" 1 CM has driven examples powered by all of the
Page 16
Page 17
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
new engines, in various configurations, in the Tuscan hills north of Pisa. The test course ran the gamut from hairpin-strewn mountain lanes, through town centres to highspeed Autostradas,
Starting at the bottom of the range, a 208 COI panel van provided an immediate surprise. Although blessed with a power increase of just 2hp compared with the old 80hp engine, torque has hem boosted by more than 30%, over a lower am wider rev hand. Looking past the flatterini effect of the shortest axle ratio, which give: a top speed somewhere in the high seventies the new model romped over the hilliest part! of the route. On the basis of a 30km drive the entry level engine certainly seems capa. ble of matching the previous 100hp exampli in most situations.
All the manual Sprinters tested sufferei from some variation in gear change qualitl although even on the worst example thi ergonomic benefits of the dash-mounted love more than outweighed a slight notchiness.
Next up was a 211 CBI chassis cab with dropside body. While the new common-ra engine is smooth by four-cylinder standard: the silkiness of the old five-cylinder wa missed on the lower rated engines. The revise. steering certainly works, with much bette response, but the firm ride could be caught ou by some road surfaces,
Six-speed
By now we were ready to try out the six-spee Sprintshift, which came as a 313 GOI crew-bui Starting off simply involves moving the stic to the left and pressing the throttle pedal. A the first up-change you realise that you ar not driving an epicyclic automatic with it instantaneous changes. There is a deliberat action to the change as the electronics mate the engine speed and swap ratios, but it take no longer than your average manual changi Downshifts are particularly smooth.
If you need to take manual contro through choice or from anticipation of hi
iescents, simply moving :he lever back will change rp from the current gean Ind (you guessed it) rushing forward changes iown. The gear display on :he dash changes from 'A" to the number of the engaged gear. leverse is engaged by moving to the right Ind then back, with the footbralie applied. lilt the automatic mode works so well :hat its hard to see why you would use remi-auto very often.
Our first taste of the monstrous 154hp mgine came in a 316 CDI van with manual :ransmission. The first and unexpected iiscovery was that the chassis could banfie the torque with no problem. What did catch our expectations was the perfornance. Even in top gear at 130km/h. it Nould fairly rocket away to its self mposed limit of 160km/ h.
One thing we still haven't discovered. iowever. is who in the haulage world is erpected to buy it. Paint it white and stick blue light on top and you might begin to orploit its potential. We tested this theory iy driving a top-of-the-tree 316 CM with noterhome coachwork and Sprintshift. ilthough not our usual type of transport, it lid provide an insight into the sort of expeience enjoyed by an ambulance driver. and ;teaming through traffic at high speed ieemed to be its natural environment.
Overall the Sprinter represents a great mprovement over its predecessor, and puts dercedes back into a game which has proressed considerably in the past year or so.