Dits, Did you ever buy one? I have been looking at the new ones. http://www.lichtsinn.com/inventory/300809/New-2014-Itasca-Navion-iQ-24G.aspx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zw-9gUDfqI Pricey, but thy get (somewhat) affordable when used, after two years. But is 180 HP/324 ft-lbs enough to tow a trailer, even if they are specked at 5000 lbs?
Who would pay $117k for one of these? That's insane I was on the link Dits posted way back and there was a Chevrolet conversion van thing that listed for $70k - nuts.
Class B RVs are too pricey for me; many of the good ones at 80k plus so we decided to go for space and a bit of luxury for a change. 31ft Fourwinds, 2 slides pulling my 10x12 enclosed trailer.8-9 mpg. but with a great kitchen and roomy interior we never leave the thing when at a race, which makes up for the mileage. Hell, Kathy and I lived out of the trailer one season so we are in kosher hog heaven! Dits, your wifey won't like a little Sprinter!
Work has a new 2013 Sprinter with the 3.0 CRD and my Grand Cherokee has the exact same engine/tranny. The Van does drive like a big car, it accelerates nicely, keeps up with traffic and has that low end torque that makes it lighter and nimbles than say an E-350 7.3 van that we replaced. 30mpgs....sure, being towed behind a truck. Grand Cherokee with a much smaller drag coefficient and same rear end 3.73 gears gets 24/26mpg. Me doing some mild drafting off trucks can get that to 28mpg. There are only a few things you gotta know about these engines. GDE = Green Diesel Engineering tune really peps them up and makes them more reliable. 2mpg gain and bumps the power up to about 240hp and 420ft/lbs. With the pre 09's and Bluetec, Vans and Jeeps came with a DPF requiring pricey and hard to find 299.51 spec'd oil specifically designed for DPF equipped diesels. There exists an off-road only, hint hint, GDE tune that eliminates the DPF allowing you to run much cheaper and readily available diesel synthetics. Only major issue the engines have is a swirl motor failure. The crankcase vapors are routed into the intake prior to the turbo and the intake pipe leading to the turbo tends to leak the oil out in to the V of the engine, incidentally right on top of the swirl motor. The swirl motor is supposed to move intake vanes to help with low RPM power delivery but people who have disabled it see no difference (me included). Oil soaking the motor ruins it throwing the ECM into limp mode. Once again GDE tune helps as it disables this motor. A 5c resistors can also be used. Preventative measures include a catch can to collect the oil vapor or some people just run the PCV gasses out into the atmosphere. Up to you. Other than that, the engines are stout and resilient. Same engines have been used in Merc taxis, Sprinters and myriad of other Merc vehicles for the last decade without any major issues reported. They are less prone to HPFP issues than VW but feeding it diesel with some lubricity additives goes a long way to a happy truck. Just to note that early Dodge Sprinters also came with a 2.7L Inline 5 diesel and i know nothing of these. I hear they are more problematic...
Nope. Hitch rating on any of the ones we we sell is 5000lbs minimum. We have a number of customers who are pulling cars behind their class C Sprinters. A couple of them are pulling Jeep Wranglers and getting 16.5-17mpg while doing so.
I've pulled a Subaru (3200lbs +/-) on Featherlite open trailer. Don't notice it's behind us, until we hit the Grapevine. 2006 2.7L 5 cylinder motor Sprinter 2500.
Good to know, if one of these (C class), can pull an decent size trailer it seems like the ultimate setup if you can swing the cost. I just noticed the 3500 lb. tow limit on a lot of Sprinter models I have seen for sale...
Just make sure you get a late model Sprinter. The early models had a small engine and wouldn't tow squat.
something tells me that without that badge in the grille you would have a different opinion. am I wrong? I do dig that rig though and those things have one helluva turning radius. they almost swivel in place compared to everything else that size that Ive ever driven. nice pipe too! lol not sure how they got away with branding it "AIRSTREAM" though.
very much so. nothing against the silver arrow, but the badges in my garage... Its all about the stance, for me!
They are good looking but cramped as hell. Reminds of a taller Rialta Saw a Sprinter locally that was setup with an "exterior" room that had an outdoor kitchen, flat screen, and 3 lounge chairs. The walls, kitchen surfaces, and chairs would fill the rig up the way that one was setup. It was also $130k.
you're all out of your minds. I got this bitch for $2,600. 15mpg @ 55mph. I can buy a whole lota gas with the difference in $$.