The steering felt nicely weighted, even if it didn't translate all that much information from the front tires. Remedy Daimler Vans will notify the Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner owners and Fiat Chrysler will notify the Dodge owners. Base Passenger Van 140 in. Further, while the six-disc changer was nice, this is 2009. The Sprinter's massive cargo bay offers a wide variety of configurations, including seating for 12 passengers or a rolling workshop with a ceiling high enough to allow someone over six feet tall to work while standing upright. The shift column, located near the driver's right knee, emerges from the base of the dash, creating an open passage between the passenger's and driver's footwells. This is hard-core tradesman motoring at its most practical and most honest, with precious little suffering.
Until you learn the top-secret disabling code, your Sprinter's doors will lock when the vehicle is turned on, when it is turned off, when you tune the radio, when a Ford drives by. The combination of a live rear axle, an independent front suspension, the Adaptive Electronic Stability Program, the Electronic Roll Mitigation Program, and the Load Adaptive Control system all worked together beautifully to provide a compliant ride and handling that could even be characterized as sporty, especially for a large van. For us, it was actually a Passenger Van with rear seats removed. The Sprinter is, of course, no sports car, so sticking with a convoy of them quickly became a lost cause when we turned off the freeway and onto the backroads of Central California. Base Passenger Van 118 in. Our Take on the 2009 Dodge Sprinter Growing up in a family of eight kids, I learned how to drive in a 10-seat Ford Econoline van. In that time, we were a bit miffed that Dodge couldn't find anywhere to place a cupholder that didn't require a long stretch, which can be disconcerting when piloting a vehicle this size at freeway speeds.
Conjure, here, a Ford Ranch wagon with a canoe and a velour sectional sofa strapped to the roof. It was unpleasant to be hunched over the wheel for more than an hour, more so because the steering is heavy at parking speeds. Hint: Plaster your Sprinter with plenty of those Good Sam Club decals, and, if your dog accidentally knocks all your empties into the lot beside your rig, they'll kick you out, no kidding, even if you tell them it's Earth Recycling Day. Drove from Grant's Pass, Ore. In our less-than-sensitive hands, the Sprinter returned an observed 30 mpg-pretty swell for a 10-passenger anything. Sportsmobile let us borrow a Lopes 55 so we could haul two motorcycles to a track day at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
I'm really digging meeting people. Anyhow, when I'm not horsing the motor home around the roadways, I'm tooting around in the 2012 Ford Focus that we tow behind, or making runs to Home Depot and various malls with the 2004 F-150 that just won't die. In mid-2001, the built-in-Düsseldorf Sprinter finally made it to America, sold as a Freightliner. That's European Van of the Year, which may be something the Germans made up, because who here is going to check such a thing? Still, for that you get better fuel economy, plenty of features, impressive comfort, a lot more capability, and much, much more cargo space. This is not a van for civilians.
Back then, we chose a 3500 Cargo Van with the high roof. Ours is the 10-passenger intermediate-wheelbase Tower of Pisa model. The Sprinter's heavy rear benches are removable--flip two latches per, and each lifts free of its tracks. Did Rumsfeld get short with them again? In most day-to-day situations, the 3. I enjoy working out of the Sprinter and I'm glad that I bought it. I drove the Sprinter 190 miles one day on errands--there was a mother-in-law involved in this--and wasn't desperate to climb out. A choice of three different roof heights 65, 76 or 84 inches is augmented by two wheelbases and three different overall lengths, and other features include a rear-door opening of 180 degrees and a sliding side-door loading width of 51 inches.
The five-speed box never complained about shifting under heavy loads and offered the ability to shift gears manually, which came in handy on those hills and back roads. You don't want a Mini Cooper or Caterham 7 in the back of your Sprinter. Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner owners may contact Daimler Van's customer service at 1-877-762-8267. Then a Romulus cop asked if I had an airport vendor's license or a commercial driver's license or a chauffeur's license or a wheelchair ramp. We had so much room for gear, in fact, that we had enough room to carry another motor vehicle, in this case photographer Brian Vance's scooter, which he used to get around the track. Well, romance if you had along a dour French girlfriend with black glasses and quite a bit of underarm hair.
You know, the flat, municipal-bus position. The extra insulation that comes with the auxiliary heater also tamped down road and engine noise and helped make the Sprinter a surprisingly comfortable place to spend several hours at a time. Purged of its rear seats, imagine all the wheels, tires, shocks, tools, floor jacks, and other stuff this beauty could swallow. The ride is gratifyingly supple, though. High Ceiling Passenger Van 118 in. It has surprising acceleration and lots of torque. Even the 41-inch sliding door is as heavy and loath to open as a presidential candidate.
The Sprinter's drivetrain is redeemed by its automatic transmission. Panera must have been interested in my scheme, too, because I got a call from its copyright department. Truth be told, the Dodge Sprinter may be the most successful offspring to come from the now-terminated marriage between Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler. You can probe 350 revs deeper with the manumatic, and it's quicker than the automatic at grabbing more earnest gears during uphill climbs. You want more honesty than this, then sign up for the three-day Women Soaring in Unity seminar in Sedona. Base Passenger Van 144 in.
You can stand behind it and hear the diesel, but only barely. That's because the Sprinter offers just over six feet of interior height, and the floor is flat. Dodge owners may contact Fiat Chrysler customer service at 1-800-853-1403. The 2009 Dodge Sprinter's innovative cargo area, fuel-efficient diesel engine and numerous configurations make it the new darling of the delivery and transportation sector. But I predict the Sprinter will grab a healthy new share of the medium-duty utility market for Dodge. The crew liked the recessed steps in the front bumper; they made cleaning the half-acre of windshield a cinch. Units Affected 43689 To see the Sportsmobile Sprinter Lopes 55, one might think it would be a handful to drive.