Ford Transit Drag Races VW Crafter, Mercedes Sprinter For Fun

Our internal data shows that you, my dear reader, love watching drag races. And not just traditional drag races where two or more supercars or sports car line up for a quick duel, but also weird or mismatched races like a classic Volkswagen Beetle versus a Suzuki Samurai, or a new Dodge Demon fighting a vintage Chevrolet Chevelle. Today, with the help from the folks over at Carwow, we will try to answer a question no one has asked – which is the most powerful and quicker van on the market?

We are talking about three long-wheelbase cargo vans that are available in Europe – the Ford Transit, Volkswagen Crafter, and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. It's safe to say these are the best-selling large commercial vehicles on the continent and are always racing for the segment's crown, just like in today's drag. Ford and Volkswagen might develop the next generations of their buses together, but today they are still arch rivals when it comes to commercial vehicles.

All three buses have 2.0-liter turbocharged diesel engines under the hood. The Crafter is the most powerful with 177 horsepower (132 kilowatts), followed by the Ford with 170 hp (127 kW) and the Mercedes with 163 hp (121 kW). The Sprinter is the only one with an automatic gearbox, while only the Transit is motivated by its front wheels.

We guess you expect to see a slow race but in reality, it's actually much more exciting. These machines are quite potent and show good quarter-mile times. We won't spoil the results, but we'll just say that a Mercedes is always a Mercedes, no matter if we are talking about sports cars, luxury sedans, or work horses. The second part of the video also features a rolling-start race and a brake test, which are both interesting to watch.