The Best Van for Van Life: Why we Bought a Mercedes Sprinter Van

When building out a van, the first question is what is the best van for van life. There are many options, including popular options from Ford, Mercedes, and Dodge. Outside of the make, there are differences in the manufacturer, and finally, we need to decide whether the best van for van life is a used or new van! All of the answers to these questions are incredibly nuanced and up to individual purchasing, so we’ve laid out some common pros and cons and why we chose a used Mercedes Sprinter Van as our van of choice for our van build.

What are the most popular vans for van life

There aren’t many qualifiers for living in a van. Some people prefer van life in a minivan, others prefer a luxury Mercedes Sprinter Winnebago Revel. However, for full time van life (our goals) we do have a few key features that are required, making the best possible van.

1. Height. Since the van is our home, we need to be able to live comfortably. This means the van interior height needs to be at least, 6”4 so I can fully stand up with a floor and ceiling.
2. Longevity. We are investing a lot of time and money into building out a van, and are expecting the van to last over 5 years of full time driving and living.
3. Length. Since we are living in our van full time, it hast to be long enough for all the pieces of a home, including a shower, toilet, bed, kitchen, and working area.
4. Cost. Finally, the best van is… one we can afford (shocker). Considering van prices range from over six figures to free there are is a lot to consider. Coming from boat life a popular saying is that “a free boat is the most expensive boat you can buy”, there’s more to cost than might seem!
5. Resell. After we are finished with Van Life, what has the best resell market?

Let’s grade our vehicle options in terms of positive, negative, and neutral!

Instead of leaving you with random points, let’s break down each option above to understand the qualities of the best van for van life.

Mercedes Sprinter Van

We consider the Mercedes Sprinter Van the best van for van life. It has positives for every category, except for the cost category. When you consider cost, there are two main pieces – upfront cost and long-term maintenance cost. Since it is a Mercedes, the upfront cost is the highest of the options; however, since it is a diesel (like the ProMaster), the long-term cost is less. Of course, when you have an issue, you’ll need to pay an arm and a leg to the dealer to fix it. However, their build quality is the best of all the van options, meaning time at the dealer should be minimized.

Ford Transit

Next on the list is the Ford Transit Van. The Ford Transit is a great all-around vehicle. For us, there are two main drawbacks to the Ford Transit. The first is that it is a gasoline-powered van, and because of that, it will cost less up front (a positive). However, it won’t have the longevity that a diesel engine will have. This impacts the resell cost because if we have 200k miles on a Ford Transit after 5-10 years, that is close to the end of life for the engine.

The second challenge with the Ford Transit isn’t listed in the chart above, but that’s availability. We tried for many months (in late 2023 and early 2024) to test drive a Ford Transit, the problem was no dealer had one! Whether it’s too much demand or too little supply (we think it’s the latter), there weren’t any Ford Transits available to test drive; nevertheless, purchase. This was disappointing as the Ford Transit was our #2 option and could have been our best van for van life if we had the chance to compare it to the Sprinter Van. The final pro regarding the Ford Transit that we should mention here, is that the Ford Transit is the tallest van option. So if you want to stand up fully, and you are 6’5″, then you might need to go with the Transit.

Ram ProMaster

On paper, the Ram ProMaster is a fantastic van for van life. The ProMaster doesn’t suffer from the availability issues of the Ford Transit, but here are the reasons why we are not going with the Dodge Ram ProMaster. The first, probably most important reason, is design. It’s purely subjective, but we don’t like the look and feel of the ProMaster compared to the other two popular Van options. This is obviously very personal, and I’m sure others feel the opposite way! The second reason is that we’ve heard of lots of transmission issues with the ProMaster. There was a recall for about 165,000 2019-2021 ProMasters this past year, and it gives us lots of concern for the long-term reliability of the Van. One pro about the ProMaster (pun intended) is that it is slightly wider than the other two options. This means if you decide on a layout where your bed is perpendicular to the van, you may not need to install flares.

School Bus

Now a school bus isn’t a van, however most people when deciding on the best van for van life at least consider a “skoolie” as they are nicknamed. A school bus gives you a lot of flexibility and space in the build out, similar to a van. You can often buy a school bus for relatively cheap, however there are too many limitations in a School Bus build for us.

1. School Buses get low MPG and will be expensive to run them over years of travel.
2. School Buses are very long and won’t be as nimble as a Van. Parking will be a challenge and you’ll have to be more particular about the roads you find.
3. School Buses require a lot of maintenance and upkeep because they are typically pretty old and well used. This is why in the chart above, a skoolie has a -1 instead of a +1. The initial cost may be low, but the overall cost will be relatively high.

Minivan

Many people choose to convert and live out of a Minivan for van life. A Minivan is the cheapest easiest way to get into van life, as there are many available for a fraction of the cost of the larger rigs, and the silver lining of a small van is that it will cost less to build out. This being said it isn’t a realistic option for us because we are building our full-time home. A Minivan is off the list of best vans for van life purely because it isn’t tall enough.

Box Truck

A Box Truck, while also technically not a van, is another popular option for life on the road. The box truck is sort of a mix between the skoolie and the minivan. Not super expensive, tall enough for full time living, and short enough to still move around relatively easily. However, the low MPG, design factor, and upkeep costs with an older vehicle all preclude a box truck for being our choice for van life.

Is a Used Van or New Van Best for Van Life

When deciding to spend thousands of dollars on a refit or building out a vehicle, you need to determine if you want to save money on the vehicle of choice by buying used! Here are a few pros/cons to determine if you should consider buying new or used.

Upfront Cost

The most alluring factor of a used car is the upfront cost. If you want to buy a recent (last two years) Van used you could realistically save 5-15k depending on use and availability.

Longterm Cost

So imagine you buy a used 2018 Mercedes Sprinter with 150k miles run as an Amazon Delivery Van for 20k. That sounds like a huge cost savings from the 50k new Sprinter Van, right? You must consider that the used van, especially from a delivery company, will be used hard. You can expect to need to replace components more quickly, and you will be in and out of the mechanic more frequently. If that is worth 30k, then a used van could be a great choice! We used to live aboard a 30-year-old boat and were acutely aware of the maintenance and upkeep required for an older engine. We know that buying an older vehicle will come with many headaches. So, whatever the difference in cost (after major repairs like a new transmission or fixing the damage over time that accrued) won’t make a very old van the best van for van life, in our opinion. However, the flip side is that if you have the time and skills to say “rebuild an engine,” buying a used van can be the perfect entry into van life!

Opportunity for Resell

If you need or want the latest and greatest, like a 360-degree camera or blind spot assist, you’ll mostly need to buy new or recent. While the bells and whistles are expensive now, we need to think of reselling. While you may be interested in buying a 2018 Sprinter for 20k, when you want to sell it in 5 years, will someone in 2029 want to purchase a 2018 Sprinter? For us, we are excited for Van life, and we may never quit, but having the possibility of recouping our initial costs is a very alluring option.

What Van We Bought for Van Life

We purchased a – drumroll please…. used 2023 Mercedes Sprinter, 170” Wheelbase, High Roof, with AWD and a High Output Diesel Engine for 72k. This was definitely much higher initial amount than we wanted to spend on the van, but we did get a few features that will be perfect for van life as well as help resell. Here are the reasons why we bought this Mercedes Sprinter Van and why it is the best van for van life (for us).

The Mercedes Sprinter Van fits the Length and Height Requirements

With the High Roof option and the 170” wheelbase, our Mercedes Sprinter Van is large enough for us to build our tiny home and stand up inside. Stay tuned for our next few blog posts, which will go over the layout of our van!

The Mercedes Sprinter Van fits the Longevity and Resell Requirements

The diesel engines on Mercedes Sprinter vans can last hundreds of thousands of miles. Since the van is only a 2023 with almost 0 miles, we will get a lot of use out of the vehicle and should we decide to sell it, the next owner will have plenty of years of use.

While we payed more for the Mercedes Sprinter, we got a lot for it

Our walk out the door price (including taxes and dealer fees) was 72k. Our model isn’t a standard model though, and has the RV package. This means that it is lifted with aftermarket suspension, the extra alternator bracket, all-wheel drive, and it includes a roof rack. The table above details the base MSRP for a 2024 version, so with the included upgrades, that new price is up to $81,487. With taxes and fees that is closer to 87k. This means that buying used saved us roughly 15k. We are ecstatic about this savings, as it will help us reduce costs on the over all build.

What Van should you buy for Van Life

Ultimately, the best van for van life is the one that satisfies all of your criteria. Using our breakdown here, what matters most to you? There is no “one way” to do van life, which is part of the joy. We will update this post with some real experience after we have built out our Mercedes Sprinter Van and lived on the road, as much of the best van for van life has to be determined later!