# Mercedes 616 chassis performance (Hymer S820)



## jonandjules

We have now owned our 2004 Hymer S820 for a few months and have done 4000 miles so I thought I would report some of our findings.

year - 2004
gross - 5.99t
length - 8.33m
motor - 2.7, 5 cyl
trans - Manual 
miles - 32000 

Gross weight - 5990kg, we have weighed the motorhome, as we tend to use it and it comes in at 5500kg. So we have a spare half ton!

Speed - we tend to travel at about 60 on dual carriageways and motorways. On single carriageways we tend to do a maximum of 40 - 45.
Our 616 has quite low gearing, the top speed seems to be about 75 - 80 but in truth that feels much too fast for the vehicle. A more realistic maximum is 65.

Consumption - we tow a smart car on a trailer most of the time which adds about 1200kg. When towing our train weight is the best part of 7 ton and we get a constant 18mpg. When not towing the consumption goes up to 20mpg.

Engine Performance - We tend to drive within 2000 - 3000rpm where the motor is both quiet and smooth. The motor revs up to 4000rpm in all gears. It will not rev past 4000rpm. Between 3200 and 3400 there is some engine resonance that can be felt and heard, after 3400 it smooths out a bit but is now heading towards the top of the rev range and the sophistication of the 5 cylinder fades away.
The oil level 'likes' to be about three quarters up the dip stick - if I fill it to the top it will drop back down to three quarters within a couple hundred miles and then stay there. Do I want more power? I have thought about 'chipping' but do I need more power? Or do I just want more? We are currently full timing in Scotland and go up all the hills fast enough for the prevailing conditions. Sure, every so often I think it would be nice now to have another 10% or so. I think however that I would be more concerned about the possibility of damaging something.

Suspension - hard, in fact harder than hard.....know what I mean? I do my best to avoid potholes! Our last motorhome was a Knaus, based on a Fiat 3850kg camping car chassis which, in comparison with the Mercedes 616 was almost like driving a big car. Much more extra care needs to be taken with this much larger vehicle.

Brakes - work fine, I assume they are the original brakes. We have air assistance on the handbrakes and noticed that the rubber bellows on the rear actuators had perished - I had them replaced today my a Merc garage at a cost of ninety pounds. I think they had perished due to extended time with the handbrake applied.

Tyres - the van had the original Contis fitted (28,000 miles) and looked hardly worn when we bought the motorhome. They were however 6 years old so I changed them for the Michelin tyres at about 150 pounds each. we had noticed that although the old tyres were hardly worn they had worn on the inside of each of the fronts. The new Michelins give a nicer ride than the old tyres - I do not know if that is due to new Vs old or a better design?

Hymer - as for the motorhome itself.......? Great, we are full timing and I am very fussy about details - I have no complaints about the 'van. The layout works great for the both of us with the exception that we wish we didn't have the pull down bed.


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## boosters

You can remap this engine with no problems whatsoever, in fact i have a mod giving 35% more bhp and torque,i have done many mercs for mhf members, search forum to find reviews of work carried out. The engine is detuned to run on poor fuel grades and unlike most companied our mod,s are designed in house specifically for the motorhome market and not just generic mods for panel vans.
Please feel free to pm me for more details or call and see me at one of the many motor home shows i attend.
Regards
Alex


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## coppo

My advice is if it aint broke don't fix it.

We run our merc 2.7 manual now plated at 4000kg at around 60mph max on major roads. Think its plenty fast enough for a vehicle this size and it 2 tonne less than yours. :roll: 

Sounds like you are trying to convince yourself you need more power when you dont.

Would love a s820 6 tonner one day and i certainly wouldn't get it re mapped, especially if full timing and in no rush :wink: 

Paul.


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## CliveMott

Our Tardis is also on the 616, recently up-rated to 6.4 tonne as a paper excercise by SV Tech. Performance OK, not startling, but why the heck would you want startling performance with all that crockery rattling about in the cupboards? Re-mapping. Had it offered by another very well known firm seen at all the shows and said NO THANKS. I just don,t think its worth the increased risk unless the firm doing the re-mapping guarantee your engine for at least 10 years and also guarantee they wont suddenly disappear off the face of the earth like Van Akken did.

Suspension good. I did a Visit to Polch and were told all about the advantages of having air suspension fitted when we were considering a N&B Flair 8000i on an Iveco base. We had a good test drive and the suspension was a tad hard and lumpy. I asked the salesman how much better it was with the air suspension fitted only to be told it already was!. Well the Merc in standard trim is so much better than that!

If you have the Full Auto box (5 gears and a torque converter) the maximum train weight is limited to 6.74 tonnes. So I hope that when you tow a car that you either have a manual gearbox or don,t load the van too much. We travel with loads of clutter including two motorbiles and last weighed were 6.1 tonne with everything on board, full tanks, two bods etc.
Economy about 18 MPG driving at similar speeds to yourself.

Chive


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## jonandjules

Yes, we have manual transmission. I think it is a natural curiosity to consider a power upgrade........it appears so easy.....however, I tend to believe that you can't have something for nothing and tend to stick with originality.

What size motorbikes are you able to get in your van?

Oh.....and what was involved with upgrading the gross weight?

Cheers!


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## Hymer1942

A question for Clive please, I have a Hymer S 650 on a 416 chassis
with 6 speed tiptronic transmision will the gross train wieght on the side of the van be correct, or will that be for a manual.


Gross wieght 4600

Gross train weight 6600




Regards Barrie


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## dct67

From what I've read, the reduced train weight only applies to the full auto box.

I suspect your tiptronic box is actually a sprintshift, which is a roboticised manual.

The fully automatic box has a conventional automatic lever - with PRNDSL or similar as the gear options.

Most 416 chassis will be either manual or sprintshift and should have the same train weight.

Cheers

David


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## Hymer1942

Sprintshift it is, love it I do and thanks for the reply.


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## jonandjules

......it has come to pass that we now realise that a caravan is now more suitable for our current requirements......can't believe I am saying this but our fabulous S820 is going up for sale...............Anyone fancy a 'non messed' about with Hymer S820 in fabulous condition with all the extras?
Two berth
Right Hand Drive
Leather, two sofas
Oyster 85
Air con
Full Mercedes history
All the extras you could ever want.............


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## teemyob

*train*



dct67 said:


> From what I've read, the reduced train weight only applies to the full auto box.
> 
> I suspect your tiptronic box is actually a sprintshift, which is a roboticised manual.
> 
> The fully automatic box has a conventional automatic lever - with PRNDSL or similar as the gear options.
> 
> Most 416 chassis will be either manual or sprintshift and should have the same train weight.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> David


Yes.

The 616 was manual or torque converter Auto only. As far as I know, the Auto is limited to a 750kG trailer weight.

Sprintshift was never offered on the 616 and is no longer available on Mercedes Sprinters. Howver, is available on the new Mercedes built VW Crafter and has been re-branded ShiftMatic.

Loaded Sprinter 416's suffered from scary brakes.

The 616's are almost bullet proof, with a manual or Auto Gearbox. Sprintshift on a 4 series I would avoid from experience and talking to very experienced and knowledgeable folk in the trade.

So the Hymer in question is a solid buy.

Pity Mercedes could not have carried the merits of the old Sprinter over to the new one.

TM


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## Crindle

jonandjules said:


> We have now owned our 2004 Hymer S820 for a few months and have done 4000 miles so I thought I would report some of our findings.
> 
> year - 2004
> gross - 5.99t
> length - 8.33m
> motor - 2.7, 5 cyl
> trans - Manual
> miles - 32000
> 
> Gross weight - 5990kg, we have weighed the motorhome, as we tend to use it and it comes in at 5500kg. So we have a spare half ton!
> 
> Speed - we tend to travel at about 60 on dual carriageways and motorways. On single carriageways we tend to do a maximum of 40 - 45.
> Our 616 has quite low gearing, the top speed seems to be about 75 - 80 but in truth that feels much too fast for the vehicle. A more realistic maximum is 65.
> 
> Consumption - we tow a smart car on a trailer most of the time which adds about 1200kg. When towing our train weight is the best part of 7 ton and we get a constant 18mpg. When not towing the consumption goes up to 20mpg.
> 
> Engine Performance - We tend to drive within 2000 - 3000rpm where the motor is both quiet and smooth. The motor revs up to 4000rpm in all gears. It will not rev past 4000rpm. Between 3200 and 3400 there is some engine resonance that can be felt and heard, after 3400 it smooths out a bit but is now heading towards the top of the rev range and the sophistication of the 5 cylinder fades away.
> The oil level 'likes' to be about three quarters up the dip stick - if I fill it to the top it will drop back down to three quarters within a couple hundred miles and then stay there. Do I want more power? I have thought about 'chipping' but do I need more power? Or do I just want more? We are currently full timing in Scotland and go up all the hills fast enough for the prevailing conditions. Sure, every so often I think it would be nice now to have another 10% or so. I think however that I would be more concerned about the possibility of damaging something.
> 
> Suspension - hard, in fact harder than hard.....know what I mean? I do my best to avoid potholes! Our last motorhome was a Knaus, based on a Fiat 3850kg camping car chassis which, in comparison with the Mercedes 616 was almost like driving a big car. Much more extra care needs to be taken with this much larger vehicle.
> 
> Brakes - work fine, I assume they are the original brakes. We have air assistance on the handbrakes and noticed that the rubber bellows on the rear actuators had perished - I had them replaced today my a Merc garage at a cost of ninety pounds. I think they had perished due to extended time with the handbrake applied.
> 
> Tyres - the van had the original Contis fitted (28,000 miles) and looked hardly worn when we bought the motorhome. They were however 6 years old so I changed them for the Michelin tyres at about 150 pounds each. we had noticed that although the old tyres were hardly worn they had worn on the inside of each of the fronts. The new Michelins give a nicer ride than the old tyres - I do not know if that is due to new Vs old or a better design?
> 
> Hymer - as for the motorhome itself.......? Great, we are full timing and I am very fussy about details - I have no complaints about the 'van. The layout works great for the both of us with the exception that we wish we didn't have the pull down bed.


Hi Jonandjules.......what a great posting, promoting some good and interesting replies. Well done ! ......Crindle.


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