Overview & Reviews

On the surface, a commercial-use Mercedes-Benz van seems like a reckless extravagance. But that's only among folks unaware that Mercedes trucks and vans are sought-after workhorses on European highways, moving goods and hauling freight while its passenger cars ferry the business class. And compared to full-size American competitors, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter actually offers a number of unique design attributes.

For one thing, it's tall. Its load floor is among the lowest for a full-size van, and with the taller of two available roofs, someone 6-foot-3 can walk around upright inside. And in its largest configuration, the Sprinter offers massive storage capacity of 547 cubic feet. In people mover form, the Sprinter can carry up to 15 passengers in five rows in its longest guise.

Yet despite its long and wobbly stance, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter actually feels pretty maneuverable around town thanks to a modern chassis design that feels a lot less trucklike than cargo and passenger vans from Detroit. Its standard turbodiesel V6 also offers better fuel economy than domestic V8s. Horsepower and acceleration, however, are best discussed in relative terms. Despite its name, the Sprinter is better suited to urban and suburban environments rather than the highway.

Current Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a full-size van, available in Cargo, Crew or Passenger configurations. Cargo vans offer two front seats only, while the Crew is essentially a Cargo van with a second-row bench seat. The Passenger van features four rows and can carry 12 passengers. The larger MiniBus model adds a fifth row for a total of 15 passengers.

All models are offered in 2500 styles with two wheelbase lengths (144 and 170 inches). The Cargo is also available as a 3500 model, offering increased payload capacity. Standard features on most Sprinters include 16-inch wheels, a wood cargo floor, 270-degree-opening rear doors, air-conditioning, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel and a two-speaker radio. Stability and traction control come standard, as do front airbags.

A bewildering array of options allows owners to precisely tailor their vans and includes a driver-side rear sliding door, parking sensors, a rearview camera, upgraded front seats, and rear heating and air-conditioning. Cargo and Crew vans can also get a fixed sunroof and roof rack mounting rails.

All Mercedes-Benz Sprinters receive a turbocharged 3.0-liter diesel V6 that makes 188 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. A standard five-speed automatic transmission sends power to the rear wheels.

You won't find wood trim, leather or actively bolstered seats in this Mercedes-Benz. And because the Sprinter is built for large families and commercial use, you also won't find power liftgates, "magic" seats, innumerable cupholders and other trappings of the modern family minivan or SUV. Instead you'll find notably better build quality and a more modern interior environment than in other full-size vans. The Sprinter's dash and control layout, for example, makes it feel more like a midsize SUV than its utility purpose suggests.

Used Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter debuted in 2010. Prior to that, Mercedes built the van for Dodge to sell under the same name. Neither the Crew nor the 15-passenger stretched-wheelbase "MiniBus" editions were available for 2010.

For more on the preceding Sprinter model sold by Dodge, read our Dodge Sprinter review.

User Reviews:

• Stay away from Mercedes! - 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By Steve Walser - November 30 - 5:23 pm

  Just heard from the dealer that, once again, Mercedes is out of the EGR valve that failed over 2 months ago and after sitting at their shop the whole time they now think it will be anothr 6 months!!! before they can get the part. 3rd time we have had this issue and each time we have had to wait at least 2 months for the part while our Mercedes sits in Jail since it is an emissions problem and can't be released. Mercedes has offerd NOTHING! No loaner, no compensation, no NOTHING! They've turned down my request twice to have them buy back the vehicle under our state lemon law without explanation even though we clearl;y qualify so now we must go to arbitration. It's a bad vehicle and a bad company. They have been having this issue for years and they continue to fail to either fix the issue once and for all or, at least, produce enough parts to keep up. Wish I'd known this before I paid them 70K for this POS. If they won't help a rpeat commercial customer why would they help you? Stay away.

• Worst. Decision. Ever. - 2012 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By Jeff Barcus - July 14 - 12:18 am

  I purchased a sprinter van brand new off the lot at sticker price. Haggling was not an option. Despite their stuck up attitude, I purchased the van. Fortunately, I did also purchase the extended warranty. I purchased the van as a service vehicle in the Commercial Refrigeration industry. High roof, extended wheelbase, Diesel engine - how could I go wrong? Well, I’m going to tell you. That van was in the shop since day one on average of every 2 1/2 weeks for something different every time. Mind you, everything that went wrong was mostly electrical. Tire pressure sensors, lightbulbs, light sockets, EGR, shifter, instrument cluster, fuse holder, DEF heater, and the list goes on. At 70 K the turbo went out. That is where I was happy I purchased the extended warranty. Two out of four rims leaked. I’ve never in my life had or ever heard of rims leaking. They tried to blame it on me saying that I was overloaded. Both rims that leaked were in the front. Was that a fat joke? I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to warranty the rims. Every time it broke, I had to get a ride back to my shop and use one of my other vans. I lost countless hours and who knows how much money playing this back-and-forth game every time it broke. I finally complained to the manager of the dealership and the best he would do for me is a free oil change. This is the Mercedes dealership in Eugene Oregon by the way. The manager’s name is Ralph and he’s an asshole. I have confirmed that with sufficient data. To top it off, I had left my van there overnight to be repaired the next morning, under warranty, with my keys in their care and control. That evening, a tow truck had dropped off a vehicle similar to mine right next to my vehicle. The owner of that vehicle decided to stay the night in the vehicle and supposedly let the E break off for some mysterious reason, causing it to roll into my van. The dealership was very quick to tell me about the situation but told me they had no interest in paying for the damage. They told my insurance people to piss up a rope. Ralph laughed my insurance lady off the phone. Unbelievable. If the fender wasn’t so cheap, I would’ve sued the hell out of them. This vehicle and the dealership it came from was the worst company decision I have ever made. To this day, eight years later, I still have nothing but problems with that stupid thing. I am so invested in equipping that van that I can’t yet part with it. Yes, it’s definitely the most comfortable van, has the best visibility, and definitely a smooth riding van. But for the love of everything holy, why did it have to be such a giant piece of shit. Please don’t buy one of these. Everybody in the industry that I work around that bought one regrets every day that goes by owning one. All they do is break! All the time! I’ve decided that when the transmission goes out, I will throw in the towel and buy a Ford transit van. Thank you for listening to my rant. And don’t buy a sprinter.

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  Transmission sucks - 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By Stan - May 12 - 9:54 pm

  The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter has an excellent feel especially power-wise with the torque of the engine being that its a diesel. Thats where the fun stops. The stinky little button that you press for Park makes you feel as if youre not sure if you really put in park or not because these Vans rollback of foot and sometimes almost two feet while youre trying to deliver packages. Anytime you put it in park even on a level ground it has so much rollback that you feel like youre going to lose your van and its going to roll down a hill. If Mercedes could get rid of all the gimmicky button pushing Park on the end of their flimsy little shifter and they didnt rust out like they were sitting on a Shore for the last 2 years they would be good

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  Dont buy any sprinter - 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By Brian Parks - December 29 - 2:48 pm

  I bought a sprinter powered vehicle only to find that most Mercedes dealers wont service them. I had no service within 300 miles of my home even Thursday there was 10 dealers closer.

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  Sprinter - 2013 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By Sébastien taillefer - June 1 - 6:04 am

  I have three sprinters and at 60000 Kim’s all of the three vehicles needed over $6000 of repairs on exhaust system. The dpf and nox sensor needed to be replace or the vehicle shuts down and only a Mercedes dealership can do the work. What a disappointment you think you buy a good quality vehicle but it’s garbage

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  why not to buy a sprinter - 2017 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By Brian Parks - April 1 - 2:59 pm

  I bought a Mercedes RV and no one ever mentioned the word sprinter. Now I am told that most Mercedes dealers do not service sprinters. I live near El Paso and have to go 250 miles for warranty or recall service. This is the worst decision of anything I have ever bought

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  Mercedes Benz doesn’t stand behind there vehicles - 2017 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By George Koval - July 19 - 6:57 am

  If I could give them zero stars I would I bought a new 2017 2500 cargo not even 1000 miles I started having misterious starting issues ( not engaging the starter it left me stranded for 20 minutes) brought it to the dealer they couldn’t recreate it so they did nothing then around 5000 miles the transmission started to shift hard and bang into gear brought it to the dealer they did a reprogramming of the trans module said it was fixed but I got it back and it was worse brought it back to the dealer they replaced the valve body again said it was fixed picked it up test drove it with shop Forman still not fixed they ordered another part and was told that it wasn’t available none in the world so they had my new van for 3 weeks got Mercedes Benz involved they shipped the part all the while I’m not working while they have my sole business van they got the part and installed it again said it was fixed I picked it up only to find it wasn’t fixed so now I’m angry so I take the service director for a ride he documented it wasn’t fixed sent emails to the Mercedes Benz customer care team where they informed him that as far as Mercedes Benz was concerned it was repaired and that they were not going to do anything more IE fix or buy it back as it’s still under warranty they basically have refused to stand behind there vehicles and make any reasonable attempt to get my van fixed and me back to work where to date it’s cost me over 20k in lost revenue so now I’m left with per suing a lemon law suit and I see this is there MO they don’t care about there customers only the Benjamins

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  New Mercedes Sprinter 4x4 Clunks like a Junker - 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By upset - February 16 - 10:37 pm

  Special ordered a Mercedes sprinter 4x4 van. Spent another $11,000 in options to make it some what comfortable (total $70,000!) After 10,000kms clunking in the drivetrain started to happen badly during start and stop and throttle on throttle off (All day Driving!) Took it to the dealership who said it was normal ?!?! ... As in "its a commercial vehicle, that normal". Took back again because it was starting to clunk and thump and clang! Dealership used some green glue on the output shaft or something to that nature, (They didnt provide details when asked either through lack of knowledge and training or more likely told not to discuss with customer) Non the less the green goop treatment lasted a couple days and the van was back to its clunking, thumping, knocking and clanging (NO EXAGGERATIONS!) So I take it back to the same dealership and they take it for a few days where they summarized with a single test drive that the clunking was in fact still there but considered normal. No “fault” found. So in utter disbelief from this abusive and deflecting attitude i called customer service head office in TO. After a Lot of rubbish and 2 weeks passing, some rep from Mercedes western Canada calls me from a blocked number! LOL...it gets Better!!! Says hes gonna fly out to drive the vehicle in a couple weeks and never does. Sends the western Sales rep instead? Based out of the same dealership that I was having a problem with. So right from the get go this guy is confrontational and condescending and Confirms on a test drive all the clunks are normal and says so in front of another dealerships Service manager and Shop foreman. Says "its normal because its a commercial vehicle" and also "i might be tricking the computer during gear changes." He also asks me, "is it drive-able and runs? i say "yes" and he says "then there is nothing wrong with it" Lmao! ... NO WORD OF A LIE!" ($70,000) SOooooo i let this other dealership have it for a week and they say that they checked the specs but the Mercedes engineer department that calls the shots on the phone, says "there isnt any specs" So they give me my van back and i think there is another knocking sound in there that wasnt there before! LOL That make a total 3-4 very distinct clunks, clangs, thumps and knocking. It only has 27,000kms on it now and it is so bad that i am going to get rid of it since Mercedes wont fix it and after 1.5 years i will be out about $15,000 if im lucky. Keep your eyes on youtube as i will be making a video that better explains the issues that will be supported by documents and first, second and third mechanic shops diagnostics. The Bottom line is that i feel like a whipped dog now, and I have wasted a tremendous amount of time, energy, patience and Money! To try and get them to fix a very distracting, annoying and obvious drive train clunking that wasn’t there for the first 10,000 kms, or when I test drove it, or when I asked various salesmen about any drivability concerns with a response of reassurance that it had a warranty. So at no time was it disclosed to me up to the time when I signed the contract that the van I would purchase would develop maddening clunking issues after it was broken in that would be explained to me as normal, no matter how bad it is because the vehicle still moves. So if you’re a sucker this van is for you?

• Mercedes Sprinter Garbage 2500 JUNKER VAN - 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By Frustrated AV Guy - July 29 - 7:10 am

  1 year in from a NEW CARGO VAN purchase and only 30k miles with 10 X Shop visits and more than 30 Days in the shop for Check Engine Light, Transmission issues, steering column replacements, electronics issues, Blue DEF issues. This van runs 16 MPG and is a DOG on the road. Mercedes hides behind their Tri-Star Badge and SELLS JUNK unreliable vehicles and does not stand by their product. Very frustrating Business Killing Machine. Now the thing has black sealant leaking out from the roof supports in the cargo area - told Normal as AZ is HOT. Seriously, GO FORD !!!

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  Too bad if you buy from mb - 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
  By John - January 3 - 5:56 pm

  Very very noisy inside. Brakes make a big noise. spring is too soft. Repair is way too expensive