Mercedes-Benz Sprinter review

£49,190 (exc VAT) is the absolute floor for a Mercedes Sprinter these days. That’s in Standard length with the entry-level 148bhp engine, manual gearbox, rear-wheel drive and lowest roof height.

If we work through all the permutations we’ll be here all week, so as a guide… the 168bhp engine is £1,000 ish more and the 188bhp starts from £56,605. The auto ‘box is a £2k upgrade over the manual, while the Long version is over £2k more versus Standard and the Extra Long closer to £3k.

Upgrading to all-wheel drive is the biggest wallet killer: roughly £7.5k more than sticking to rear-wheel drive.

Climbing up the weight classes means paying £3,185 more for the 3.88-tonner (with uprated engine), £13,840 for the 4.1-tonner (because it’s AWD only) or £9,310 more for the Top Daddy 5.0.

Gotcha. Does the Sprinter have trims?

Sure does. Pro is standard and gets a 5V USB port, semi-automatic air con, ceiling lights and… well, we’re three things in and we’ve already turned to ‘ceiling lights’. This one’s pretty sparse, basically.

Select – £3k ish above Pro – is where it’s at. This is where you’ll find your LED headlights, 10.25in touchscreen, leather steering wheel, heated door mirrors, smartphone mirroring and all the stuff designed to make working life more bearable when it’s eight degrees and chucking it down with rain, and your phone’s battery has seconds to live.

Then you’re into parking sensors, reversing cameras and comfort seat packages, plus oodles of optional equipment, fancier 16in wheels (a £1k upgrade) and upholstery.

All of that adds up. And remember you’re already paying through the nose as the Sprinter is hardly a golden Top Trumps card, so don’t splash out on AWD and other fripperies just because. Unless a high percentage of your clients live at the top of steep, scrabbly, wet mountain lanes in Wales. In which case, crack on.