Over the last 17 years, I have had the pleasure of helping thousands of

people make their RV motorhome purchase. This unique perspective of

assisting in the shopping process gave me the understanding of what

is important to the retail customer. Things like value, performance,

design and safety rule the day. Recently, there has been

a new factor, fuel efficiency.

A decade ago, when a person would ask, "What is the gas mileage?

The cute response was, "If you have to ask, you probably cannot

afford it." This response was a defense mechanism by the industry

to deflect the perception that fuel consumption was going to

drain the RVer of all their money or perhaps prevent a new RVer

from entering into the market. This fear of fuel consumption and the cost

associated with fuel has remained an important topic.

Consequently, there is a fallacy that has been left unchecked and

may be impacting the decision by first time buyers as well as the seasoned RVer.

The fallacy, the Sprinter chassis with the Mercedes 3.0 diesel engine

will save you money because the MPG’s is far better than the Ford Cut-a-way

chassis with the V-10 gasoline engine.

The following comparison is meant to comprehensive,

but I must admit, our company, Nexus RV,

has made the decision to build exclusively on the Ford Chassis

for several major reasons. Each of those reasons is based on what we

believe to be right for the retail customer.

Here is that comparison:

Fuel Cost

In an effort to demonstrate the ROI (return on investment of buying a Sprinter Chassis

instead of a Ford Chassis, you must first determine some variables

that are agreeable. For this comparison let us accept the following variables:

Price per Gallon (AAA fuel chart October 13th, 2011)

Diesel $3.79

Unleaded $3.42

Miles traveled per year by the RVer (industry estimate)

5,000 miles

Cost to buy Sprinter Chassis with Mercedes Engine and diesel Generator Vs. Ford with gas Generator

$25,000

Miles per Gallon (MPG)

Sprinter 13 mpg

Ford 9 mpg

Annual cost of fuel

Sprinter Chassis with 3.0 Mercedes diesel

5,000 miles traveled divided by 13 miles per gallon=384 gallons used x $3.79 per gallon =

$1,458 annual fuel expense

Ford Chassis with V-10 gas

5,000 miles traveled divided by 9 miles per gallon=555 gallons used x $3.42 per gallon=

$1,900 annual fuel expense

Result: You save $442 for every 5,000 miles

you travel with the purchase of a Sprinter Chassis,

but remember you paid $25,000 more for the same motorhome.

It would take you 56 years to get a return on your investment!

The equation can be modified to handle all the variables such as fuel cost,

distance traveled or amount paid for the Sprinter Chassis.

Bottom line: No matter how long you own your motorhome you will not be able

to save money with on fuel by purchasing the Sprinter Chassis vs. the Ford Chassis.

Parts and Service

Ford Motor Company has been producing the

Ford Cut-a-way chassis with slight modifications for over 30 years;

the V-10 engine has been used in the configuration for over 15 years.

This product is manufactured in Lorain, Ohio. Thus, the availability

of parts for these products is plentiful and cost effective. Contrarily, the

Sprinter Chassis with the 3.0l Mercedes Engine has only been in the states under

its current configuration for less than 7 years. The import cost and shipping costs make

the parts for the Sprinter expensive compared to the

Ford. In addition, Ford Motor Company has been in existence for over 100 years

with the largest and strongest service network in the RV industry.

There is not even a close second. At Nexus, because we know the

buyers are not going to be close to where they bought their unit, we rely heavily on

Ford’s ability to keep our customer’s on the road. Sprinter does not have a service network

that would compare to the Ford’s. In fact, there are a fraction of service centers

that can or will service the Sprinter Chassis.

Result: Ford Service and Parts are far more effective and affordable than the Sprinter.

Product and Performance

Although the Sprinter has some neat features and many people like

the feel of the cockpit while you are driving down the road, there are

some vital features that Ford has over the Sprinter that are difficult to ignore.

Here are those important features:

Ford - Feature - Sprinter

14,500 lbs - GCWR - 11,030

305 H.P. - Horsepower - 188 H.P.

55 Gallon - Fuel Capacity - 26.4 Gallon

LT 225/75/16E - Tires - LT225/85R/16

420 lbs. - Torque - 325 lbs.

It is understandable that many readers maybelieve there are many more features

that both these chassis could tout in a sales presentation. They would be correct.

We have taken the most important features to the overall performance

of the motorhome and concluded that in spite of the limited short term gains

in fuel efficiency, the Sprinter Chassis and Mercedes engine does not compare

to the Ford in those key areas such as value, safety, service and

Return on Investment (ROI).

Nexus RV is a factory Direct Dealer/Manufacturer that works diligently

to save retail customers money by eliminating waste, give the customers a

better buying experience and build the customers exactly what they want.

Moreover, we go to great lengths to inform customers of our manufacturing philosophy

as well as our unique perspective of being both the dealer and the manufacturer of RVs.

It is with that spirit we hope to pass along information that may help

in the buying decision of thousand of potential customers.