Mullens:
Sounds like you got a bad one, I know the older ones can shift 150bhp model often blamed for white van man syndrome.
I had a LHD with a semi auto box doing Spain/UK.
What a flying machine that was. 
Went like a stabbed rat. 
Cruise Control:
I drive a vw equivalent of a sprinter and quite nippyeven when got 3.5tonne on. Best thing is when in van delivering and not a truck, up your 7.5tonne weight limit yee haar!
How would you get 3.5 tonnes on a crafter or sprinter
JAKEY:
I owe /run and drive sprinters , I think they are great vans , I cannot post any pictures today for some reason .
Would have to agree with you. Best van I have ever had the pleasure of having. My fave was a 54 plate 313…unbeatable as a fitters van, ran fully (over )loaded day in day out across building sites, quarries, landfill and God knows what else for nearly 300k miles and never skipped a beat…had it brand new and I can honestly say I hammered the daylights out of it from the work go.
Would give my nearside kidney for another, far superior to the heap of junk transit I have now…
They’re even better with a monoleaf composite front spring and suspension seat.
dont know about that,i drove a 57 plate sprinter when i worked in heathrow and it was very nice to drive,pulled very well even on hills
I drove one for a couple of days last year across the north of England, a brand new 62 plate LWB. Lovely drive, plenty of go in it too. Took me a while to figure out the cruise control though.
I wish the boss would buy sprinter’s, currently stuck with a 115 T350 jumbo transit, it’s ok but Christ it’s a noisy thing…
All the ones I’ve driven have gone like ■■■■ off a shovel sounds like your ones poorly
Used to drive 316 sprinters and they proper went, use to sit and about 140kph and they’d still have loads more pulling power even at that speed. Some of them had about 600k clicks on them and would go into limp mode when hot and you’d have ■■■■ all power, would barely maintain 70, perhaps yours was broken?
Dan Punchard:
Smiffys trucking:
Haven’t driven a Merc Sprinter for a few years, and today I had a refresher in how gutless they really are. It has no engine braking ability at all, and really struggles to haul itself up any sort of incline, and with freight on, you might as well get out and walk! Shame really as the van itself is quite nice.Sounds like you haven’t driven a proper one,I’ve towed one with a trailer on loaded to 6,300 with a 5 cyl 316 also loaded to 6,300 with trailer on I can assure you there’s plenty of guts.
I agree about the 5 cylinder one. Awesome engine, I put over 700k miles on my panel van and apart from suffering from tin worm it was mechanically superb. I also ran a 316 chipped to around 200bhp that never missed a beat in the year I kept it.
Our firms sprinter service vans go well and there fully freighted with compressors and stuff. A firm i used to work for had an old pre sprinter merc 308 van now that was slow
as much as I like the sprinter’s and like, as other people have said they seem so susceptible to rust…
In terms of panel vans my top pick would be Renault Masters for the main reasons it goes well enough, brakes incredibly well, corners incredibly well, has much lower floor than Sprinter so easier loading and taller pallets (also hides overloading better), takes Chep pallets through the side doors, get 3 cheps in the MWB version, has much bigger payload than Sprinters and better fuel economy.
Only thing is you need either keep them in warranty or move them on before the fuel pump grinds itself to pieces and destroys the injection system.
Own Account Driver:
In terms of panel vans my top pick would be Renault Masters for the main reasons it goes well enough, brakes incredibly well, corners incredibly well, has much lower floor than Sprinter so easier loading and taller pallets (also hides overloading better), takes Chep pallets through the side doors, get 3 cheps in the MWB version, has much bigger payload than Sprinters and better fuel economy.Only thing is you need either keep them in warranty or move them on before the fuel pump grinds itself to pieces and destroys the injection system.
That and an empty industrial estate to turn it around (although i haven’t driven the updated version, so may have sorted that problem!)
I really think the sprinter is a cracking van, had a different one today, that was far better than Wednesdays van - must have been faulty as others have said.
philgor:
as much as I like the sprinter’s and like, as other people have said they seem so susceptible to rust…
That’s for sure you just seem go look at them and they start rusting!
Own Account Driver:
In terms of panel vans my top pick would be Renault Masters for the main reasons it goes well enough, brakes incredibly well, corners incredibly well, has much lower floor than Sprinter so easier loading and taller pallets (also hides overloading better), takes Chep pallets through the side doors, get 3 cheps in the MWB version, has much bigger payload than Sprinters and better fuel economy.Only thing is you need either keep them in warranty or move them on before the fuel pump grinds itself to pieces and destroys the injection system.
Can’t really coment on the master never actually driven one, don’t forget price will have a good part to play on the plus side to.