ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Economical Trucks

I am wondering what people are doing for work trucks. I have a Ford E350 with a Utilimaster body (12') and weigh in at about 9500 pounds. Obviously, with fuel costs raising hourly (it seems) such costs are going to have to be passed on. Maybe some of our friends from Europe have some ideas on this. If anyone has thoughts on Sprinter or Sprinter style trucks please pass them along.

I have been seeing some around lately, really roomy, by no means small. These American versions are larger than my current van, a GMC 2500. About 2' longer, and 2~3' higher, no more drive-thru lunch for someone driving one. From what I remember, its been a while since my last Euro trip, but thiers were much smaller. I wouldnt mind one, because you can stand up in it. I think my next ride is a cut-away with a 10' box, and back to deisel.

Driving a 350 with a body, I think you might wince a the change in power, but would be alot lighter.

With the gas prices in Europe being what they are, European sparkies often don't drive a truck but something smaller based on a passenger car or minivan.

I found a company that does interiors for sparkies, plumbers etc. on the net. It looked pretty typical.

VW Caddy interior

The more recent model looks like this

Vans like MB Sprinter and Ford Transit are common. There must be half a dozen similar models on the market

Sprinter interior


[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 08-17-2005).]

I miss my old Isuzu pup and Datsun pickups. Used to put side boxes and pipe racks on em. 4 cyl. Great gas milage, and better yet they were low to the ground so I had an easy time to get stuff out. Now it seems like a truck bed has to be 6' in the air, and the trucks has to look like a space vehicle with an interior to match Mercedes Benz.

[This message has been edited by macmikeman (edited 08-17-2005).]

Actually, besides mileage the only downfall to the Utilimaster body is the tailgate is so low. One of my qualifying questions to a customer is "How steep is your driveway?" I still could never go back to a pickup or a van again. I like the fact that it is 6'3" tall on the inside.

I don't know, seems that no matter what you drive the mileage seems to be bad if you load your vehicle like I do. A buddy of mine has a F-350 2005 with a diesel and being that diesel fuel isn't cheap either, he doesn't see any savings at all. He likes the diesel for it's pulling power. I have an 04 Silverado with a contractors cap and I get 13-17 usually, which I think is pretty good. Next time though, I'm getting either a cube van or something similar, I hate crunching down and crawling to get something out of the back. Another guy I know has a Chevy Cube (03) and he claims to get 15-20 mpg but he carries a lighter load than most sparkies.

There are three wheelbases and two heights for the Sprinter. Only the longest wheelbase with the high roof is as large as you describe.

Leaving the vans... the small cabovers have smaller diesels also. Ford LCF, Isuzu NPR, GM W-series, and Mitsubishi Fuso come to mind.

We have moved down to the GMC Safari. Now I understand GMC is not going to produce Safari's, or any mini cargo van after 2005. Ford stopped the Aerostar Cargo Van in 1997. That means no American company makes a minivan!! What's an EC to do??

I rented a Subaru Outback in Idaho and put about 2000 miles on it in the mountains. It did around 28.5 MPG and I was ragging it pretty hard. Something in this family might work for a service vehicle.