"I'm starting to see a lot more of these in the USA (rebadged as Dodges and
Freightliners)"

Ya, I see the Freightliners in this area fairly often. Have wondered about
their convertability. Look like they have a lot of cubic space.
Watching "The Tour" on OLN, I saw quite a few of what looked like these
vans.
Wonder which one you were in? :)
bob

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Wasson" <briwasson@VERIZON.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2005 11:06 AM
Subject: Re: Nvc-but maybe future vans-pretty please VW

> I haven't driven the LT yet, but did have the opportunity to drive a
> Mercedes Sprinter for over two weeks this July while staffing a bike tour
> that followed the Tour de France around France. After driving it thousands
> of kilometers, I really fell in love with it. The CDi engine coupled with
> the 5 speed tranny had lots of power and returned decent mileage. The
> turning radius was great, it was comfortable to drive, and felt very
> nimble
> when driving the tiny little back roads of France and in heavy traffic in
> Paris. All in all, a very nice design and very roomy.
>
> I'm starting to see a lot more of these in the USA (rebadged as Dodges and
> Freightliners), and I think as word gets out a lot of service people will
> be
> buying them. I did see a US-built camper conversion of the Sprinter at an
> RV
> dealer, but they wanted something like $85,000 for it. That's a lot for a
> campervan, I think.
>
> I'm going to keep my eyes open in few years for a used Sprinter and maybe
> look into doing a self-conversion into a camper.
>
> Brian W.
>