TRANSIT V SPRINTER

[Daveyboy]

Don't know too much about the 318cdi sprinters, but they seem to be used a lot by police/ambulance services but in 418 guise, I know the old 316/416 sprinters had issues. One thing that would put me off long term sprinter ownership is rust, we've got the latest generation sprinters where I work showing ugly rust patches, as for Transits we all know they never rust

[Tdci_boy]

I have driven Transits & Sprinters/Vw over many miles & I would go for the Transit every time on comfort alone, I can't believe how uncomfortable the seats are in Mercs & Vw's

[Gurj51ngh]

very true. trnsit is the all over best thought out van.

[PXR5]

Why do you think refinery workers are striking? Thin end of the wedge. We build a serviceable, affordable British van and then people buy foreign imports causing the factory to work short time, ultimately close and production move abroad. Buy British, support British businesses where possible and employ British workers, the 3B policy. We don't need the EU and we don't need to be subsidising European businesses to put us out of work in our own country.

[thunderider]

i think the reason the sprinter became popular is it was the first 4.2mtr van,fords hi cube was pretty slow compared to the sprinter,look at how many transits were on the road compared to the old 208/308 loads....

pxr5....a fine roxymusuicesque album...calvert doin a fine brian ferry!!!

[ake]

Why do you think refinery workers are striking? Thin end of the wedge. We build a serviceable, affordable British van and then people buy foreign imports causing the factory to work short time, ultimately close and production move abroad. Buy British, support British businesses where possible and employ British workers, the 3B policy. We don't need the EU and we don't need to be subsidising European businesses to put us out of work in our own country.

Although Transit jumbos are built in Turkey cos they are too big for the Southhampton plant

[Daveyboy]

Why do you think refinery workers are striking? Thin end of the wedge. We build a serviceable, affordable British van and then people buy foreign imports causing the factory to work short time, ultimately close and production move abroad. Buy British, support British businesses where possible and employ British workers, the 3B policy. We don't need the EU and we don't need to be subsidising European businesses to put us out of work in our own country.

Although Transit jumbos are built in Turkey cos they are too big for the Southhampton plant

Yeah I'm not 100% sure but I think the Southhampton plant doesn't build anything bigger than the M/R mwb vans now, if so all lwb/jumbo vans will be built in Turkey

[jimmyp1873]

did merc ever get the problem with the rear nearside wheel falling off sorted out, apart from that your still better wi the fordy........think the sprinters were quite gutsy on fuel as well

[madmark]

i got in a new sprinter the otherday and i was gobsmacked i canot understand why people love this van it was horrid!

[Daveyboy]

i got in a new sprinter the otherday and i was gobsmacked i canot understand why people love this van it was horrid!

Yeah totally agree, gearchange poor, vibration through clutch pedal, poor ride and dodgy build, even worse than a transit

[100 T280]

i got in a new sprinter the otherday and i was gobsmacked i canot understand why people love this van it was horrid!

Yes.

Around 90% of the Transits at my place of work have now been replaced with these. The similar (if not as bad as before) clunky gearchange isn't good, I did 250 miles in one the other day, and hated it. Keys that won't turn ignition / jam in ignition, steering lock actuators failing, starter motors don't engage if battery voltage falls below 12, and therefore won't start every morning, F***ng awful interior, crap dashboard, uncomfortable seats, no armrests etc etc etc and they're not exactly good-looking vehicles.
Most drivers do like them, but don't necessarily prefer them, one comment I've heard from a driver recently that was positive was "the cab headroom is better than the Transits" It is! But, unless you're over 7' tall, it doesn't really matter.

[Daveyboy]

All the sprinters we run at work are 4.2/4.6 tonners so all drw, I had to pick a hire one up last week a 311 lwb and the srw models are a bit of a handful round corners when loaded, I agree the cab headroom is good but I miss the handy over cab storage in the back. The hire one I drove had the worst demisting system I've ever used and non of the 12v charging point worked.

[g10wmo]

I worked on the basis that I could have either bought a Sprinter and run it til the fuel pump developed some weird fault that means amputating my wallet/scrapping the van, or bought a Transit, and had the money left to buy another Transit when this one rusts away to nothing

Give the transit a year and i bet you will find rust and i also bet your dealer and FORD will just fob you off. Thats from experiance.

[Tdci_boy]

It does fascinate me that if you take notice of the trade press you would only ever buy merc or Vw, they usually slate Transits, I have driven all vans & Transit is the van for me

[noddy]

ive got them all and do many miles in them and there all a load of poop

i have

56reg , 08, 58 jumbos

55, 07, 58 sprinters

08, 58 maxus 135s

they all have there faults and none are better then the other people go on about how there transit are brill but trust me my o8 jumbo is a heap its had more bits done to it then i care to rember like a head, rear axle, ecu, and much more

its all down to luck at the end of the day i have a smily front on a x plate thats done 500,000 miles with out any probs and ive just sold a v reg 312 sprinter with 700,000 miles on what a tool that was

see where im comeing from here the older stuff has been much better for me cheaper to fix and they very rarley go wrong these new vans have to much bull poop on, to use them hard and the more stuff you have fitted to them the more stuff to go wrong , i find merc are much better doing work under warrnty when over seas ive had some right problems with one of my transit when it dropped to head in rome what a night mare to get it sorted ended up getting it a.a. home

after they have done a 100k there all the same old and in need of work wich i my case is when there less then a year old best van i ever had was a 53 reg caddy did nearly 600,000 miles all on bio fuel and cooking oil never missed a beat