Mercedes-Benz SPRINTER MSS

With MSS Technology Installed, Your Mercedes Sprinter Will Cost You Less When Its Stuck In Traffic. Steve Walker Reports

A stationary van is an expensive van and its a sad fact that in city centres particularly, vans are stationary for a good proportion of the time. Mercedes-Benz are obviously well aware of this problem and offer a refreshingly simple system on their Sprinter van that goes a long way towards addressing it its called MSS.

If theres one thing guaranteed to rile the average British van operator more than the exorbitant cost of fuel, its traffic. Theres nothing worse than waving goodbye to a small fortune at the filling station only to watch that full tank gradually eking away while your vehicle sits motionless in a monstrous contra-flow system or at the Councils latest set of temporary traffic lights. Paying a lot of money to get precisely nowhere does not constitute a successful business model in anyones book. The Mercedes MSS system attacks the issue head on.

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Standing for Motor Start Stop, it simply stops the engine when the Sprinter is stationary, starting it again when its time to move off. It cant do much about that important package thats sitting in the back getting later and later or the man-hours being wasted by the employees stuck in the vehicle but it does ensure that precious fuel is not being burned while the van is idling in traffic. This isnt a new idea, other manufacturers have offered similar systems on passenger cars, but the Mercedes version is less complex than that offered in Citroens C3 StopandStart and as a result, it only costs £175.

"MSS yielded a significant fuel saving of between 10 and 30 per cent in heavy traffic"

In the Sprinters cabin, MSS manifests itself as an innocuous-looking switch on the dash and an orange light on the instrument panel. Flick the switch and the system is engaged, then you drive normally until a hold-up is encountered and you come to a standstill. At this point, the orange light flashes and all the driver needs to do is slip the gear stick into neutral then lift off the clutch. The engine stops as if the van has stalled and the dashboard light becomes constant.

When the times comes to move off again, depressing the again clutch restarts the engine and once first gear is engaged, you can go. The MSS technology also includes a number of safety overrides. It will not allow the vehicle to freewheel more than 6ft forwards of backwards. If this happens, the engine is automatically restarted so that the power steering and servo-assisted brakes are fully operational.

The system will also not work at engine coolant temperatures below 40 degrees Celsius to prevent laboured cold starts and it cant operate when the bonnet is up. The benefits of MSS go beyond the potential fuel savings and the low price, with reduced CO2 emissions and noise pollution also figuring prominently in the plus column. But how does it work in the real world? Weve touched on the fact that MSS isnt as slick as Citroens StopandStart which is mated to an automatic gearbox. The stopping and restarting process sounds just like the driver is turning the engine off and on manually using the ignition key, so theres no smooth transition between the two states.

Also, once the engine has stopped, you have to depress the clutch fully and wait for it to fire up again before engaging first gear, otherwise youll be going nowhere. After youve got the hang of this, operation is perfectly straightforward. Its quite relaxing sitting in a silent, vibration free cab when the traffic gets really horrific and other motorists grow increasingly irate around you. You even find yourself monitoring whats happening up ahead more closely because of the slight extra time it takes you to move off a side effect which could have safety benefits.

Mercedes have conducted a series of independent tests driving an MSS Sprinter back to back with an equivalent standard model. Both vehicles were carrying 500kgs and the results showed that MSS yielded a significant fuel saving of between 10 and 30 per cent in heavy traffic. In light traffic where the van stops regularly but only for very short intervals of 10-15 seconds, theres no real benefit to MSS as the act of restarting the engine uses more fuel than is saved. The system can be turned off in such situations or easily overridden by keeping the clutch engaged and if youre stationary for longer periods the savings more than justify the £175 asking price.

Just as significant as the modest initial cost of MSS is an indication from CAP Monitor that the system could have a positive effect on forecourt resale values to the tune of £500, making it look an extremely sound investment. The MSS technology is available right across the Sprinter range with all the derivatives using manual transmission. That includes all Sprinter vans, chassis cabs and Traveliner minibuses with gross vehicle weights ranging from 2.6 to 6.

0 tonnes. Its a simple and inexpensive way for van operators in congested urban areas to reduce fuel bills and do their bit for the environment at the same time. You could probably get some of the benefit on a standard Sprinter by simply switching off the engine with the key but MSS makes the process far simpler and more efficient.

FACTS AT A GLANCE
VEHICLE: Mercedes-Benz Sprinter MSS ENGINES: 82, 109, 129 or 156bhp CDI Diesel / 143bhp 2.3-litre Petrol WHEELBASE OPTIONS: 3,000, 3,550 and 4,025mm DRIVE SYSTEMS: two or four-wheel drive