Would You Rather Daily Drive a Huge Pickup or a Mercedes Sprinter Van?

Motor Trend

5 days ago

We took on a yearlong test of a 2024 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 AWD to see if a van is a reasonable substitute for a pickup truck. So far, we've learned firsthand that a van is better for hauling, not so great for towing, surprisingly capable for off-roading, and is quite a bit more flexible than a truck. But what about, y'know, living with one? With nearly a year of Sauntering—er, sorry, Sprintering—under my belt, it was time to spend some time with a pickup truck to find out.
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If You're Gonna Compare, Compare to the Best
I called Ram, because why sandbag? The updated Ram 1500 recently won MotorTrend's 2025 Truck of the Year award, and the 2025 HD trucks just got many of the same upgrades. The Ram trucks have long been favorites of the MT staff for their handsome, modern interiors and day-to-day comfort. The Ram PR guy and I debated a bit on whether a 1500 or 2500 was more appropriate. My Sprinter wears a 2500 label, and its 2,988-pound payload is right up there in three-quarter-ton-truck territory. But the Sprinter's 5,000-pound towing capacity is less than a midsize pickup, whereas the Ram 2500 tows between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds—put another way, twice as much as the Sprinter plus the Sprinter itself. That requires pretty stiff rear springs, which affects the ride quality, and, given this was an article about daily driving, that was Ram's concern. In the end, we—and when I say 'we,' I mean 'I'—decided the Ram 2500 was the way to go.
I had a brief road trip to take in New York, and Ram just so happened to have the perfect truck, a midrange 2500 Laramie crew-cab 4x4 with the high-output Cummins diesel engine, a 2,200-pound payload rating and 19,600 pounds of towing capacity. With a sticker price of $80,350, it was in the same ballpark as MotorTrend's $80,824 Sprinter 2500 AWD.
One of the major pain points of the Sprinter is climbing into it—I'm only 5-foot-6—but this was even harder in the pickup truck, as there's no intermediate step between the ground and the floor. (My technique is the same for both vehicles: Grab the steering wheel and hoist.)
Owners vs. Employees
Once there, though, it's obvious the Ram was designed for owners while the Sprinter was designed for employees. The Sprinter's dash layout, though nicely arranged, is built of industrial-grade plastics, while the Ram, like most pickups, is designed more like a car. That said, I did miss the Sprinter's four 44-ounce Bladder Buster–sized cupholders. And the Sprinter's seats, while not as ornate as those of the Ram, are just as comfortable. Both vehicles have big, supportive, roomy back seats, but the Ram feels plusher, largely because the Sprinter makes back-seaters feel like they're sitting in a hallway.
One thing I did miss was the view out. Like the Sprinter, the Ram gives you a commanding view of traffic ahead, but I missed the Sprinter's gigantic windshield. In the Ram, I felt like I was jammed into the left-top corner of the cab. But while both vehicles are the same width—79.5 inches without side mirrors factored in—the snub-nosed Sprinter feels way easier to line up on narrow roads. In the Ram, I often felt like I was encroaching on the oncoming lane, but a check of the side mirrors showed I was well inside the lines.
Ram was concerned that my biggest gripe would be ride quality, but while the Ram's ride was definitely busier than the Sprinter's, I can't say it was significantly less comfortable. The Ram is one of the better-riding three-quarter-ton pickups, and it did a nice job rounding the edges off the bumps. When the pavement turned bumpy, the pickup got very uncomfortable, but the same is true of my Sprinter, with the height exaggerating the sense of pitch. Both are fine on smooth pavement and markedly not fine on rough roads.
Much of my trip was on the open road, and here the Sprinter had an advantage: It tracks better, whereas the Ram has more of a tendency to wander and requires more constant steering correction. But the pickup is largely immune to the crosswinds that can turn a blustery day into a white-knuckle Sprinter drive. The Ram felt more stable at high speeds, and I could pass trucks without getting blown around by the bow wave, another big challenge with the slab-sided Sprinter.
Power and Economy—and an Exhaust Brake
Speaking of passing, that was way, way, way easier in the pickup truck. That should come as no surprise given the Ram's 6.7-liter, 430-hp, 1,075-lb-ft turbodiesel inline-six, which dwarfs the Sprinter's 2.0-liter, 208-hp, 332-lb-ft turbodiesel I-4 in nearly every data point. We tested a 2025 Ram 3500 with the HO Cummins, and it sprinted (heh) to 60 in seven second flat, nearly twice as quickly as the 11.7-second Sprinter. I figured that with nearly three and a half times the displacement and what had to be at least a half a ton more weight, the pickup's fuel economy wouldn't come anywhere near the 20 mpg I average in the Sprinter. Wrong-o, bucko: The Ram averaged 18.7 mpg on my road trip. Granted that was running empty at moderate speeds, whereas my average in the van includes quite a bit of hauling, towing, and speeding. Running light and gentle, the Sprinter will make it up into the low 20s, but I was expecting mid to low teens from the Ram, so almost 19 was a pleasant surprise.
One of the bits that is standard on the Ram diesel is an exhaust brake—and if you remember my attempt to tow our partially loaded horse trailer with the Sprinter, you'll recall how desperately the Sprinter needs one of those. I wasn't towing anything this time 'round, but the extra engine braking was welcome even when running light, especially with the smart 'auto' function featured on the Ram. If I could pick one feature of the pickup truck to graft onto the van, the exhaust brake would be it.
Both engines emit a relaxing thrum at cruising speed, but the Cummins adds a nice, throaty bass note. However, I found I could enjoy the sound (or whatever is on the stereo) better in the pickup truck. No surprise that the van body serves as an echo chamber for road noise (which is respectably muted in the Sprinter), while the Ram's smaller, carpeted cabin is better insulated. After nearly a year of Sprinter driving, I barely hear the constant creaks and rattles of the uninsulated steel body, but I sure noticed their absence in the truck, though it was largely replaced by a higher level of tire noise.
One thing my junk-food-loving self was really looking forward to was a return to drive-throughs, from which the 9-foot 3-inch-tall Sprinter is generally disqualified. The Ram 2500 stands lower, and its turning circle is slightly tighter, but in real-world parking lots it's not a whole lot easier to maneuver than the van, and I realized the tight bends of the typical drive-through would be just as much of a challenge. I chose to park and walk, probably a good idea given the crap I love to eat on road trips. (My destination was Rochester, New York, where the Garbage Plate beckoned.)
Which Would We Rather Drive?
So which one makes a better daily driver, a pickup truck or a van? Both are unwieldier than a car or an SUV, though the pickup's broad turning circle is less invasive than the van's tall height. The pickup is certainly easier to drive fast, though its less precise steering makes higher speeds a challenge in its own way. The van prefers a more sedate pace, but its more carlike tires keep it going where you point it, which makes for less fatigue. Where the pickup holds its biggest advantage is the nicer interior, which we can chalk up to the fact that so many people use pickup trucks as daily drivers. When it comes to getting work done, I'll take the pickup truck for towing and the van for hauling, but as a daily driver, the pickup truck has a slight edge.
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