[Colin]

Mercedes-Benz says that the 2016 Metris Cargo van will "best the competition for cargo carrying." I decided to take a look at the competition to see fit his was indeed the case. Strangely enough, rivals also claim best-in-class cargo capacity, and I also question exactly how some of these companies are measuring what their cargo capacity is. Let's take a look.

Here is a list of the listed cargo capacity of the Metris and a number of its rivals according to their websites.

Mercedes-Benz Metris - 186 cu feet
Ford Transit Connect - 149 cu feet
Nissan NV200 - 122.7 cu feet
Ram ProMaster City - 131.7 cu feet *advertises best-in-class cargo capacity for small commercial van segment*
Chevy City Express - 122.7 cu feet

So from what we see here it appears that the Metris does have the best cargo capacity, and that is by quite a bit. I find it strange that the Ram ProMaster City also advertises best-in-class cargo capacity. I find that strange because as you can see from these figures, it falls behind not only the Metris, but also the Ford Transit Connect. Perhaps Ram isn't including a few of these in the same segment or something, but it seems like something fishy is going on here.

Anyway, when it comes to cargo capacity, if that's the most important thing to you in your buying decision, then it looks like you should go with the Mercedes-Benz Metris.

 

[Greenmanedlion]

You ignored the C/V tradesman, which is it's closest competitor sizewise. Admittedly, it's a piece of garbage.

That being said, comparing it to those vans is sorta apples/oranges. It is sized to compete with the VW T6, the Renault Traffic, the Ford Transit Custom, the Fiat Scudo and others of that ilk- which aren't sold here. The Sprinter is competitively priced as a diesel powered hauler - roughly $2000 more than the Ram ProMaster, and $1000 under the Ford Transit, like for like. I suspect that if Ford sold the Transit Custom here, it too would sell for around $28,900 for Cargo. With the exception of the crap-box Caravan, the non-commercial (and thus cheaper to build) minivans start around $28,000- the Benz Premium is only $4k or so. And those are closer in cargo capacity!

The Ram ProMaster City is a SWB compact van (LWB Doblos are sold elsewhere). It is favorable to the SWB Transit Connect, which is in it's class. The Metris is a regular length Mid-Sizer, and is both the largest and smallest in its class in this country, since it is the only commercial mid sizer sold here.

This is sorta like saying, look, the S-class is bigger than the Acura RLX. It has more luxury features, more leg room, more safety features, and so on. Well yeah. The RLX is an executive sedan which badly competes with the 5-series and E-class. Comparing it to an Sclass is nearly as silly as pointing out that the Renault Medallion had more legroom than the W126 560SEL. The Medallion may have been the finest American built car of its day, but it's not relevant to the S-Class.

 

[warren]

About that LWB version of the ProMaster City? Seeing how good of a response (from what i've seen) they've been getting, do you think there's room for the LWB to enter the north american market?

 

[Greenmanedlion]

I have no idea. I have a conceptual problem understanding people who purchase MOPAR products, and I have never understood people who buy Fiat products for a purpose other than a toy. The ProMaster City, in particular. Fiat's strength, for decades, has always been motors. Their greatest weakness is bodies. A weak point for both has always been electronics. The ProMaster City combines Fiat AND Chrysler electronics with a Chrysler/Hyundai engine and a Fiat body. I wouldn't touch one without a Fiat diesel in it.

Also, they will have a hard time selling the LWB ProMaster City to people who believe in Mopar quality when the larger, vastly more powerful, and cheaper C/V Tradesman is still in production. The C/V Tradesman is not a vehicle I'd choose- it was never designed for commercial use, it's a combination of Mopar construction, anti-Chrysler DaimlerChrysler engineering, and a refresh that did the best Fiat could manage with that monster.

Don't get me wrong, I love Mercedes products. But the biggest problem, ultimately, with DaimlerChrysler was the Daimler side of the equation, I.E. Mercedes-Benz, being very careful to ensure there was no way in heck any potential Mercedes-Benz customers would ever think you could get the basic engineering integrity, safety, and excellence of an MB product from Chrysler. They constantly overcompensated on that, which is why the Daimler-era Chryslers had such awful interiors, such terrible refinement, and the only decent product to come out of it (the 300/Charger/Challenger) were designed to be so completely anti-Mercedes in design and style.