Great West Van, Inc. is a small converter company in St. Andrews, MB, Canada located just north of Winnipeg and 480 miles almost due north of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. The currently convert the Chevy Express cutaway chassis to make their Titan Wide Body, the Ford E350s to make their Ford Classic and the Mercedes Benz 3500 170" WB Sprinter to make their Legend. The Classic is the smallest, the Titan Wide Body is the widest and the Legend is the longest of their Bs. All three share similar design features and layouts in enclosed bathrooms, zone living with front swivel seating with table and choice of bed setups most prominently with a unique tri-fold electric sofa.
We bought the Sprinter and it is the subject of this review. This is our second B. Our first B was a 2005 Pleasure-Way Plateau Sprinter. GWV's current competitors building on the same model are the Roadtrek RS Adventurous, the Leisure Travel Vans Free Spirit, The Pleasure-Way Plateau, the Airstream Interstate and maybe soon the Winnebago ERA. You can convert the same model in your own custom configuration through Sportsmobile. The platform is simple with few options. It is a Mercedes Benz 3500 Sprinter 3.0L diesel engine with automatic transmission. So that factor is a given for all the manufacturers which makes the choice easier to just concentrate on the conversion features and design layouts. They have all gone to the 3500 model with the dually wheels which gives you much more load capacity than the 2500 model Sprinters. The manufacturers convert either Freightliner or Mercedes Benz badged models. GWV is currently converting Mercedes Benz. Sprinters are no longer badged as Dodges starting in 2010.
The new Sprinter model starting with the 2007 chassis is 10" longer at 22'-9" a few inches wider at 6'-8", has an increased wheelbase from 158" to 170" and an change of diesel engines from an I5 to a V6. Horsepower increased to 188 and the torque of 325 lb-ft. The interior height increased from about 6' to 6-3".
The old Sprinter was sprung from a bygone era of spartan utility and very distinctly felt exactly like what it was - a cargo work van. The new Sprinter is more auto like with a tilt steering wheel and loads of comfort conveniences and storage. The engine and cab are much quieter. The V6 diesel engine no longer has that traditional diesel rattling especially during acceleration. The ride is softer and smoother. The one debit. Less fuel mileage but still net better than the Chevys and Fords.
In addition to the dashboard storage nooks and crannies and shelves above the sun visors the GWV Legend adds built-in wooden shelves above the cab. Both driver and passenger seat swivel (a MB standard) but unlike some B models the driver's seat has ample room to swivel all the way around to a table that can be set in place. A third or fourth passenger seat was not desired.
We upgraded to a new GWV Legend to satisfy several desires we accumulated over five years of B van use. The first obvious one was getting a new and newer design Sprinter as described above.
Secondly, we desired more zoned living in being able to utilize the driver and passenger seat swiveled around toward the back of the van and set up to a temporary table. We didn't have that in our Pleasure-Way.
Thirdly, we desired a fly and mosquito screen solution so we could come and go from the B without opening and closing the large sliding door. We also needed to keep our cat inside the B. GWV has come up with a screen enclosure and a sliding screen door that is unique to meet this desire. I don't think any other manufacturer has addressed this issue.
Lastly, we own a 20 cubic foot hitch receiver cargo carrier in order to carry two inflatable kayaks and various other items. After a couple of lengthy trips including one six week trip where we used our kayaks in only one place we decided a cargo carrier that extends the B length another 3 feet just wasn't worth the aggravation. It completely changed where we drove and where we parked. So on one trip we left them at home and you guessed it, we passed up many unanticipated opportunities where we could have used the kayaks. So the desire to carry them inside the B yet not in the way became a huge desire. Again, GWV came up with a unique design no other B has in the Tri-fold electric sofa to give us the storage area we desired.
THE TRI-FOLD ELECTRIC SOFA
The Great West Van Legend is an electric tri-sofa design without the attending ottomans and backrest cushions to fill in for a bed as most other Bs have. The sofa flattens and fills in the back area into a King bed utilizing three panels - the seat, the seat back and another panel behind the seat back. I think this is unique to GWV. You can sit three legally while underway and you can adjust the back slope. The wheel wells of the 3500 dually chassis are carpeted and serve as foot stools.
The single biggest advantage of the GWV tri-fold sofa is its tremendous storage. It rides on side rails so the underside storage is 12"D x 69" x 40" and mostly free of interfering support hardware. We can store everything we had stored under the sofa in our P-W plus everything we had stored in a 20 cubic foot cargo carrier shell on our hitch receiver. In addition it has a 13"D x 20" x 27" basement storage. We haven't sleeped in it yet so are hoping on the come it will be what we wanted.
The Tri-fold Sofa
The Bed
Clear storage under the sofa
The bonus. If you want you can glide the whole sofa forward and have standup storage behind for things like bicycles while traveling.
This view is with the sofa all the way forward. What you see stored is what will fit under with the sofa all the way back or in the bed position. It is everything that was carried in our previous P-W Plateau with the hitch cargo carrier. The two gray bags are inflatable kayaks that were previously carried in the cargo carrier.
There were also a lot of other things we were looking to upgrade to that almost every B could have satisfied such as two house batteries, but this B in aggregate satisfied the most desires for us and in more unique ways.
We bought the Sprinter and it is the subject of this review. This is our second B. Our first B was a 2005 Pleasure-Way Plateau Sprinter. GWV's current competitors building on the same model are the Roadtrek RS Adventurous, the Leisure Travel Vans Free Spirit, The Pleasure-Way Plateau, the Airstream Interstate and maybe soon the Winnebago ERA. You can convert the same model in your own custom configuration through Sportsmobile. The platform is simple with few options. It is a Mercedes Benz 3500 Sprinter 3.0L diesel engine with automatic transmission. So that factor is a given for all the manufacturers which makes the choice easier to just concentrate on the conversion features and design layouts. They have all gone to the 3500 model with the dually wheels which gives you much more load capacity than the 2500 model Sprinters. The manufacturers convert either Freightliner or Mercedes Benz badged models. GWV is currently converting Mercedes Benz. Sprinters are no longer badged as Dodges starting in 2010.
The new Sprinter model starting with the 2007 chassis is 10" longer at 22'-9" a few inches wider at 6'-8", has an increased wheelbase from 158" to 170" and an change of diesel engines from an I5 to a V6. Horsepower increased to 188 and the torque of 325 lb-ft. The interior height increased from about 6' to 6-3".
The old Sprinter was sprung from a bygone era of spartan utility and very distinctly felt exactly like what it was - a cargo work van. The new Sprinter is more auto like with a tilt steering wheel and loads of comfort conveniences and storage. The engine and cab are much quieter. The V6 diesel engine no longer has that traditional diesel rattling especially during acceleration. The ride is softer and smoother. The one debit. Less fuel mileage but still net better than the Chevys and Fords.
In addition to the dashboard storage nooks and crannies and shelves above the sun visors the GWV Legend adds built-in wooden shelves above the cab. Both driver and passenger seat swivel (a MB standard) but unlike some B models the driver's seat has ample room to swivel all the way around to a table that can be set in place. A third or fourth passenger seat was not desired.
We upgraded to a new GWV Legend to satisfy several desires we accumulated over five years of B van use. The first obvious one was getting a new and newer design Sprinter as described above.
Secondly, we desired more zoned living in being able to utilize the driver and passenger seat swiveled around toward the back of the van and set up to a temporary table. We didn't have that in our Pleasure-Way.
Thirdly, we desired a fly and mosquito screen solution so we could come and go from the B without opening and closing the large sliding door. We also needed to keep our cat inside the B. GWV has come up with a screen enclosure and a sliding screen door that is unique to meet this desire. I don't think any other manufacturer has addressed this issue.
Lastly, we own a 20 cubic foot hitch receiver cargo carrier in order to carry two inflatable kayaks and various other items. After a couple of lengthy trips including one six week trip where we used our kayaks in only one place we decided a cargo carrier that extends the B length another 3 feet just wasn't worth the aggravation. It completely changed where we drove and where we parked. So on one trip we left them at home and you guessed it, we passed up many unanticipated opportunities where we could have used the kayaks. So the desire to carry them inside the B yet not in the way became a huge desire. Again, GWV came up with a unique design no other B has in the Tri-fold electric sofa to give us the storage area we desired.
THE TRI-FOLD ELECTRIC SOFA
The Great West Van Legend is an electric tri-sofa design without the attending ottomans and backrest cushions to fill in for a bed as most other Bs have. The sofa flattens and fills in the back area into a King bed utilizing three panels - the seat, the seat back and another panel behind the seat back. I think this is unique to GWV. You can sit three legally while underway and you can adjust the back slope. The wheel wells of the 3500 dually chassis are carpeted and serve as foot stools.
The single biggest advantage of the GWV tri-fold sofa is its tremendous storage. It rides on side rails so the underside storage is 12"D x 69" x 40" and mostly free of interfering support hardware. We can store everything we had stored under the sofa in our P-W plus everything we had stored in a 20 cubic foot cargo carrier shell on our hitch receiver. In addition it has a 13"D x 20" x 27" basement storage. We haven't sleeped in it yet so are hoping on the come it will be what we wanted.
The Tri-fold Sofa
The Bed
Clear storage under the sofa
The bonus. If you want you can glide the whole sofa forward and have standup storage behind for things like bicycles while traveling.
This view is with the sofa all the way forward. What you see stored is what will fit under with the sofa all the way back or in the bed position. It is everything that was carried in our previous P-W Plateau with the hitch cargo carrier. The two gray bags are inflatable kayaks that were previously carried in the cargo carrier.
There were also a lot of other things we were looking to upgrade to that almost every B could have satisfied such as two house batteries, but this B in aggregate satisfied the most desires for us and in more unique ways.
