Guys,
I totally agree that for the service described "a light build out for mtn. biking, camping, surfing etc.
Also plan on driving through the mountains Colorado etc. quite a bit along with retirement traveling around the States."
the 2016 OM-651 I4 2.143 liter 2 stage turbocharged Sprinter with the 7G-Tronic 7 speed fully automatic transmission
would be the better choice.
There are still some 2016 4 cylinder Sprinters on the dealers lots, but with an "off the lot" Sprinter you get whatever
options the dealer ordered and MB is very poor at adding any upgrades (trailer hitch/bi-xenon lights/back up camera) and
it's impossible to get any added "packages".
The ship has sailed on ordering a "build and equip" 4 cylinder 2017 Sprinter as the engines are still not approved.
Anyone have any idea how many Mercedes Benz sedans and SUVs also use the OM-651?
I'll bet there are a bunch of them, so are all those product lines also being held up for emissions approval on the
OM-651/7G-Tronic?
Guess we will just have to wait and see.
It seems totally ridiculous as the OM-651 was designed to be much "cleaner and greener" than the OM-642 V6 and
already meets Euro emissions standards significantly farther into the future and to higher standards than the OM-642 V6.
Guess maybe it's all the USA EPA Mandated junk (the DPF is only mandated in the USA I believe) that is actually causing the
OM-651 to be called into question here.
That's funny........engine is fine and meets or exceeds the standards in the Rest Of the World (ROW), but when the US EPA
mandated devices that will supposedly reduce emissions even further than the ROW specs are added they make a really
clean and green engine less clean and green.
It must drive the emissions systems engineers at MB in Germany completely nuts to have to redesign something that's
very clean to meet US EPA emissions requirements that are actually not as clean and green, but some vested interest
requires them to have the DPF.
Sure wish we knew who got to the politicians on this. They may be the real culprits here.
That's even funnier since I do not think any USA based companies make DPF's for Mercedes Benz to install in Sprinters
that are assembled in Germany and shipped to the USA.
Might get better in 2019 when the new Sprinter/Metris plant in North Charleston starts producing vehicles, but one
can only remain hopeful that smart/good things will ever actually happen with MB Sprinter USA/Daimler Vans USA LLC.
Roger