With a bit of a last-minute change in plans, we’re off to the desert Southwest in our brand new sprinter!
We shot some video after the fact to explain why we would do something so crazy when we’re already on our trip with our fully prepared 4Runner, but the video didn’t turn out to my liking so I’ll just explain here:
The biggest thing rushing us to make this decision was the realization that we couldn’t keep the bikes wrapped in a tarp. The tarp obscured our taillights. The bikes are very expensive and the thought of having them out there in the open for all to see (for 3 weeks, in unfamiliar surroundings) was really unappealing.
Also, not as urgent on this trip but very important aside from that, trying to find a good used sprinter has been very difficult. Spending time and money to take a ferry, trying to schedule test drives with owners, hoping one didn’t sell in the meantime (which happened a number of times), and then wondering how to work out viewing it ourselves in the first place, and then trying to schedule a mechanic to check it out as well… it was all turning into a huge headache. (you can’t just “one-stop-shop” for a used vehicle). But buying new alleviated all of that.
And the final big thing that made this all happen was that every dealer we’ve visited already, had a number of Sprinters in their inventory, but they all were loaded with things that we don’t want and would end up tossing out. This was the first bare-bones one we’ve seen.
That and the dealer was hot to sell to make room for incoming 2019 models so we got a smokin’ good deal.