Ford Transit AWD vs Mercedes Sprinter 4x4 | Why We Bought a Transit Camper Van

Transit versus Sprinter. Which is a better platform for a camper van build? I've spent time in both and here are my thoughts. We tried to make this as much of an apples to apples comparison as we could. Both of these vans have been converted by Storyteller Overland. The interior builds of both are the same but on the exterior two completely different builds here. This is the Ford Transit 350 AWD with the 3.5 liter EcoBoost engine. That is a 4x4 Mercedes Sprinter with the V6 diesel engine. It's worth noting that the Ford Transit is actually our personal van and towards the end of this video I'll give you our reasons as to why we chose a Transit over the Sprinter. Now looks of a van can be very subjective. Personally I prefer the Sprinter. I think the Sprinter has a better stance. I like the front end it has more of a mean look than the Transit does and just overall I think it's a cooler looking van. In terms of suspension the four-wheel drive Sprinter comes with a factory four-inch lift so it sits taller off the ground than the Transit does. This particular Transit has an aftermarket suspension with a two-inch lift and larger tires. So the Transit right now is sitting about as high up as you can get it and you can definitely tell the difference in ground clearance between the Transit and the Mercedes. In terms of off-roading capability between the two vans in my opinion I believe the Sprinter is the better of the two. First of all it has a transfer case which means you get a low range. It also sits higher than the Transit does so you get more ground clearance plus there is a broader aftermarket for the Sprinter which means you can find a lot more suspension upgrades larger wheels and tires skid plates etc. Whereas the market for the Transit right now is pretty limited. Now the Transit is no slouch off-road. The interesting thing about these two vans is with the Sprinter it is a rear-wheel drive van until you turn on the 4x4 system. With the Transit it's all-wheel drive all the time with selectable modes depending on the type of terrain you're driving on. There is a slippery setting for snow and ice or if you're going off-road there's a mud and rut setting. There's also an eco setting which helps you save fuel as you're driving down the road. In terms of power there is a clear winner the Ford Transit. With the 3.5 liter EcoBoost twin turbo motor it produces 310 horsepower with 400 foot-pounds of torque. The Mercedes Sprinter on the other hand with its V6 turbocharged diesel puts out 188 horsepower with 325 foot-pounds of torque. So what does this mean for real world driving? I found that both vans on a flat highway do fine but once you get to a hill I found the Sprinter to be underpowered. Here's a perfect example. I was driving the Sprinter while Kate was following in the Ford. Now our Ford is fully loaded with the motorcycle on the back and the Sprinter just had the conversion inside with no cargo whatsoever. So there was a significant weight difference between the two. As we're going up a steep incline Kate is behind me and the Sprinter starts to lose speed. My foot is on the floor and I've downshifted the Sprinter as far as it will go but it just won't go any faster. Kate on the other hand was able to pull over and fly by me up the hill without a problem. What we've found is that when we're driving the Transit we leave it in cruise control it'll go up hills maybe downshift once or twice but it has no problems whereas the Sprinter when you get it on a steep incline it just can't handle it and it starts to lose speed. For mpg with my driving style I'm able to get 14 mpg with the Sprinter and 12 mpg with the Transit. That said though diesel is more expensive right now so it's actually less expensive for us to fill up the Transit than it would be the Sprinter. With the Sprinter you also have to worry about depth and filling that tank on a regular basis. Both vans are fairly similar in size. The Sprinter high roof has a 144 inch wheelbase and the Transit high roof has a 148 inch wheelbase. Now let's go inside and see the differences between the two vans. One noticeable difference between the Transit and the Mercedes is the height of the sliding door. In the Transit I have to duck down in order to look outside or even get out of the van. So here's me standing. I'm 5'11". I have to come down to get out. In the Sprinter I can look right out and I really don't have to duck to get out of the van. That said there is a significant height difference between the Sprinter which I'm currently in and the Transit in terms of roof height. So in the Sprinter I'm 5'11". This is about how much room I have between my head and the top of the ceiling. And now I'm in the Transit and you can see the difference between the two vans. With the higher roof obviously it's much better for taller people so they're not banging their head or have to duck down. But when you're in the van regardless of how tall you are the higher roof makes the interior of the van feel a lot bigger. Back in the Sprinter I prefer the driving position of the Sprinter versus the Ford Transit. I find where the steering wheel is positioned better suits me. It's a little bit further forward. And I prefer the factory Mercedes seats over the factory Ford seats. In the Ford Transit I found the factory seats to be very uncomfortable so we swapped them out with these aftermarket Shielman seats. But as you can see the driving position, the way the steering wheel comes out and everything else is very different from the Mercedes Sprinter. And in the Transit the shifter is right here and then you have this screen which is your entertainment system and info center. In the Mercedes this is the entertainment and info center here. And then the Mercedes actually shifts using this lever. So if I start the engine and that's another difference between the Ford and the Mercedes is the Mercedes has a push button start whereas the Ford you still have to use a traditional key. Now if I want to shift this into reverse or let's go into drive. Down into drive. In for park. And then up for reverse. When we're in reverse this is one feature I really like about the Sprinter. This is your reverse camera but you also have a 360 camera. You can also change the camera views. In the Ford if I go into reverse you get a basic rear view camera. If I'm in drive there is a feature where if you're going under five miles an hour you can turn on your front camera and you can see obstacles in front of you. Based on our experience the service costs for the Mercedes Sprinter are going to be higher than the Ford Transit. One of the reasons for that is that the Transit has the gas motor so maintenance in general tends to be less. Now also from our experience when we were on the summer trip with mom in a Sprinter we put over 11,000 miles that summer on a Sprinter and had to get an oil change done. I called multiple Mercedes dealers in the areas we were going to. All of them were booked out for at least a month on an oil change and at the end of the day I had to find an independent dealer who was able to do the work for us. With Mercedes there are just under 400 dealerships nationwide but you can get service done at some Freightliner places. With Ford, Ford has over 3,000 dealerships nationwide so even in very small towns you're much more likely to find service for a Ford than you are for the Mercedes. Of course there are a lot of other differences between these two vans especially depending on what options are ordered for each van but these are some of the differences that really stood out to us. First and foremost Kate and I find that driving the Transit for us is much more comfortable than driving the Mercedes Sprinter. It drives more like a car and with that 3.5 EcoBoost motor it has plenty of power to get us up even the steepest of mountains. We also love the fact that it has a high roof and the interior of our camper van build feels much bigger than it does in the Sprinter. We also rest assured knowing that even if we're going through small towns in the middle of the country that most likely we'll be able to find a Ford dealer if we have any problems with our Transit. And in general we prefer having a gas motor over a modern diesel especially because we're not towing anything and we don't need some of the benefits that a diesel offers over a gas motor. So which of the two vans is better? At the end of the day it's up to you to decide. They both have their pros and cons but it really comes down to how you plan to use the van. My suggestion would be to go out, find both, test drive them, really sit in them, spend some time and see what works for you. But that is it for this video. I'd love to know what you think in the comments below. If you enjoyed it, please give us a thumbs up. Subscribe if you haven't already. And if you want to see some more cool content, head on over to our website at weretherussos.com and we'll see you next time. Bye!