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The (almost) most expensive Dodge you can buy also
may be the most practical of the vehicles that wears
the Ram's head emblem on its hood.
The vehicle is the Dodge Sprinter Airstream Interstate,
and although its engine pumps out a mere 154 horsepower,
this vehicle's base price of $76,694 approaches the
$83,145 that Dodge expects for its 500-hp Dodge Viper.
The Viper may be fast and furious, but it doesn't
turn heads like the Sprinter Interstate, nor would
you want to try living in a Viper. But you can live
in an Interstate, a motor home equipped with such
standard equipment as a full galley, bathroom with
shower, cherry wood cabinets and sofas that convert
into a queen-size bed.
Airstream, which has made its iconic, shining, curved
aluminum camping trailers since the 1930s, equips
this Dodge with halogen interior lighting, a 30-gallon
fresh water tank, a 33-gallon (and heated) waste
water tank and a 2.5-kilowatt propane generator for
those occasions when you can't simply plug into an
electrical outlet. Airstream also trims out the Interstate
interior with its trademark aluminum finish.
The exterior of the Interstate we tested for a week
was equipped with such options as a flat-screen TV
entertainment system with DVD-player and surround
sound, a 13-foot, 2-inch wind-out awning and nicely
engineering and aerodynamic running boards. Six exterior
colors are available. Ours wore the Racing Green
scheme and, to put it mildly, it was a huge hit at
the Mears State Park campgrounds on the Lake Michigan
beach at Pentwater, Michigan.
Long-time motor home and trailer campers flocked
to take a look inside. They liked what they saw,
they said, and they were amazed when informed that
this wedge-shaped but 7059-pound rolling castle rolled
down the highway at around 20 miles per gallon.
The European-built chassis is equipped with Mercedes-Benz
2.7-liter, in-line five-cylinder diesel engine and
five-speed automatic transmission. Over the course
of a week, using the Interstate not just for camping
but as our daily driver in metro Detroit and out-state
Michigan, we averaged nearly 19.9 mpg.
As a matter of fact, we liked driving the Sprinter
so much we can't imagine why anyone would buy a conventional
minivan when you can by a standard, passenger van
version of the Sprinter with all that room and with
such good mileage -- unless, of course, you have
to park your van inside a conventional garage. We
like this package so much we'd suggest you consider
building a new garage.
With an impressive 244 pound-feet of torque, the
Interstate is no slouch and we frequently passed
slower traffic, both on freeways and on the two-lane
roads that parallel the Lake Michigan shoreline.
"We've had three others [motor homes of other
brands] before this," said Paul Naife, Airstream
Interstate owner and vice-president of sales for
Harmon Becker Automotive Systems "This has a
great setup. It has a great ride - no rattles - and
I truly get over 20 miles per gallon."
Naife and his family - wife, teenage daughter and
soon-to-be teenage son - have put some 10,000 miles
on their Interstate.
If Naife could improve the RV, he said, he'd make
it a little larger. "It's a little tight on
size," he said, "though you can sleep two
comfortably."
Naife said that he and his wife often travel in
their motor home when their athletic children are
off with their travel team sports programs.
Driving the Interstate is a breeze, even in the
breeze. Even with its substantial dimension - 22
feet long and nine feet to the top of the roof-mounted
air-conditioning unit, the Interstate was mild mannered
even in crosswinds blowing in off the big lake.
If you can imagine driving a super-sized minivan,
that's about how it feels to drive the Interstate,
except for two things: when you pass another vehicle,
you can't pull back into the right-hand lane as quickly
as you normally do, and you truly climb up and aboard
and the steering wheel is mounted more toward the
horizontal axis than in the typical passenger vehicle.
The Mercedes-built chassis is designed as a vehicle
for delivering goods or people. Base price for a
standard Sprinter cargo van from a Dodge dealer is
$29,001 (the Interstate version is sold only by Airstream
recreational vehicle dealerships, which also offer
a somewhat less well-equipped Parkway version of
the Airstream Sprinter with a base price of $74,354.)
With an overall width of 85 inches, the Interstate
is less than 10 inches wider than a Viper and it
easily parks within the width of a standard shopping
mall or grocery store parking space, though it's
about a space and half in length.
Backing the Interstate into its spot in a campground
is much easier than trying to maneuver a trailer
into the same space. The Interstate has exterior
plug-in points for electricity, water and even for
the cable television and telephone connections some
campgrounds provide.
Airstream offers three floor plans. Ours, like the
Naifes', featured the "front sleeper" setup
with two 74-inch lounge sofas on either side of the
central walkway (and with storage areas beneath the
sofa seats). Speaking of walkway, the Sprinter is
tall enough that people up to 6-foot, 2-inches in
height can stand up straight while they walk inside.
The entertainment system is in a cabinet right behind
the driver's seat and in easy view of the sofas,
each of which has two seat belts for occupant use
while rolling down the road. For dining or game playing,
there's also a long table with legs that fit into
brackets in the floor. The table slides from side
to side so you can walk to the galley.
Just past the sofas and overhead storage cabinets
you find a tall closet on the left and a refrigerator
and (optional) microwave on the right. The kitchen
counter with its round sink and two-burner cook top
are in the left-rear section of the vehicle, with
an overhead air vent as well as windows over the
sink and to the rear. The rear doors can be opened
and a hook and eye-attached screen removed to provide
a pass-through from the kitchen area.
The wet bath -- with toilet and shower -- is in
the right-rear corner. There's also a shower hose
outside so you can rinse sand off your feet rather
than tracking it inside.
When it's time to sleep, the couches easily slide
together to form a queen-size bed. There are slide-down
privacy curtains for the side and rear windows and
hook and eye-attached curtains to cover the front
windows and the glass portion of the big sliding
side door.
The interior is private. The Interstate is quiet
-- inside and out -- even with the roof-mounted air
conditioner in operation.
The Interstate tows up to 5,000 pounds. So, if you
have a boat, a trailer carrying ATVs, or maybe another
Dodge, say a Viper or Neon that you race on weekends,
you can bring them along.
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