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Ford has a van called the Transit. About the same size, maybe a little smaller than a Sprinter. Last time I talked to a Ford dealer, there were no plans to bring it to the States.

http://www.ford.co.uk/ie/transit/-/-

I am hoping that the manual trans versions of the Sprinter will come to the USA. Much better fuel economy. A Mercedes Vito would be nice, too.

Sprinters get about the same mileage whether they are empty or fully loaded- not the same as a gasoline engine.

Hopefully, after the ULSD issue is worked out, more diesel vans will be offered.

There is a nice Sprinter group over at Yahoo.

We can barely keep our Chevy vans running. One '99 1/2 ton and one '02 3/4 ton. The Astro vans, however, seem to be indestructable. We had a '97 Ford E150 with over 180,000 mi. on it, no major problems, but it got totaled when someone pulled out in front of the tech driving and ripped the front suspension out from under it. I currently drive an '04 silverado W/T with a utility shell over the bed. Love the quiet, smooth ride of the truck, and plus it's alot cooler than a "van". I call it "Service with Style"

Ilike mine

2005 chevy 2500 .. 3k miles so far......OEM tires suck in the rain....hard plastic door arm rest hard on the elbow....suspension kind of soft already for my likeing ....other than that i luv it cuz im not paying for it and its a nice new TOOL!

I've got 131,000 on my 2003 GM 2500. Changed the front brakes at 60,000 and 100,000 miles. And my inventory is really heavy. Great van so far.

I still have my 97 GMC Savanna 3500. Bought it new and it now has 128,000 miles. Only brake job was done at 75,000 miles.

No other problems.

Steamer,

I know where you are coming from. But, I mean we have mile after mile of washboard roads and in the winter the roads are extremely nasty.

If ya get slippin a little sideways..............well who knows what can happen!

I'll have to continue this one with you next week....I am outta here until Monday or Tuesday!

Bob

"The first is the high center of gravity, it's a tall very narrow vehicle and I don't want to worry about a roll over accident with my employees."

Geezus pete How fast do they take the turns,lol

Sprinters Rock, Ive gone down new subdivision roads that are all gravel and have no problem with control.

Plus its a Mercedes, ya cant say that about a Gord or a Heavy, Fords breaks are junk, chevys brakes are junk, chevys trannys are junk, As far as gas milage , ya cant beat the mercedes diesel, I allready cut down to 1 tank full a week vs 2-3 with the Fords triton V8, yes diesel is a little more per gallon, but overall Diesel will last 3 times longer then the standard gasoling engine, standard oil changes are 10k vs 5 k.

And the Power ladder rack is wonderful, styling I say, styling.

I looked at Sprinters. I have two concerns with that vehicle.

The first is the high center of gravity, it's a tall very narrow vehicle and I don't want to worry about a roll over accident with my employees.

The second is that I really don't think it's durable enough for our roads. The main county that I work in 51% of the roads are gravel.

i think ford and chevy have the employee discounts, not sure about the sprinter. i would drive all three with whatever normal weight you would carry in them. i think the sprinter would be a dog with 3000lbs in it unless you want gas mileage they probably get 20+ mpg with the same weight as my chevy has getting 10-12mpg with the a/c on. 300mi/tank

if you can put the ladders inside without racks your mileage will get even better. i got 80 more miles per tank when i had all my ladders on a job for a month

They've finally got rear discs?

I hate messing with those gigantic drums.. stinky gear lube everywhere.. and the axles always seem to fall over in the gravel.

Whatever that upgrade costs, it's worth it.

To help the door hinges out catch em before they get bad. Drive the pin out, drill a hole and thread a grease zerk into the hinge, reinsert pin. When you get an oil change ask em to shoot the zerk too (or do it yourself every few months).

Originally posted by neophytes serendipity
Two Words: Dodge Sprinter

I am waiting for a "Ford" sprinter van. In our fleet we have Dodges, Fords and Chevys. The local Ford Dealer gives us the best deals and the best service. We have had the best luck with Ford. The local Dodge dealer went out of business. The Chevy guy is a pompus jerk. So what can I do???

Two Words: Dodge Sprinter

I am looking at 3500 series, 6.0 engine, cutaway chassis with 12' FRP box on the back. They both have 4 wheel disc brakes, but I was suprised to notice that they had semi floating rear axles and not full floaters.

The Fords have been awesome, but getting inside those Chevys and the room that they have as well as the price makes them hard to pass up.

Damn..I feel better all over again.

2003 Chevy van 2500, brakes done at 40,000 and 75,000 miles.

God, I feel great about my Econoline 250 now.

Yeah, GM's factory brakes suck. We went with a heavy duty after-market brake & haven't had a problem since. And their tires! But that's another story for another thread....

I have a 2002 GMC Savanna 3500 with 90K miles and still have the original brakes. They're due to be changed, but they're not down to metal yet.

No other brake or hinge problems either. A side door hold-open strap broke a while back, but no big deal.

whatever you do get the 3500 series with the 6.0 motor, the factory brakes lasted 35k on my '04 which now has 4 wheel disc. the older vans a '95,'99,'02 has drums in the rear and the first set would last 15k then 10-12k after that. so the discs in the rear really make a huge difference and they stop on a dime. my van weighs 9200 lbs so its almost fully loaded all the time and i drive fast on the highway and in alot of stop and go traffic. besides brakes and tires i had the a/c compressor clutch brake and lock up everything causing the belt to break on the '99, over 300k+ miles total. i would buy a chevy van for myself without even thinking about it. the 2 fords that we have has in 12 years have been total junk and unfixable by any dealership