#19 Sprinter Camper Conversion Van + Penthouse Top + Design Your Own

I have a Mercedes SUV Bluetec Diesel 4x4 almost 10 years old. Been kicking myself ever since for not buying one sooner in life......all that money I wasted on GM cars with maintenence and repairs. Just stupid because I just did a rough price comparison thinking Mercedes were expensive and not taking into account their longevity and reliability. This is going to last 2-3 times as long as my last Buick, it is cheaper to insure and gets better mileage with the Diesel even though it ways more than the Buick. Also, got $5000 knocked off MSRP with the USAA Car Buying Discount back when I bought it. Mercedes is paying me another $3500 next year due to a court settlement on emissions cheating which they fixed on the truck (no impact to performance payment is to cover reduction in trade-in value). So I did pretty good price wise.

I have a friend with a 23’ Mercedes motor home. 6 cylinder turbo diesel. It’s been a great rig. Rides nice. No power issues. Gets almost the same mileage as my 2001 Jeep Wrangler, SPC Erich Guenther

Well this is what I thought. You can cut the cost of the Mercedes significantly via eliminating most of the BS. You can haul a fairly significant camping trailer with that. So why not go with the Mercedes pop-top as a tailgating / party van. Include the bed with the pop-top, get rid of the kitchen, shower, toilet. Keep the seating, add big screen TV's, keep the fridge and microwave seperate AC, awning. So then probably cost cut down $20k or a little more. Then buy an airstream trailer BAMBI model for the bedroom, kitchen, shower, toilet, can get in a nice 25 to 35 foot package for $35-50k. Buy the camper, lease the van (Mercedes Diesels last forever). Combo price of both is probably about same or less than fully customized camper and you have flexiblity. Leave the camper at campsite, drive the van. Something to look at post-retirement.