would you buy a used 4x4 merc vito
 

Hi all
any body have any opinions on the above there are several on ebay at the moment presume ex lecy vans. I have had the iveco 40.10 in some rough old places and its been good, but would like to get around the emissions In London. Thinking of changing base truck for something newer.
thanks Mark

Hi,

If you're interested in reliability for overlanding, then I'd be looking for something else...

All the best,
Toby

Hi toby
can I ask why, so many of the other mercedes trucks are favs for overlanding.

thanks Mark

Older mercs are used throughout the world as they are easier to fix, no electrics/computers and have pretty good supplies of parts from dealerships/scrappers in those countries. Newer ones tend to need technicians not mechanics when things go wrong and parts may be expensive.
Have a scan on mobile.de for some of the older stuff.

The AIRmatic system really can't take much of a beating. The shocks will leak pretty quickly if you give them a hard time.
The early ones rust like a 1980s Lancia.

This is from someone who really likes Mercedes!

Vito?
 

Do you mean the Sprinter 4x4? I’ve never seen electricity companies using Vito’s.

We have a fleet of Sprinter 4x4’s. I don’t hear bad things about them but then they are regularly serviced and never that far from a garage or a tow:clap:

I don’t really know much about them but pretty sure the diff locks are actuated by an electrical/pneumatic system plus the newer ones have traction control and stability control. May not be show stoppers in themselves and probably no more problematic than the equivalent LR or Toyota systems. Not my thing though.

Pretty sure the engines are common rail diesel, not the best of reputations but then again the Australian Army are buying thousands of G Wagens with pretty similar engines in them at the moment.

Have a read of this though, same engine family:
PointedThree - More 290 GTD blues

Russ

Hi all
sorry I do mean sprinters! so it seems all the old arguments apply so how do we beat the emissions laws because bet your bottom dollar they are going to be more and more common especially places like the Alps!

all the best Mark

Sprinter?
 

I wouldn’t dismiss them completely (I’ve been pondering one as a camper base lately). There are Sprinters out there that have done star ship mileage. I guess it’s a case of going in to these things with your eyes open.

IMHO Forum’s distort things, accentuating the bad rather than the good.

Russ

Sprinter not Vito
 

Hi Mark,

If you mean the Sprinter that's a different story - they have a MUCH better reputation than the Vito, not to mention being a more useful size. As others have already pointed out some of the engines are better for reliability than others...

The Sprinter is built in Stuttgart Germany whereas the Vito is built in Vitoria Spain (to arguably lower standards - no offense to anyone intended!).

Best of luck,
Toby

I did a lot of research into vans, and a lot of people steered me clear of the vito, mainly because the parts prices are horrendous, and they eat CV joints. I opted for an ex aa vwt4.