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Dodge Promaster City or Mercedes Metris

Archer

Archer

Old Man
Joined
May 20, 2020
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795
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Pa.
Anyone running either of these for service trucks? Need another small service truck for my business and am tore between the two. Metris is about 7k more but has a little more room and power, but wondering about service, parts cost for a mercedes. Anyone running either of these and having any insight? Any input welcome...
 
Archer said:
Anyone running either of these for service trucks? Need another small service truck for my business and am tore between the two. Metris is about 7k more but has a little more room and power, but wondering about service, parts cost for a mercedes. Anyone running either of these and having any insight? Any input welcome...
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Fiat vs Mercedes? Seems like a no brainer.
 
The only people around here running any euro van are the airport shuttles, the BigCo property service places and anyone else who trades the van in the second they can't write it off and never owns anything outside of warranty. Of the Euro-vans Transits outnumber everything else an easy 3:1.

The plumbers, machine service companies and anyone else who runs fleet vehicles until they don't run who happened to have bought a new van is running a Savannah or a E350 cab-chassis.
 
At last company, we ran the Transit Connect long wheel base with rear barn doors and the little Eco Boost. 100k miles overloaded before we started doing maintenance. Then fix whatever triggered idiot lights on dash. Might compare resale to see what gives best bang for buck.
 
From what I've seen on site the ford vans are most popular by far, Mercedes have rust problems here, only saw one dodge. From talking to the guys seems like most that don't run overloaded as he'll all of the time are happy with the ford vans, better ride more fuel efficient and lower costs of maintenance. However for the guys always overloading them they don't last at all. Quite a few have gone back to the e350s, I know ford is putting the 7.3 in the vans for 21 not sure if they are getting the 10speed or what other updates if any.
 
Both are garbage.

Buy a Ford T150 or bigger if you need the capacity. Regular ol' V6 for simplicity. EcoBoost or diesel if you have money burning a hole in your pocket.
 
Pocahontas said:
From what I've seen on site the ford vans are most popular by far, Mercedes have rust problems here, only saw one dodge. From talking to the guys seems like most that don't run overloaded as he'll all of the time are happy with the ford vans, better ride more fuel efficient and lower costs of maintenance. However for the guys always overloading them they don't last at all. Quite a few have gone back to the e350s, I know ford is putting the 7.3 in the vans for 21 not sure if they are getting the 10speed or what other updates if any.
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Pretty much this. The Transits ride nice and are as reliable as anything else with an ecoboost and 9.75 but they don't take abuse like an E-series.
 
My sprinter crossed 460k this summer. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a Mercedes product.
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Driven a bunch of them and the Ford transit is by far the nicest to drive. The Mercedes wasn’t too far behind but felt bouncy to me. These are people carrier models not cargo. Actually never driven the Nissan but I’d assume it’s like a titan and decent. But I’d buy the Ford if I was buying.
 
Thanks for all the input but I have F350 service vans, I'm looking at the mini vans for light service calls, deliveries, and pickup.
 
I misread that thinking nobody would buy a promaster city.

Transit Connect is the only one worth buying.
 
I considered the Transit Connect but the Promaster and Mercedes have more hp, larger cargo area and more payload. I'm pretty set on either the Dodge or Mercedes just really thinking about the maintenance and reliability between the two.

Mercedes is doing 0% interest right now so I could actually finance and not have to put it all out at one time, but if their expensive to maintain it defeats the purpose. I know Mercedes are pricey to maintain :eek:, not sure if these are or not.
 
Archer said:
I considered the Transit Connect but the Promaster and Mercedes have more hp, larger cargo area and more payload. I'm pretty set on either the Dodge or Mercedes just really thinking about the maintenance and reliability between the two.

Mercedes is doing 0% interest right now so I could actually finance and not have to put it all out at one time, but if their expensive to maintain it defeats the purpose. I know Mercedes are pricey to maintain :eek:, not sure if these are or not.
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No shit. The Promaster and Merceded are fullsize vans. The Connect is a minivan.
 
7k more for the Mercedes and it will cost more to maintain, for more space not sure its a great investment money wise. Not sure on your needs but I was in the need of a little larger vehicle for storage/ workspace and ended up with a step van. Its got a Cummins 12v and manuals tyranny 22 feet long and I traded an enclosed 18 foot trailer for it but thats probably bigger than you want.

I would think as long as you aren't overloading the piss out of it either should work and if you are not driving it and or it will be passed around I would get the cheapest one possible. In my experience those get beat like a redheaded stepchild v a truck a guy drives everyday. I would also talk to the service departments and see what they have to say about what they see as normal items on them, usually they are honest, they don't want to have to work on pain in the ass stuff under warranty at flat rate.

I think it was on the other site but someone had a tyranny out of one of them( ford/dodge/merc) and they said 3-400k and it was clean as a whistle, they also were mainly doing deliveries.
 
Nissan NV seems like the best thing going to me.
 
Archer said:
I considered the Transit Connect but the Promaster and Mercedes have more hp, larger cargo area and more payload. I'm pretty set on either the Dodge or Mercedes just really thinking about the maintenance and reliability between the two.
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I didnt realize ford went from the reliable 2.5L then back to the 2.0L shit in 2019.

*looks like the 2.5L is fleet only? Wtf ford?
 
Transit Connect. It's like an over-inflated Focus. Get a 2.5 instead of the ecoshit and they're pretty damn solid. If I could fit a motorcycle in one I'd probably already have one for a DD.
 
TrikeKid said:
Transit Connect. It's like an over-inflated Focus. Get a 2.5 instead of the ecoshit and they're pretty damn solid. If I could fit a motorcycle in one I'd probably already have one for a DD.
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Yup. Great fucking station wagons but absolute shit as a van.
 
I have 2 promasters, and 1 sprinter in my fleet

I will NEVER buy a promaster again
 
We used a lot of the promaster city vans. Like over 300. Don't. Trans problems are super common. My techs were constantly having issues with them in the time we had them. I can't recall all the issues but there were many and they were always at the dealer and parts were never available. I would have preferred the transit but I'm guess our fleet department got a deal on all the dodges
 
Archer said:
Thanks for all the input but I have F350 service vans, I'm looking at the mini vans for light service calls, deliveries, and pickup.
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Why TF do you need more HP for a light duty fleet vehicle. If you're looking for something more economical to run than the fullsize stuff, get cheapest & highest MPG possible. $7k price premium of the benz would buy a lot of fuel in the F350's

he choice between a Fiat & a Benz is a choice between 2 pretty unappealing options. I do not like ford at all, but in the segment you're shopping in, for the purpose you're describing, it seems like ford is the best fit.
 
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What are you hauling in them that requires the little bit of added cargo area and more hp? I bought two transit connects, and made the guys trim down their tools/materials to what will fit. They love them. I have two T250’s for the guys that need to carry more materials for service calls.
 
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