First Drive Review
We’re serious about the rigor we apply to testing and evaluating new cars, but every once in a while we skew a little toward the absurd. Take our flying to Kelowna, British Columbia, to drive the 2015 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 4x4 on roads that included miles of rugged, two-track logging paths. Mercedes was eager to show us that the four-wheel-drive Sprinter has serious off-road chops, sure, but we were generally curious to find out how a $40K-plus, lifted, four-by-four full-size van performs.
These two goals converged after a simple, 115-mile highway cruise from Kelowna to the semi-remote ski town of Revelstoke, where we were given a logistics and safety briefing. Among the instructions: Don’t stray too far from our van because local bears were exiting hibernation and could be “cranky.” Next came strict orders to not use the tree-lined, single-lane roads that shot uphill from our winding mountain route . . . because the loaded logging trucks descending them “can’t really stop.”
To get an idea of where we were, pull up Google Maps, imagine a straight line from Vancouver to Calgary, and drop a pin somewhere in the middle. That’s Revelstoke. Our potentially perilous route would take us to a logging road in remote Mica Creek that promised to be more challenging than the man-made off-road course on which we sampled a Sprinter 4x4 prototype last year. As we ascended into the mountains, we noted our first on-road impressions of the Sprinter 4x4—the prototypes we drove last fall weren’t allowed on public roads—and, in that environment, it drives just like the regular, non-4x4 version.
Mercedes jacks up the 4x4’s suspension by 4.3 inches in front and 3.1 in the rear, but aside from the raised ride height and a switch to the right of the steering wheel to engage four-wheel drive, there’s little indication the 265-pound 4WD system is there at all. The steering is accurate, the big van tracks straight and true, and the new Crosswind Assist feature kept things on the straight and narrow even when oncoming tractor-trailers drove air directly into the van’s flank. (Working with the standard stability-control program, Crosswind Assist brakes individual wheels to mitigate wandering due to high winds or sudden gusts.) The brake pedal is firm and its response linear, and the Sprinter exhibits shockingly good body control for something so tall.
The 4x4’s distinct abilities were made apparent, however, on one of Mica Creek’s logging roads, where we had radios in hand to alert us of any logging trucks coming the other way. Bumpy, cragged, and slashed with deep ruts made by gargantuan machinery, the road would have made a Jeep Wrangler blush. Portions were snow-covered, while others featured a peatlike mud into which the Sprinters sank up to their hubs; occasionally, the logging road bundled all of this together in one spot—and threw in a steep, nearly 30-degree grade for fun.
With the Sprinter 4x4’s standard 188-hp diesel V-6—the base Sprinter’s 161-hp four-cylinder diesel can’t be paired with 4WD—a decently sorted five-speed automatic, and the part-time four-wheel-drive setup (on dry roads, you must run the van in two-wheel-drive mode to prevent driveline binding), churning through the quagmire rather surprisingly felt like light work. Our Sprinters had been equipped with winter tires, which are required by law between October 1 and March 31 in British Columbia; the vehicles otherwise were completely stock.
Our off-road van caravan included models with a single-wheel rear axle, as well as some with a dually setup. There were high- and low-roof versions, plus long- and short-wheelbase variants. Each configuration made it up the logging road without issue. Some of the vans were equipped with optional low-range gearing (an extra $300 on top of the $6500 for the 4x4 setup), but we successfully climbed the ragged road using only high range, which features a fixed 35/65-percent front/rear torque split. In addition to crosswind mitigation, the stability- and traction-control system can also sense a spinning wheel and brake it individually to send torque to the wheels with traction; this ensured the Sprinter kept chugging along even when one or more tires lost contact with the particularly gnarly terrain.
Having proved itself a worthy off-roader, we couldn’t help but wonder who exactly might buy the Sprinter 4x4. Mercedes didn’t exactly answer the question, but it did tell us that the vehicle—which starts at $44,475 for a short-wheelbase, low-roof cargo model—is already sold out through September of this year. And while we sort of feared an encounter with a pissed-off ursine or a huge truck full of dead trees headed for the lumber mill, we discovered that this van is a tool essentially without competition. If you have a large family and live in a remote area, or maybe you need huge, weather-tight cargo capability and often trudge through sludgy construction sites, the Sprinter 4x4 is the only way to go. Well, unless you have a taste for the absurd and an equally silly amount of cash—then Mercedes might happily build you a fleet of G500 4x4²s or 6x6s.
