MERCEDES-BENZ Sprinter
MERCEDES-BENZ Sprinter
If you called an HVAC guy or plumber to do some work in your house, there is a chance that he came in Sprinter. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter has to be one of the most versatile light commercial vehicles built by Daimler AG of Stuttgart, Germany. Sprinter comes in a van, chassis cab, minibus, and pickup truck models. Sprinter is sold world-wide and not only from Mercedes-Benz, but it also sold under Dodge, Freightliner, and Volkswagen. In the States, Sprinter was built from CKD (Complete Knock Down) kits by Freightliner. Volkswagen sold the Sprinter as Volkswagen LT and Crafter, but the models were mostly for the European market. In this Featured Vehicle article, we will concentrate on the North American market.
First Generation MERCEDES-BENZ Sprinter (1995~2006)
Even though the 1st generation start date was 1995, Sprinter came to the North American market in 2001, and branded as "Freightliner." The other Sprinter models had the Mercedes-Benz brand. In 2003, Dodge received the Sprinter. Manufactured Düsseldorf, Germany, the 1st generation Sprinter was then partially disassembled and reassembled in Gaffney, South Carolina, and the cargo version in Ladson, South Carolina.
Sprinter used halogen bulb size H7 for low beam and H1 for high beam. Up until 2004, For the fog lamp, the size H3 was used, but from 2005 to 2006, H3 replaced the size H1. Since Sprinter is such a workhorse, we can still see them on the road. One complaint that we heard from the owners of these 1st generation Sprinter is the light output of the low beam. Blesk HID Conversion Kit was widely used to switch the halogen H7 to HID xenon rebased bulbs which significantly improved the light output. For those who did not want to bother with the whole installation process chose DAMA Kanji Lux Vision (KLV) or more affordable DAMA Kanji Focus Vision (KFV)Â H7 LED headlights for an easy, Plug-N-Play installation.
Second Generation MERCEDES-BENZ Sprinter (2006~2018)
Although Sprint had some problem with the air condition unit leaking, in 2007 and 2008, Sprinter was voted "Van of the Year" by Professional Van and Light Truck Magazine. Along with some added features like redesigned radiator grille, improved angular headlights, and assistance systems, the second generation Sprint gave two options in headlights. Sprint with the halogen headlight still used the same H7 for the low beam. However, Sprint unified the high beam size by switching from H1 to H7 and started to use a popular H11 for the fog lights. In 2007, Sprint introduced D1S HID xenon headlight unit that had an option of bi-xenon and HID xenon bulb for low beam and H7 for high beam. Osram Cool Blue Advance D1S HID xenon bulb was popular for its color. However, the drivers who wanted the maximum light output seemed to prefer Philips XtremeVision 150% D1S.
Third Generation MERCEDES-BENZ Sprinter (2019~Present)
In 2018, the 3rd generation Sprinter was introduced at the Mercedes-Benz logistic center in Duisburg, Germany. This was the first time that includes a front-wheel drive van in the Sprint collections. With the introduction of LED headlights, Sprint had a model with the LED low beam headlight and discontinued the HID xenon headlight model. However, they kept the halogen headlight option that continued to use H7 for the low beam but changed the high beam to H15 size. Although the low beam is factory installed headlights, the other wedge light bulbs are plain halogen bulbs. For many Sprinter owners, they switch the halogen wedge bulbs with LED bulbs. license plate bulb used the size 2825, which is the size 194/T10. Blesk T10 LED bulb is very popular with our customers, but we introduced DAMA mini 194 LED bulb last year and it has taken over the popularity of Blesk. Sprinter back up light size is 7506 which again is the same as 1156. Once again, DAMA mini 1156 LED bulb is the favorites because the bulb is the brightest LED back up the bulb in the market. When you have this DAMA mini LED 1156, people will definitely know for sure that you are backing up.