W700 vs Sprinter

[Glorifiedpackmule]

Came back from Vacation a few weeks ago to find that my W700 had been "retired".Im now rolling around in a first generation Sprinter. 526,000 miles young. Has to be the worst laid out delivery vehicle on the face of the planet. No AC, overheats, drinks oil, side sliding door doesnt stay shut. This makes for a long day.Fine for an extended route doing 50 stops a day. It's a complete NIGHTMARE for a city route that does on average 95 miles 130 stops a day. I'm in and out of the truck every 2 to 3 minutes for 8 to 9 hours everyday. I'm fine with driving a smaller vehicle. It does save fuel. I'm not fine staying out an extra hour everyday due soley to the limitations the sprinter. I remember a few years ago when Express was DONE with theses pieces of crap. They are unreliable and impossible to repair. I've been sitting at 94% for the last year. The extra time it takes to work out of this thing has me stuck running at about 85%. Do you think theyre gonna change my goals to reflect the changes they've dropped into my lap? He** no they won't change them. I have no interest in staying an extra hour later to make overtime.. Fedex can save that for the purple coolaid drinkers. I just want to put in an honest days work. I just want a shot to be home with my family for dinner at the end of the day. FedEx has once again takin away one of the only enjoyable parts of my day. I don't ask for much from this company.. Profit-Service-people.

 

[Ricochet1a]

For the larger guys, Sprinter type vehicles are a nightmare. When I was a Courier, I calculated that it took me an extra 30 seconds per stop (on average) to use a Sprinter instead of a W700. This was because it was necessary to walk around the Sprinter and open doors, climb in and out then secure the doors - it was not an ergonomic vehicle for rapid entry and exit.

In a W700 - one could quickly get into the vehicle, into the cargo area, get through whatever volume you needed and back in the drivers seat without acting like one was moving through a set of "playground monkey bars".

I'm confident that Express HASN'T considered the additional time that most Couriers will take at each stop, trying to work around the outside of the Sprinters as opposed to working solely INSIDE the W700s.

Supposedly the Mercedes Sprinters are more mechanically sound that the first generation of Sprinters - that is what Express is betting on.

I also hated the way the mirrors were set up on the older Sprinters (damn difficult to get a clear "picture" of what was behind you). The W700s were a snap to get proper orientation for backing and maneuvering in reverse - not the Sprinters.

Since the Sprinter doors open out, there will also be problems with pulling up to a loading dock (I'm thinking that any routes that have loading docks will have W700s reserved for them). I can imagine many rear doors getting their hinges messed up after a Courier opens them 270 degrees (flush with the side), then backs against a loading dock and hits the dock with either the door hinges or some part of the door. The reversing video will help, but depth perception at the edges of the view is poor, so there will be contact damage.

 

[Glorifiedpackmule]

I also came up with the same 30 seconds per stop calculation. It adds up after 8 or 9 hours of work. This is just one more thing to add to an ever growing list of bone headed ideas from Memphis. Don't get me wrong about this... It's not the size of the vehicle that bugs me... It's a terrible design.

 

[HomeDelivery]

yeap, my current contractor got rid of his sprinters & went with old DHL ford stepvans similar to the W700... his sprinters work OK, had AC, power outlets for your GPS/phone chargers, OEM radio/CD player, etc.

His drivers were beating the crap out of them & costs of maintenance/replacement parts were more expensive than the Ford stepvans, freightliner/workhorse stepvans...

I'm small enough to squeeze in those thin sprinter vans, with both sides of the shelves loaded up & I still can go in/out of the sliding side door. but, they should have been built with a box body-style instead.



I save a few hours per day because these w700/p700s are an ideal vehicle to work out of.

http://www.browncafe.com/forum/f50/thanks-dhl-344654/#axzz1ygBPO1cn

why didn't Express get the Isuzu Reach stepvan instead of Sprinters? similar mpg savings...but the body style of the traditional & proven delivery van.

according to one link, Express did buy some; so what happened to those?

FedEx Orders Composite Reach Commercial Vans From Isuzu and Utilimaster (Nasdaq:SPAR)

 

[mitchel]

i hate when i have to a route with a sprinter. they are not work effecient, but i do what i have to do to finish the route..........load my next ten stops in the front

 

[STFXG]

Sprinters are great if they're set up right. Just have to remove the passenger seat and put in. Sliding bulkhead. Then you deliver out of the side door.

The first gens are far more reliable. Better motors with better gas mileage. And they don't have the dpf or the def systems.

Repairs and parts are easy to get. The major expense is a lot of the work has to be done with the Mercedes obd3 scanner. Even brake flushes have to be hooked up to the obd3... You can pull codes with an obd2, but that's about it.

 

[LTFedExer]

The newer Sprinters are much better. I used for a couple of days on my PM until they figured out who to give it to. You can actually stand (I'm 6') up in the cab and, more importantly, in the back. Their wider/taller by a couple of inches, have motion sensors that turn the lights on in the back when you open the doors, A/C and remote locks (same as the older ones). 2 downsides that I find extremely annoying: 1. Turning radius is worse. It rivals my W900. 2. Unlike the older Sprinter, there's a different key for the ignition and bulkhead door. Doesn't seem like a big deal, until you have to 'remember' to switch keys.

 

[Glorifiedpackmule]

We've had a steady stream of the new sprinters coming in over the last year to take the place of w700s. They're all going to extended routes that cover 200 to 300 miles a day. They're much larger than the old sprinters. It's very odd to look down the line and see routes that take out 60 pieces a day with these much larger vehicles and then see a mall route or a downtown route packed out to the ceiling in one of the older/smaller sprinters.

 

[SmithBarney]

I had the opportunity to run a normally "sprinter" route with my econoline... I have to say I wasn't sure at first,
but even delivering from the econoline was better than I expected, and better than the sprinter. I swear everytime
I'm in a sprinter I hit my head, snag a arm, shirt, or something I always seem to get beat up in a sprinter, and I'm not a "big" guy.

 

[DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS]

We have one that is a Fiat, I think. It's supposedly one of a handful in the country and one of our extended guys got it to test it.

 

[fedupandpostal]

I keep saying if they were a foot wider and had a rollup back door they would be ok

 

[MrFedEx]

The newer Sprinters are much better. I used for a couple of days on my PM until they figured out who to give it to. You can actually stand (I'm 6') up in the cab and, more importantly, in the back. Their wider/taller by a couple of inches, have motion sensors that turn the lights on in the back when you open the doors, A/C and remote locks (same as the older ones). 2 downsides that I find extremely annoying: 1. Turning radius is worse. It rivals my W900. 2. Unlike the older Sprinter, there's a different key for the ignition and bulkhead door. Doesn't seem like a big deal, until you have to 'remember' to switch keys.

The newer Sprinters are better but still a lousy delivery vehicle. There is only one reason for the phaseout of the larger vehicles, and that is the shift of volume over to Ground.