Camper van. Pop-top. Conversion. DIY. Custom build. Class B. Adventure van. It’s a whole thing. It’s more than a subculture. It’s (at the risk of being overly cheesy) #vanlife.
Where to start?
We’ve all seen Sprinter vans and fifth wheels and teardrop trailers and Class A RVs (I mean – some of those are SWANK). But where does one even begin on the camper van journey? DIY is not in the cards for us, so that was an easy elimination point. But now what?
- Traditional RVs: This was a no-go from the start. We don’t want anything too big. Not even in consideration. No Class A; no Class C.
- Campers: Also an easy elimination for us. We’re not interested in towing anything. We have a tow hitch installed on our vehicle. Why? Solely for a bike rack.
And this is how we landed on the Class B RVs aka camper vans.
Peace Vans & the Mercedes Metris
Peace Vans
Some quick web searches later, we landed on Peace Vans, a Seattle-based all things camper van shop. In addition to conversions, they also have rentals and do restorations. In fact, they started doing Mercedes Metris pop-top camper vans in 2017 and, in 2020, became a Mercedes official partner. This sounded promising – and the Metris is a cool looking camper van. We watched some videos, looked at some great images, and learned as much as we could from what was available on websites, blogs, and reddit. A relatively compact car that we could camp in!
Mercedes Metris: The details
Peace Vans currently (April 2024) offers two conversions of the Metris: the Weekender and the Full Camper. You can read more about each in greater detail at the provided links. However, the primary difference is that the Weekender does not have a kitchen while the Full Camper does. For this reason, we were looking exclusively at the Full Camper. Note that both versions are on the same chassis.
Peace Vans does not appear to offer a lot of technical specs of the Metris itself on its website. However, it appears that the 2023 model has the following specs (definitely confirm with Mercedes, Peace Vans, or your dealer):
- RWD
- Wheelbase: 120″
- Exterior length: ~200″ (16.5 feet)
- Exterior height with pop-top: 78″ (6.5 feet)
This is an ideal height, even in Seattle where the public parking garages are notorious for having very low ceilings. - Sleeping areas: Two – convertible bed and pop-top
Peace Vans notes that you can even pull the mattress from the pop-top if you don’t need the space for sleeping and add it to the bed for extra comfort! - Kitchen: Two stoves, 6 gallon fresh water tank, optional gray water (otherwise, drains to the ground), 42L refrigerator (DC), and table
- Various add-ons are available from Peace Vans: Webasto heater, integrated awning, lift kit, and others
The verdict: Mercedes Metris?
Pros – The small size of the vehicle – particularly its tight turning radius, relatively low height, and ability to easily fit in a parking spot all were strong positives for us. We also really like the pop-top, which gives enough height for adults to be able to stand inside the vehicle while parked. Peace Vans has some clever design choices, including the kitchen being accessible from both inside and outside of the van.
Cons – But then we started to think through our use case. Wasn’t the driving factor for this consideration the dogs? There’s no cabin a/c in these vehicles nor really any room to mount an a/c unit after market. Even though we would never leave the dogs unattended for lengthy periods of time – particularly during particularly warm or cold periods – having cabin a/c is really quite important for us. That Mercedes discontinued the Metris in the US after the 2023 model certainly isn’t a great fact but was not decisive for us.
Verdict – Because the a/c is really a decisive factor for our use case, we begrudgingly moved on to conduct more research and find the right van. We’re definitely keeping Peace Vans on our radar for the future given the wide variety of services they provide.
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