New Mercedes-Benz Sprinter comes with a nine-speed auto box and front-wheel-drive as John Lewis reports
Restyled externally and with a host of internal changes, Daimler’s latest, third-generation Mercedes-Benz Sprinter comes with a variety of new features which should widen its appeal to operators. Among them is the arrival of front-wheel-drive for the first time. Previous versions were rear-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive (4×4) only.
Choosing front-wheel-drive wins a 50kg payload capacity boost, 0.5cu m more passenger space and a floor height that is 80mm lower than that of rear-wheel-drive models. They remain available alongside the 4×4 derivatives. As well as making it easier for people to climb in and out, the 80mm floor height reduction also means that the door apertures are 80mm higher.
Front-wheel-drive Sprinters gross at from 3.0 to 4.1 tonnes while their rear-wheel-drive counterparts are from 3.0 to 5.5 tonnes. Daimler points out that the latter’s plus-points include a tighter turning circle than front-wheel-drive can offer and greater ride comfort.
Another key development is the introduction of an optional 9G-TRONIC nine-speed automatic gearbox – a first for this sector – on front-wheel-drive variants alongside a new six-speed manual gearbox. Drivers who want to over-ride the 9G-TRONIC and switch to manual can do so using steering wheel shift paddles.[wlm_nonmember][…]
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Electric warriors
While diesel continues to dominate the Sprinter portfolio, which encompasses more than 1,700 different variants, an electric version is joining the line-up. Following along from the electric eVito, and likely to gross at 4.25 tonnes, the eSprinter will debut in 2019 and should form a suitable platform for van-based minibus conversions.
“We’re electrifying our portfolio step-by-step,” Daimler Chairman, Dr Dieter Zetsche, told journalists attending the Sprinter press launch at Duisburg in Germany.
Passenger-carrying Sprinter models can transport up to 19 people. Sprinter Tourer now boasts a system called Easy Mounting, which Daimler says will make it simpler and quicker to remove the back seats and put them back afterwards if space needs to be made for someone in a wheelchair. They’re specified with rollers which should make handling them much easier and lessen the risk of damage. A locking indicator helps ensure they are reinstalled securely.
The more upmarket factory-produced passenger models come with USB charging sockets and stowage space for smartphones in every rear seat row. The seats can be optionally specified with an armrest, a four-way headrest and backrest angle adjustment.
Nor is the driver neglected, stresses Daimler. Electrically-adjustable drivers’ seats are on offer with a memory which stores the seat and exterior mirror settings for up to three drivers; a useful feature if the vehicle is regularly used by more than one person.
Get connected
As important as changes to the vehicle itself, so far as Daimler is concerned, is the advent of a host of web-based support packages designed to link fleet managers and drivers and make life easier for both; and for the fleet’s customers. Daimler says that it is undergoing a transformation from a vehicle manufacturer into a provider of comprehensive transport solutions.
“Just offering customers a good vehicle is no longer enough,” said Worldwide Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, Volker Mornhinweg. “We’re making Sprinter the ultimate in smart hardware.”
Eight packages will be available ex-factory under the Mercedes PRO banner, encompassing everything from maintenance and repair management to monitoring the vehicle’s whereabouts, not to mention the provision of a digital driver’s logbook.
Driving style analysis is available which should help drivers drive more safely, burn less fuel, and reduce the amount of wear and tear on components, including the tyres.
Dynamic route guidance, which allows fleet managers to respond flexibly if changing conditions during the cause of a working day affect pre-planned schedules, is on offer too. “If the job schedule changes at short notice then an algorithm recalculates the routes to fit,” said Volker.
It is worth noting that Daimler has become the first vehicle manufacturer to use the ‘what3words’ address system, which assigns three words to any point on the earth’s surface to make navigation more precise. Significantly for fleets running a variety of different makes, any data generated by Sprinter can be integrated into the management packages they already use.
“We want to create mobility packages which meet the challenges of tomorrow and the day after in both goods and passenger transport,” said Volker. “So far as we’re concerned the new Sprinter is to conventional vans what the smartphone is to a plain old mobile phone.”
At the time of writing however it was unclear to what extent these services would be offered in the UK.
On display
Where available, Mercedes PRO packages can be used in conjunction with the new MBUX multi-media system, on offer with a 7ins or 10.25ins display with touch-screen, steering wheel and voice control as part of an extensively-redesigned dashboard. “Sprinter is the second vehicle across the entire group to receive MBUX,” said Dieter.
MBUX acts as a communications centre and is capable of displaying all sorts of useful information including fuel prices at various filling stations in the vicinity and weather data. Information on locations of particular interest to the driver and operator can be added via a USB interface.
A high-speed internet connection integrated into the vehicle can either be used in conjunction with PRO or as a hotspot to connect separate mobile devices. Minibus passengers can make use of the sort of optional WiFi hot-spot that is becoming increasingly familiar on larger passenger vehicles.
Smartphones can be charged wirelessly and an 115v/230v connection is provided which can power a notebook.
MBUX’s voice control is more sophisticated than anything that has been available previously, says Daimler, and has no problem handling everyday speech. Tell it that you are running low on fuel and it will let you know where the nearest forecourt is.
Safe space
Safety is not being neglected in the new Sprinter. DISTRONIC, a radar-based system designed to keep the vehicle at a healthy distance from others ahead of it on the road, is among the systems offered. All the driver has to do is set his or her desired speed from 12.5mph upwards and it will ensure they don’t get too close. If they do, their speed will be cut using up to 50% of the maximum available brake force, and if necessary they will be braked to a standstill.
Another safety feature is Active Lane Keeping Assist. Employing a camera and radar sensors, it should ensure the driver does not wander off into adjacent lanes; and straight into the path of another vehicle. If the vehicle starts to stray then the steering wheel vibrates. If the driver fails to react then what Daimler describes as a “one-sided braking action” is used to guide the vehicle back into its correct lane.
Driver assistance systems include reversing sensors, a reversing camera which projects its image onto the rear view mirror in the cab and a parking package which gives drivers a 360-degree bird’s-eye view of what’s happening around the vehicle. It employs four cameras: one at the rear of the roof, one in the radiator grille and one on each of the exterior rear view mirrors.
Blind Spot Assist can be installed which recognises traffic and pedestrians crossing behind the vehicle and can brake it autonomously in an emergency.
Attention Assist gives audible and visual warnings having analysed over 70 parameters should the driver grow drowsy at the wheel, and a five-bar display on the dashboard indicates his or her level of concentration; from high to low. The amount of driving time that has elapsed since the individual’s last break is shown as well.
Also available is a wiper system with a rain sensor. Fluid from the washer bottle goes through the wiper arms, is sprayed directly ahead of the wiper blades, and then immediately wiped away.
At your service
Daimler clearly has confidence in the reliability and durability of its latest Sprinter offering, with service intervals of up to 37,500 miles/two years envisaged for rear-wheel-drive models. Not such a known quantity, for the moment front-wheel-drive Sprinters will need servicing more frequently, at up to 25,000 miles/two years.
Improvements to Sprinter’s onboard ASSYST PLUS maintenance computer means that engine oil contamination can be monitored more closely, says the manufacturer, which allows drain intervals to be increased.
You will look in vain for a dipstick in the engine compartment because there isn’t one. It has been replaced by an oil level check in the instrument cluster.
The optional connectivity services referred to earlier can send information about the condition of wearing parts to the operator while the vehicle is out working so that preventive servicing can be scheduled in to prevent unexpected and potentially-expensive downtime. Extra galvanisation of both the under-body and sides should help keep the rust worm at bay.
Now with key-less start and sold as a chassis cab as well as in van guise, Sprinter retains the 190hp six-cylinder 3.0-litre diesel familiar from the previous model; the only six-cylinder in this sector of the market. Carried over too are the outgoing Sprinter’s 2.1-litre diesels at 114hp, 143hp or 163hp. The last-named option is not available in front-wheel-drive variants. AdBlue reservoir capacity has been boosted from 18 to 22 litres and the reservoir filler pipe is easier to access.
Fuel consumption can vary hugely from one operation to another and from one vehicle derivative to another which can make figures quoted by manufacturers almost meaningless. But for the record, Daimler cites official combined cycle fuel figures which range from 24mpg to 34mpg across the line-up. CO2 figures run from 181g/km to 253g/km.
Wheelbases range from 3,250mm to 4,325mm and Sprinter is being produced with what Daimler describes as a tractor head. It encompasses the engine, transmission and cab and is apparently aimed primarily at motor home converters although minibus builders are likely to find it equally useful.
The Maximum passenger area so far as van-based factory minibus conversions are concerned is 17cu m with LED lighting strips available for better illumination. They switch on and off automatically when the doors are opened and closed and can also be controlled from the dashboard.
The rear doors can be folded back more easily against the vehicle’s sides than was the case previously, says Daimler. All bus and Tourer models come with plastic passenger saloon flooring as standard, and if the THERMOTRONIC automatic climate control system is fitted then the settings for the cab and the passenger area can be regulated separately.
Small wonders
Daimler believes that small buses based on Sprinter have the potential to revolutionise rural passenger transport, with fixed routes and timetables abandoned (the regulators may of course take a somewhat different view) in favour of Dial-a-Ride style requests to be picked up made by passengers using an app. Seat sensors will register the number of passengers already onboard, says the manufacturer, and reconcile the requests with the available capacity to ensure optimum utilisation of the service.
What the company does not say however is what passengers are supposed to do if there is no space; presumably there will be another Sprinter along in a minute. Nor does it allow for the presence of standees.
Maximum payload capacity is 3,150kg in the 5.5-tonner and all Sprinters bar the 4x4s are fitted with speed-sensitive electric power steering as standard. Super single tyres can be specified as an alternative to twin tyres at each end of the rear axle at gross weights of up to 5.0 tonnes. Doing so widens the clearance between the rear wheel boxes from 978mm to 1,229mm.
Plastic surgery
Steel springs at the rear can be optionally replaced by leaf springs made from rust-free glass-fibre reinforced plastic. They cut Sprinter’s un-laden weight by up to 12kg.
“In this way Mercedes-Benz is once again demonstrating its innovative leadership,” says the manufacturer. Not really – Iveco has fitted plastic springs to Daily in the past and Freight Rover was offering plastic springs made by GKN as an option over 30 years ago (the writer went to the press launch).
Ex-factory rear air suspension is offered on both front- and rear-wheel-drive 3.5- and 4.0-tonners. As well as offering a more comfortable ride it allows the vehicle to be lowered to make it easier for passengers to board and alight.
Intriguing Hibernation Mode
If a new Sprinter is going to be taken off the road for a while then it can in effect be put to sleep, with energy consumption reduced to a minimum. Switch off Hibernation Mode and it should be easy to fire Sprinter up again even after a long slumber, although one suspects that this feature is intended for motor home owners rather than busy passenger fleets.
“We should see the first new Sprinters delivered and on the road by April/May time,” said Mercedes-Benz Vans UK Managing Director, Steve Bridge. “We’ll have the rear-wheel-drive vans and chassis cabs and front-wheel-drive vans available first with the front-wheel-drive chassis a bit later and the entire range by the third quarter of the year aside from eSprinter. We should have that early next year.”
UK prices had yet to be published at the time of writing.[/wlm_ismember]
