Family vans

MB Sprinter Rentals USA

Vans for Dads, Pack the Family and more..

Something has been lost in this whole minivan era – a good appreciation of the maxivan. It used to be when the customized Dodge van was cruising, you knew not to mess, these were good times.

But it turns out for a limited time, maxivan magic is back at Dodge/Mercedes, a silver lining to the cloud of the Daimler-Chrysler merger circus act. In case your lost, we’re talking about the (Mercedes) Dodge Sprinter. It’s a clean cut, straight-off-the-boat, regrilled-in-Dusseldorf Mercedes Sprinter van, carrying a 2.7L CDi. Side and rear windows are even on this one!

Movie star, pro athletes in LA can pretty much drive whatever he wants, if you read this you might now why they are renting a Sprinter van for VIP travel? Because they are cool, different and luxuries and are considered environment friendly vehicles and not some gas guzzling US made Limo vehicle.

For example George, who is having the theme of the abandoned VW Surf van converted. Let’s check out his project – “28 MPG, sink, refrigerator, microwavable oven, a table and “a hoot of a drive.”

George: “so the story goes..I wanted the VW Microbus and was hurt to the core to learn they were cancelling it. I didn’t want to be seen dead in a minivan. I find most SUVs near useless and far too inefficient.
A European van – thats what I wanted.
Becker Auto Design in Oxnard, CA – they make a cool van they call the JetVan, however $200,000 asking price is not in my ball park.

The do-it-yourself solution was this; when Mercedes Benz bought Chrysler they got Dodge to get rid of the RAM van and swap it with the German made Sprinter. No lie, they actually make the Sprinters in Düsseldorf and glue on a Dodge grille then put it on a boat to the USA. The “Dodge” grille even has a Mercedes part number”.

SO firstly I sourced the Mercedes Benz grille and converted the Sprinter back to its former heritage.
Heres the specs;
- 2.7 L Turbodiesel Direct Injection and since 2008 the 3.0 L Blue-Teck diesel engines
- 28 MPG @ 55Mph (better economy than my wife’s small pick-up truck)
- Towing capability upto 10,000 lbs.
- dog/s friendly!
- rubber lined flooring

Next I moved to convert my Sprinter into a family van featuring:
- Soundproofing and Insulation
- Galley
- A bench seat which folds to make a bed perfect for weary eyes.
- swivel seat for passenger lounging
- Inverter for power to the 110V outlets
- iStation synced to the factory radio
- Enhanced speakers
- the heater is wired to run when the engines off (CDI engine is so efficient it doesn’t make much heat, so a heater installed to warm the van in the winter).

Beach trips we take it on regularly and it beats camping in a tent hands down. Everything fits in the Sprinter, drywall, plywood, decor – the Sprinter swallows it all. The thing I like most is that its a hoot to drive, turns on perfectly and has really good pickup for city driving.

See you on at California, Hwy 1!

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