I've been in my company issued Sprinter since they bought it for me in Oct. of 2010. It's a 2010 3500 long wheel base tall roof with HD rear end. I'm on vacation as we speak and the Sprinter is in at the body shop getting the right rear cargo door replaced due to my parking by the braille method (it was the tree's fault, I swear). As long as it's there they are going around it and sprucing up some of the rust spots. A 4 1/2 year old van with 90,000 miles on it shouldn't be breaking out in rust spots in the middle of body panels, out from under door handles, etc. The Sprinter has had constant service issues since new. Parts replaced to date include: all 6 glow plugs, some more than once, glow plug controller, def pump, def heating element, AGR / EGR valve, part of a glow plug wire harness that burned through near the turbo, Front exhaust pipe including cracked flex pipe, pinion bearing in differential, strut bearing / mounts, plus more I'm sure I'm forgetting. The majority of this work has been covered under the emissions warranty, but it is still at least a day of downtime every time it has to go in for service. The closest dealer is over an hour away. Granted this is a plumbing service truck that is always loaded within 1000 lbs. of max GVWR. It's used for 6 or more short runs daily, primarily within a 20 mile radius. Only occasionally does it see extended interstate driving of an hour or more. Not ideal driving conditions for a diesel, but they don't offer it with a gas motor, and at the time it was the only van available with this capacity. Now that there is real competition out there, I doubt we'll ever buy another. I also question weather a PM like my personal vehicle would hold up to the heavy load we have in the Sprinter. A local electrician has an extended 3500 PM that is very heavy and used for towing. The dealership told me they already had to replace rear spring u-bolts on that van. I likely won't get to find out how a PM would hold up to my work use. My boss has a severe case of Ford on the brain. He just purchased two new transits for the fleet and when he gets sick of paying to fix the Sprinter, I'll likely be driving a long wheel base tall T-350 with an eco-boost. I don't like that idea because anything over 9' won't fit though drive thru's etc. Yet the medium roof won't be tall enough for me to stand inside of. When he bought the Sprinter, my boss said he'd like to see it go 10 years and 200,000 miles. With what it's been like so far, there ain't a snowballs chance down under. Once it's out of warranty and he has to pay for the emissions repairs, he'll get sick of it in a hurry. Service trucks need to be way more dependable than the Sprinter has been.
