OUR SPRINTER EXPERIENCE

We tremendously enjoyed Richard van Ryneveld’s article in the March edition, on his trip to Botswana in a Mercedes Sprinter 4x4. Since we know all these places and campsites quite well from many trips, I would like to comment a little on the Mercedes Sprinter’s 4x4 performance from our own experience.

Our first overland trip, from Germany to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and all the way to Nepal, was in 1973 with a Volkswagen named “Bully”.

Since then, we have been in a number of SUVs and 4x4s over the years in different parts of the world.

From our home of 17 years in Knysna, we usually travel through Africa for two to three months every year with our trusty Toyota “Troopy”, which was customised by Alu-Cab in Cape Town. On our Toyota 78, we use BF Goodrich KO2 tyres with good results. It is not only the size and “footprint” of the tyres which matter. Reinforced sidewalls will definitely contribute to the longevity of the tyres, and thus reduce the overall cost of overland journeys.

From our home in Germany, we use a Mercedes Sprinter 4x4, which is comfortably equipped for overland trips. Beside a snorkel, Webasto heating system, kitchen, shower, loo and what-have-you, we also mounted a separate spare-wheel carrier at the rear door, and, most importantly, fitted an air spring system.

I understand that the Sprinter which you used was not loaded to the limits. As we all know, apart from the right tyres and tyre pressure, weight is quite often the limiting factor for driving in deep sand.

We took our Sprinter to Morocco to test it in the Sahara, where it performed very well in deep sand. Unfortunately, the Sahara Desert is not just sand. We also had to tackle long stretches of very sharp rocks and stones. The tyres we used were General Grabber AT3s, which performed well in the SA

4x4 shootout (February 2018). In the Sahara, we destroyed two of these tyres within the first three days. Their weak point is the sidewalls. New tyres had to be shipped at high cost from Casablanca to Erfoud, deep in the desert.

Our Mercedes Sprinter 4x4 is customised by a small but very exclusive company based in Germany - see For the Sprinter 4x4, they suggest using 16-inch wheels fitted with BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/O