Upgrading your camper van can take your adventure-ready vehicle to the next level, enhancing comfort, functionality, and overall travel experience. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a full-time van lifer, the right upgrades can transform your Mercedes Sprinter by Off Highway Van into the ultimate home on wheels.Â
From practical performance solutions to interior options and more, here are our picks for the top 10 upgrades you can make to your camper van conversion.Â
1. Dark Star Offroad Limited Slip Differential
When you want to get the most out of your Sprinter van offroad, a limited slip differential from Dark Star Offroad is a must! Now that Mercedes has gone the AWD direction, this modification can give you the best of both worlds: all wheel all the time, limited slip performance offroad and cornering.Â
This upgrade can save you from a slippery situation, and possibly eternal embarrassment from your ski buddies forever reminding you about that time you couldn't pull out of the resort parking lot.
Different from rock-crawling applications that require more pure differential lockers, or require expensive air compressor setups to activate, the Dark Star Offroad Limited-Slip Differential is constantly working, and in a wider variety of situations. Whether you’re in technical overlanding situations, cruising on the highway, or traveling up snowy roads to the ski resort, you can rely on having ample traction, reliability, and ultimately more safety.
2. Gear Garage Cargo Slider
Off Highway Van camper vans already boast nearly 30% more rear storage capacity than any other camper van on the market, but all of those space saving optimizations are for not if you can’t get easy access to all your gear. That’s where the Gear Garage Cargo Slider comes into play.
With a 500lb weight limit, this sliding gear tray is integrated into the rear of your Off Highway Van build under your aluminum bed platform. With the ability to comfortably fit 3-4 full-sized mountain bikes or any other gear you may need for your adventures, you can rest easy that all your gear is at your fingertips whenever you need it.Â
3. Skylights
We’ve talked a bit about performance modifications for your camper van build, but what about interior comfort and styling? At Off Highway Van, we’ve figured out how to give your Mercedes Sprinter camper van a truly unique interior finish, and we’re not just talking about cabinets.Â
On any Off Highway Van model, you are able to option a 3’ x 5’ skylight that can bring in more natural light, give you incredible stargazing potential, and make the interior of your van seem much more open and spacious.Â
4. Dark Star Offroad Side Steps
We do love our curb appeal, but we’re about more than aesthetics here at Off Highway Van.
Following in our ethos of building the highest performing camper vans on the road today, we option all of our camper van builds with Dark Star Offroad side steps.Â
On some van conversions, steps may seem redundant due to their lower clearance (ProMaster + Transit), but for the Mercedes Sprinter van with its higher-than-average factory clearance, they are a must have. These make the transition in and out of your van much smoother on both the driver and passenger doors.Â
5. Evictus Performance Suspension
If you’re going to be tackling high speed interstates, steep and windy canyon roads, washboards, Baja whoops, and more suspension is probably top-of-mind and for good reason. It can be one of the largest factors impacting ride quality, offroad performance, driving fatigue, and even fuel economy and braking performance.Â
The Evictus self-adjusting kit was developed to increase passenger comfort, decrease body roll and road noise; delivering a more relaxed driving experience in high wind and imperfect road conditions. These massive race-proven Bilstein 2.65″ monotube technology come standard with digressive valving providing an uncompromised ride experience.
6. Girard Power Legless Awning
One of the main trade-offs for van life is interior space. Every square inch of your van comes at an extreme premium. That’s why we love adding the Girard Power Legless Awning to our adventure van builds.
Adding this awning can give you 80 additional square feet (8’ X 10’) of covered outdoor living space without compromising the space inside your van. This allows your van to become much more of a sleeping and cooking area while you extend your living room out into your campsite.Â
7. Dark Star Offroad Rear Coilover Kit
If you’re looking for the most comfortable and best performing camper van builds, you need a builder that understands both how to make your van light and durable, as well as how to properly tune your suspension to the finished build weight of your van.
Luckily, Dark Star Offroad’s founder spent his life performance tuning and designing suspension and has custom designed Dark Star's coilover suspension to handle both the weight of your camper van build as well as any offroad obstacle you can throw at it. This goes beyond a bolt on kit, to provide a custom tuned suspension for all of our offroad camper vans.Â
8. 48V Nomadic A/C System
Many builders in the van space opt for 12V electrical systems and accessories. Though these are functional, they are typically significantly less efficient than a 48V system we’ve opted to add to our Pro and Pro-X camper van builds standard.Â
With the Nomadic 48V A/C system, you are able to add a significantly more powerful A/C system to your camper van without killing your battery more quickly. This 48V system is much more efficient and uses much less power per BTU compared to the 12V kit and can be the difference between coming home to a sweat lodge or coming home to a comfortable off-grid hotel room.Â
9. Hydronic Heated Flooring
Now, we’ve talked a bit about air conditioning but what about when the weather turns cold? For 2025 Off Highway Vans, we’re offering a new option in our hydronic heated flooring. This system uses your existing hydronic heating system (standard for Pro and Pro-X models) so the same system that heats your water and your van can now be used to radiantly heat your van’s floor.Â
This may seem like a gimmick or like a luxury nice-to-have, but we’ve seen significant improvements in temperature delta between running the heating system alone and running the heated floors at the same time. It not only keeps your feet cozy and warm after a day on the slopes, it also increases the ambient temperature of your van overall leading to more efficient heating.
10. Premium JL Audio System
The Mercedes Sprinter van comes well-equipped from the factory in a lot of ways, the stereo (in our opinion) is not one of these ways. That’s why we’ve partnered with the team at JL audio to outfit our vans with audio packages that include improved door speakers, amps, subs, rear door speakers, and more.Â
Not only does this improve the overall sound quality inside your van while driving, it allows you to have a ready-made boombox once you find your campsite. Just connect your streaming device and experience a much more balanced listening experience with lower bass, fuller mids, and significantly clearer treble.Â
Honorable Mentions
45 Gallon Extended Range Fuel Tank
We’ve talked a lot about exterior mods, performance add-ons, and interior customizations but there are some less glamorous improvements that can truly change the way you use your van. One of these options is the 45 Gallon extended range fuel tank (standard on Pro-X models).Â
This takes your standard 24.5 gallon stock tank and nearly doubles the range of your van. With a standard tank range will be about 420 miles, with the extended range you should be able to push over 750 miles on a single tank! This means less stops, and more access to terrain others may not be able to reach.Â
Dark Star Offroad Series A Roof Rack
An awning can expand your living space, but what about expanding your gear storage space? With a Dark Star Offroad Series A roof rack, you can add all kinds of storage solutions, solar panels, A/C units, and fans to optimize your van’s storage capacity.Â
This rack isn’t just for holding your equipment either. With high-strength aluminum cross bars, this rack allows your panels and rack system to be walked and sat on without damaging your rack or solar panels. You just got a second floor added to your off-grid hotel room.Â
Ready To Start Building Your Dream Van?
Now that you’re an expert in outfitting your dream van, are you ready to start your build? Talk to one of our van experts to learn more about Off Highway Van, our builds, our favorite products, and more!Â
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