van life, camping” crowd. A group like that may have more insight into cost of ownership.

[Laffs]

We have run every combo of brand, chassis, wb, and powertrain imaginable on our service vans. Findings would be as follows.

Gas vs Diesel. As I've stated time and time again if you do not NEED the diesel for any reason (basically: towing with the vans) then it's likely a better long term play to get the gasser. Cost of entry is higher used and if you're buying new Transit are now 3/7 PFDI gas or the Ecoboost Gas. No diesel option anymore which has pushed the used market on those vans up. The big caveat I'll say is if you are long distance running like a courier or disaster relief/emergency restoration there is long term benefit to the diesel vans but I'm talking 40,000+ kms a year.

Diesels need more attention by way of additional fluids (DEF as needed, def recommend a fuel treatment, winter fuel additives) and if you idle a lot plan to have emissions issues at some point if you don't take it out for a highway jog regularly to blow out the soot.

Fuel economy, yes the small diesels do beat the gassers in terms of saving fuel. My 2018 T250 with the small Powerstroke is averaging 17l/100km right now. I have 2 Ram 1500 Promasters with the V6 gas both averaging 21L/100km in the same service environment. We average 25,000kms on the vans per year, so the T250 used 4,250L of diesel last year and each Promaster burned 5,250L of gas. Todays diesel price is $1.96L and gas is $1.62L, so at todays price the fuel in the T250 for a year is $8,330 and the Promaster is $8,505. So a savings of $175/year (at todays pricing). This spread gets more enticing the more miles you run obviously, so factor that in as stated above. The purchase price on the Diesel T250 was $48,000 used with 60,000kms on it (could not order new during 2020 nightmare and needed a van), the Promasters were less than 45k new in 2019. I ordered a brand new 2022 Promaster 1500 that's being delivered this week and it was about the same price as the used T250 for reference.

Everything else comes down to making sure you spec the van for your needs. We run high roof standard wheelbase models. The long wheelbase vans offer no advantage for the type of work we do and are harder to maneuver in the city than the standard wheelbase by a large margin. If you need the extra wheelbase so be it, but there's a shocking amount of room in a standard wheelbase van. I could not go without the high roof, makes life so much easier for the guys to be able to stand up inside. Like wise run the math on the chassis and payload needed for your application. We can get away with 1500 vans generally and it really keeps the cost down both on purchase and on maintenance and ownership.

Our model for vans is (generally) buy new to our specs, run them for the warranty period then sell to recoup the most equity from the vehicle and start the cycle over. Long term this has proven to be cheaper than running used vans in to the ground and incurring repairs a long the way. It's also easiest to predict costs from this standpoint as well as you know purchase price, account for oil changes, a set of tires and a set of brakes. Generally the equity is rolled right in to the cost of the next vehicle which has been very favorable to us over the last 4 years.

Final point I HATE Sprinters, rust buckets with terrible wiring. Motors generally good but everything falls apart around it. Don't make sense to buy them new in my opinion either but that's me. That's all subjective mostly.

[Whitehot]

Well... ordered a 2023 extended tall van today , $2500 more than any used one I ve seen .... gonna wait for a while... no one knows how long but it ll be a beauty AWD and Nav ... can t wait to get her home :)

[RedSN]

2 pages of which van, and then you don’t tell us which van you got? :choke:

[Whitehot]

The Ford, mostly because of serviceability. I d have to drive a bit for service of the Mercedes . It s a 250 with longer and higher build. Also with the Nav, it s $2000 cheaper than a used one of similar build. The V6 gas, with 10 speed tranny. AWD It ll have a glass rack inside and permanent chop saw mounted inside also . White to help reflect heat off the roof and lettered up with red ( Yellow ) font for the business :) Thx for the help guys ...

[1quikgt]

Just don’t get a Dodge. We have some at work for Handi-Trans. Quite possibly the most uncomfortable driving experience I’ve ever had in my life.

[ChickenLips]

I'd say Laff's feedback is the most useful. Long term experience with the various options is pretty valuable.

I bought this, or I bought that feedback is less helpful. My only experience with van is a 2010 Sprinter I had for about 8 years. I babied it and didn't winter drive and only put 100K on it, that were near trouble free. I had it outfitted as a stealth camper and lived in it for a couple months at a time, so my usage is probably unique and not applicable. Only a glow plug, but there was some EGR work under warranty. Laffs feedback tracks with info I got from other Sprinter owners.

I will say that I noticed a marked difference on van condition if it was the owner driving it or an employee, but that probably holds for all vehicles.