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One van, eight years, every repair

We have owned one ProMaster since 2018. Here is all of it.

A 2017 ProMaster 2500 high roof, bought used at 30,000 miles, now reading 130,039. It has been our house the entire time.

What makes this different: most ProMaster advice is written by people who have never owned one. This is a ledger, not a roundup.

130,039 miles on the odometer, 100k of them ours
2 major repairs in eight years
~$6k unscheduled repairs, and 0 tows for a breakdown

What brought you here?

Tap the one that sounds like you. Each goes to the page that answers it.

🔧 How reliable is it? The full ledger

Every repair across 100,000 miles of our own driving, what each one cost, and the verdict. Two major repairs, no rust after eight years including coastal humidity, and I would buy it again.

⚙️ My engine is ticking. Do not wait

Ours started as a general clicking and got louder for months before I acted. The rollers had gone. The engine was replaced at 98,000 miles, and we were 2,000 miles from having no coverage at all.

📅 Which model year do I buy? 2022 is the line

What changed between years, the transmission and engine change at 2022, and the NHTSA recall to check by VIN if you are looking at 2019 to 2021. No reliability ranking, because I have owned one year and so has everyone else publishing one.

📄 Is a warranty worth it? It paid off

We paid roughly $2,300 and it covered about half an engine replacement. It also expired before the next repair. Both halves of that are on the page, along with the thing that actually decided the claim.

❄️ Will FWD handle snow? The real limit

It is the one thing about this van I would change, and not because it breaks. Two tows in 130,000 miles, both from getting stuck, never from a breakdown.

What we've bolted to this van

Long-term reviews of the gear that has been on our own ProMaster for years, not a roundup of things we read about.

What this guide is not

Worth saying plainly, because the rest of the internet does not.

We have owned one ProMaster: a 2017. Everything written in the first person on these pages is about that van.

We have not owned a 2014, or a 2025, or a 4x4 Sprinter to compare it against. Where a page covers other model years, it is built from manufacturer specifications and NHTSA records, and it says so on the page. Where we do not know something, the page says that too.

The editorial position is simple: a long record of one vehicle beats a shallow opinion about twelve.

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Eight years full-time van life across Colorado summers, San Diego winters, and the Southeast. Budget-first gear testing, honest claim labeling, and no brand relationships. Read more →