Mercedes Benz

[TNM]

I’m thinking about purchasing a Thor Quantum MB24. Mercedes has it as a 2020 so any warranty is up but the Dealer is selling it as a 2022 with 12,205 miles. When I gave the vin to my insurance company it came up as a 2022. I’m having second thoughts about buying it because of no chassis warranty. Any thoughts would be appreciated. When I asked to take it for a test drive the salesman said I had to agree on a price before taking it out. They are higher then I want to pay so I never did take for a ride.

[d23haynes57]

Originally Posted by TNM

I’m thinking about purchasing a Thor Quantum MB24. Mercedes has it as a 2020 so any warranty is up but the Dealer is selling it as a 2022 with 12,205 miles. When I gave the vin to my insurance company it came up as a 2022. I’m having second thoughts about buying it because of no chassis warranty. Any thoughts would be appreciated. When I asked to take it for a test drive the salesman said I had to agree on a price before taking it out. They are higher then I want to pay so I never did take for a ride.

Chassis warranties are typically 2 year, 24Kmiles or 3 year, 36K miles. If that is a requirement you should be looking at new. An option is to purchase an extended protection, service plan. I would also suggest that if warranty is a deal breaker, then you have little faith in what you are looking at or concerned that if/when something goes wrong you will have some difficulty dealing with it. With those thoughts it may make sense to look at something more "robust" and lower cost to maintain.

[shepardmike]

I would try to find another place where you can go out and drive one. In 2016 I wanted a B+ and drove the MB and didn't like it at all. It was too squishy and top heavy. Other owners where getting the suspension beefed up on theirs.

Maybe they fixed those issues since then. I ended up with Ford based chassis (Gemini) which handled 10x better, but you really need to drive one.

[Supersail]

They won’t let you drive it until you make a deal? I’d run…

A 2022 could be on a 2020 chassis, sometimes they sit for a while before assembly. I think the title is listed as the MH manufacture date, not the chassis date but I could be wrong. For instance we have a 2023 MH on a 2022 MB chassis. Warranty on the chassis should start on original sale date and could be anywhere in there. Call a MB dealer with the VIN to find the true state of the warranty and the chassis year, I believe it can be transferred once.

I looked at one that was dealer listed at wrong year, wrong VIN, wrong mileage and was in an accident. Take a pic of the vin when you look at them and run a carfax 😀

[Alaskajohn]

The dealer is nuts to not let you drive until you agreed on a price. I have not known an owner of a MB chassis to have a lot of positive things to say about the build quality.

[Paul_D]

The chassis warranty starts when the manufacturer enters the in service date.
My RV is built on a 2016 Cab chassis, sold as a 2018 Thor Freedom Elite, in service date was July 2017.

The title says 2018 Thor Freedom Elite, the VIN comes back as 2016 Sprinter 3500. The insurance company had it as a Sprinter (using VIN).

I would never buy from a dealer that wanted to have a price before test drive.

CarFax is your friend when looking at used Sprinters.

There should be a good number of private sales, as many who bought during COVID are now looking at a large monthly payment sitting in the driveway.

The MB chassis is fine, the Thor workmanship is total garbage.
I did add Sumo Springs all around to improve the handling.

[TNM]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post. I’m going to another dealer on Monday and I asked to take the Sprinter for a test drive and the salesman said sure. I think this is going to to be a better experience.

[shootist]

Pretty sure the new diesel is a punky little 2 liter. The previous are a 3.5. I expect that little motor is headed for huge failure. Too small for the job.

[bigb56]

Originally Posted by shootist

Pretty sure the new diesel is a punky little 2 liter. The previous are a 3.5. I expect that little motor is headed for huge failure. Too small for the job.

The 2.0 is the OM654, it's not new, but new to US Sprinters. The OM654 family of engines came out in 2016. The prior 6 cyl was a 3.0 OM642 which MB dropped at the end of 2022.
The OM654 claims HP and torque numbers very close to the OM642. Time will tell how it does on motorhomes.

Have not heard of any failures yet but have heard a couple complaints of high oil temps on steep grades causing it to go into a reduced power mode.

BTW it comes in an optional high output version, which is nothing more than a software change.

[shootist]

You're right on the 3.0 . Don't know why I thought 3.5. Thanks