Say Hello to Our New Adventure Mobile :: 2017 Sprinter 170 Crew 4×4 Van!

Soooooo….. got some big news. We sold our current set up and bought a new adventuremobile! Say hello to our 2017 Sprinter 170 crew 4×4 van!!

On a whim, we decided to visit the nearest Mercedes dealership to us to get a feel for the space of their vans not expecting to find a 4×4 in stock. Most dealerships don’t have 4×4 vans in stock because they are custom order. But someone in Torrance, California got one ordered, built and delivered but the time it arrived to the dealership, they had a change of heart. So low and behold, we show up not expecting anything but to find plain white cargo vans in 2wd because 4x4s are like unicorns around here. Good luck finding a new or used one. And as luck would have it, a unicorn was sitting at the nearest dealership to us in the length, height, four wheel drive, number of factory seats AND COLOR TOO!!

If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is. So we bought it. Actually we put it on hold for a few days to really really think about it and THEN we bought it. Haha.

We walked into the dealership a few days before and it felt like a record scratch. We realize that we don’t fit the normal Mercedes clientele mold but eventually got shown to the Sprinter sales guy and had a positive experience there. Thanks, Rodney for your help getting our new home!

Besides the 5 seats, the rest of the van is a blank slate.

We have already been brainstorming ways that our build out would work. We’ve been living this way for 10 years now and have a great feel for a layout that will work for our family.

Our oldest and youngest are sad to let our other rigs go but not the middle one. She’s ready for a new adventure.

The kids immediately picked their own seats. And for the first time ever, Luka gets to sit by a window. And now he won’t stop commenting about everything single thing he sees out his window. “Wow, look at that tree house! Mila, check out all those solar panels on that house! Ava, I see someone on their phone while driving!” Lol.

One of the things that I’m proud of as a mother raising children on the road is that they are comfortable with change. Sure some of them might not like saying bye to old rigs but man do they have adventure in their hearts.

I hope that never changes.

The next day we drove the new van to the beach for a little photoshoot. We wanted to take a few beauty shots of her to properly announce our newest addition.

Saying cheese with the sun in their eyes.

A realistic shot of taking kid photos.

So here is the inside of the van, looking in from the back doors. The back area will be our sleeping area. Our bed will sit 18 inches or so off the ground to allow for storage underneath. The kids will be above us in a bunk. On the right, where you see our Dometic fridge, will be additional storage with it. On the left where you see the blue tape on the ground will be the main kitchen area with a sink, stove, heater and simple plumbing via 5 gallon jugs for fresh and gray.

We threw the foam topper from our bed in the Casita in here to get a feel for the space. The space on the right will be more storage cabinets since we don’t need a queen bed. Snuggling on a full size bed has been working out for the past two years so we are sticking with it.

A close up of the kitchen to be.

The view from our dining room… which will be a removable floor mounted table between all of our seats. The front seats will swivel.

The current plan is to do a quick and cheap interior build. We are estimating it will take us a month and about $5,0000. Seems crazy but it’s good to have goals.

We will be documenting every single day of the build on here and on YouTube.

And after that is all done, we are shipping this bad girl to Europe. Because why not!

Haha. How’s that for a life update!

Here’s a link to Dan’s vlogs about shopping, buying and our van game plan. Enjoy!