Yahoo Autos Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Road Test: Living the (cargo) #vanlife
Normally I write car reviews with the general thought that someone reading the thing might actually use it to determine whether buying one is a good idea. But a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cargo Van with the 170-inch wheelbase and high roof? Who can this really be for? The owner of a rooter company? FedEx? The Royal Mail?
So this is going to be different: a chance to experience and share what it’s like to drive one of these gigantic, high roof vans that have become increasingly common in this age of e-commerce. It also provided a taste of what #vanlife would be like for all those folks who buy a Sprinter like this, jack up the ride height, slap on some all-terrain tires and glamp out the interior to venture into the great outdoors … and really piss off everyone at campsites who don’t have one. I’m not entirely certain as to why, but I’ve gotten that impression.
In short, the Sprinter sure is different. The driver’s door unlocks with a metallic clack and pops open to reveal a driver seat perched at roughly torso height upon a body-colored metal box. In this case, Royal Mail red. You put one foot onto the cutout plastic step area and hoist yourself up into the cab, plopping yourself down onto the cushy, leatherette-clad driver seat. And yes, it’s officially “leatherette” rather than Mercedes’ usual MB-Tex. That would be a convincing leather substitute. This stuff is pure, sticky vinyl, which sure paired nicely with 90-degree days and several acres of windshield. Butts will be scorched, but at least it’s only a $62 option. No, I didn’t leave off a zero. It’s really just $62.
To crank up the air conditioning to alleviate butt scorching, nudge up the fan speed toggle to max. The Sprinter has manual climate control even though that toggle and the other buttons are normally utilized in the automatic climate control arrays of other Mercedes. This is just one of many examples where familiar Mercedes components are employed in a very unfamiliar way. The touchscreen features the same menu structure and graphics as an MBUX-equipped Mercedes car or SUV, but the display is tiny and doesn’t have a redundant center console touchpad. It would need a center console for that. The cool rotary air vents are shared with the GLB and other A-Class-derived Mercedes, but all the hard, scratchy plastic surrounding them most certainly is not. Similarly, the steering wheel design, controls and accompanying column stalks may be shared with a GLB, but it’s not wrapped in leather and adorned in metallic plastic trim. Its left-side menu buttons and touchpad operate an old-school, black-and-white trip computer screen between plain-Jane analog gauges. There’s no all-digital display here with multiple design layouts and dance club lighting.
There are multiple seating options available, including a suspension seat, a swiveling seat and “comfort seat” that adds additional manual adjustments. This Sprinter, however, came with the optional Comfort Plus power driver seat that’s motored into position using Mercedes’ usual door-mounted seat controls. It also includes manual thigh extension. With any of these choices, the seating position is akin to sitting on a kitchen chair with pedals at your feet. Taller drivers may find the seat doesn’t scoot back far enough and it’s not clear whether this van’s optional partition is to blame. It definitely renders the rearview mirror vestigial, though. I just pointed it up at the roof to remind myself not to look at it, but former Autoblog contributor Dan Edmunds discovered that if you leave it in place, it conspires with the partition window and dark cargo area to become a forward-view mirror. It gets quirkier.
Above that mirror are plastic shelves perfect for storing clipboards and such for FedEx drivers, and probably a boatload of Whole Foods trail mix for the glampers. Additional storage is found on top of the dash where the USB ports exclusively reside in a plastic bin behind the infotainment system. There are also cupholders up on top of the dash’s outer portions, including behind the instrument panel, which is exactly where I want to stash my hot coffee. There are four additional upholders in the traditional van location below the climate controls. In total, there are six cupholders for two seats.
Above the driver is enough headroom for Abe Lincoln to sit comfortably without removing his hat or, alternatively, all 6-foot-3 of yours truly to stand upright between the seats with my head just grazing the headliner. In the even-taller cargo area of this high-roof Sprinter, I can walk about without thinking twice about ducking. That would be why these make such good campers – fancy off-roading versions or otherwise.
