Underpowered? 2023 Mercedes Sprinter 2.0L Diesel POV On & Off-Road Review

hey everybody I've got a really fun one for you today because we are doing a POV Driving Experience in the new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and I do mean new because this fan is equipped with an all new powertrain that's different from the 2022 Sprinter we have spent so much time in and in this video we're gonna do a full walk around and then get it on the road get it on some dirt get it on some asphalt and see how this new engine new transmission and the new Driveline perform now this Sprinter is a 144 wheelbase model with the high roof and of course all-wheel drive that's the big change for 2023 is that they've gone from four-wheel drive in the previous model year to all-wheel drive in this model year and the big change is really going to be underneath the hood so the previous gen Sprinter had a three liter turbocharged diesel called the om-642 it made 188 horsepower and it made 225 pound-feet of torque for 2023 the all-wheel drive Sprinter has lost 2 cylinders it's lost a full leader this is a two liter four-cylinder diesel now of course turbocharged but over 200 horsepower and we're talking 232 pound-feet of torque so like 211 horsepower somewhere in that territory it's called the OM 654 and it's mated to a 9-speed automatic so the old model had seven gears this new model has nine and we'll talk about the big drivetrain changes here in a second because pretty substantial differences now this Sprinter is outfitted in a really unique way so as we open up the door here this is made by a company called Adventure wagon and there's tons of outfitted sprinters on the road but what Adventure wagon specializes in is modularity so super customizable and what I love about this unit is you can set it up for Adventures you can set it up for camping and for weekend trips and then you can tear all this stuff out in a matter of 10-15 minutes and have use of the full van for hauling Lumber and whatever you might need to do now check out all the cool things we have in here here right now we've got this bed set up but if you wanted to you could have bunks and have two sleeping platforms we've got these really useful bins mounted here along these tracks to the ceiling we've got seats in this model mounted to tracks on the floor so if you wanted to carry 9 10 11 people just buy more seats fill it up down here we've got a place for your ski gear we also have a place for your mountain bikes and all of this is completely customizable via these rail systems I love the bamboo ceiling up here I think it looks really great it'll integrated built in light now the cost it depends hugely on how much you want to do three printer but this model somewhere around the neighborhood of thirty five thousand dollars for the outfit look at that though it's pretty cool ski racks in this one you know push a couple levers those will go sliding out like that really super useful really really cool now this one is rolling on a set of ko2 tires so a sprinter out of the box will have your typical all season this one has a proper all-terrain mounted on method Wheels but apart from that a couple of rock rails along the side you can see there using the stock Mercedes-Benz suspension in the front and I love this winch setup it's a worn VR winch 12 000 pounds fully synthetic but I like how they haven't changed the whole bumper it's just this front plate looks a lot more elegant than some setups out there but now to the part you're all been wondering about let's see how this new 2023 Sprinter drives so hopping in the Sprinter let's see what we're working with here so obviously a very customizable interior not only from an outfitting standpoint but from all the options so lots and lots and lots of things you can get in your Mercedes-Benz Sprinter depending on how much you want to spend and what kind of options you're looking for so this model has these small screen located here in the middle but you can expect it with the larger we have climate control down here single zone not automatic you still got to use the fan but a very functional setup and then we also have heated seats down here plastic steering wheel cruise control but the mbux system even though the screen is pretty small super usable very uh easy to navigate overall a great system and I love the full backup camera 360 camera even with that front winch Mount you don't get any intrusion there which is really well engineered so the sound of this engine let's see what do we think lower the window here a little bit very quiet at idle almost no vibration [Music] so it definitely sounds like a diesel when you're revving it window down but with window up wow it almost sounds like a gas engine and it revs to the Moon look at that red line there over 4 000 RPM Redline so I mentioned big changes to the Driveline the old Sprinter had a two range transfer case so high and low range new Sprinter has ditched the low range and now is only the high range essentially right but what Mercedes has done is actually geared first skier a lot lower than the old one so first gear with a nine speed is roughly equivalent to first gear and the old one with the low range so don't really sacrifice any of that slow speed power delivery and power delivery really was the big issue I had with that three liter v6 diesel I've spent thousands of miles on those I've actually driven sprinters on a couple of continents now and the big issue with that engine is especially up here altitude in Colorado you would hit the accelerator and then you have to wait one one thousand two one thousand and then you get a big surge of torque and then you'd have to wait again in the next gear and it really made it hard to drive smooth and it was almost alarming merging on to Major roadways with that old setup now the new one I'm curious how it's going to perform we're up here at 8 500 nine thousand feet above sea level so we are really pushing the capability of this thing and if you look up this road that right there is a 10 12 degree slope I'm going to come to a complete stop and I'm just going to hit the throttle leave everything in drive in three two one full throttle so small delay but I can tell you off the bat the acceleration difference between the two liter and the three liter is profound not in terms of overall 0-60 but the power delivery and you'll also notice as I'm going up this super steep grade the transmission is automatically keeping me right there about 2750 RPM so if I do have to pass someone I just ease out of that accelerator get a little bit of Turbo whistle and off you go this is such a more drivable van it's so much more pleasant it's so much easier to drive smooth and this nine speed not only is more ratios to keep that engine in its power band but it's also far smarter so in previous gen sprinters coming up this road where I've overheated a lot of vehicles by the way because it's so steep you really want to use the paddles but on this new one it's doing such a good job of not trying up shift there we have Full Throttle by the way still pulling hard and it pulls hard well up to 4000 RPM so unlike a lot of diesels I kind of fall on their face around twenty seven hundred three thousand this little engine pulls really really strong up to 4 000. so on the road power passing power and acceleration feels so much more adequate than the previous generation but let's try something a little bit unique because I'm going to make a right up here we're going to go on a Sugarloaf Mountain Road this road is closer to 14 15 degrees uh incline and we're going to test this all-wheel drive system and see how this thing rides now this is perfect Sprinter territory right they're not much rock crawler sprinters for the most part because the articulation isn't there the the weight is just a little bit too high but in this terrain is really where they strive and this new engine is no exception so um we're going nice and slow now 13 14 miles an hour and once again look at that transmission holding me right at 2000 so if I did have to accelerate to make it over a berm I could coming up to a crazy local here in a CRV a lot of locals live up here and uh yeah that's a that's a long commute back to Boulder for a bottle of milk but um anyways let's make this really tight turn here and I'm going to stop and we're going to see if we can accelerate up this really gnarly Hill like I said probably 12 degrees here even though it doesn't look like it on camera stopping on the washboard gonna ease onto the accelerator torque converter is holding us and there you go right right off the bat we didn't have to wait and then the previous Sprinter especially in high range a road like this you really have to select low range because it just didn't have that low speed torque delivery let's try first gear I'm going to hold it in first so there's five miles an hour indicated yeah it feels really good and it'll actually let you hold that gear above three thousand four thousand RPM coming up there right up to redline and then we can manually shift it's not trying to take control either now the steering on this vehicle has gone to electric power steering it's a little bit lighter a little bit less tiring for long distance road trips I think it was a pretty good change overall and I'm not super communicative but it's a van you know what do you really expect this road is rough rough rough rough leaf springs in the rear so we're getting a little bit of Bounce in the rear the front though is feeling very very um planted and not a lot of the the road is being communicated through the front end of this vehicle but we're still climbing here look at that trans holding us beautifully 2500 oh I'm in manual mode Let's go back to automatic still holding us at 2500 hasn't attempted the up shift we are receiving some Wheels slip here but that's the cool thing about this model there's no button you have to push to engage four-wheel drive there's no button you have to push to engage low range you simply just drive it as you would every day even on terrain like this and let the vehicle do its work you can distribute torque front and back as the all-wheel drive system sees fit and we are losing traction I do feel the wheels bouncing up and down a little bit but it's doing such a good job of maintaining and keeping forward momentum here really smooth engine and this is where you really can't tell it's a diesel at all and these higher RPMs it just seems like a little force over gas engine you know you see a vehicle like this you hear the word two liter and you think four-cylinder and you're like that's not going to be nearly the power I need on my everyday commute or even for off-road Adventures but even on this Rough and Tumble dirt road at very high elevation performing well bumps here now you're not solid not indicating any any overheat from the engine temp or the trans temp cruising on not this hill got an up shift there as we go over the washboard here we'll try taking this turn see how the stability feels I got some big bumps here all the accelerator really smooth shifts this transmission is also much smoother than the old one and I think we're about to cross the summit here into Roosevelt National Forest and the only ones up here except for maybe some side by size but yeah I have to say this is such an improvement over previous generations of Sprinter um really like this a lot don't fret the loss of the low range I think it's uh it really is fine in this vehicle and check out uh Adventure wagon if you want a really unusual upfit I think that's a pretty smart idea that not a lot of folks are doing in the industry well guys this has been Tommy thank you for joining me on this first ever POV Drive let me know what you think of in the comment section below if you want to do more and we'll see you in the next video [Music] thank you

Channel: TFLnow

Views: 77,001

Keywords: tflnow, the fast lane, tfl

Id: xtyCkPoPm2g

Length: 11min 22sec (682 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 23 2023