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As @TheBrick states, more modern vans share the engine across a range of vehicles. The engine in the Vito is used in the sprinter and a lot of Mercedes diesel engine cars.
I was curious about this so looked it up. Wikipedia has a good list of the engines in the vito - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_Vito, and you're right, the 2l (OM651) was used in other vehicles. However, in passenger cars it was supersceded by the OM654 5-7 years ago (the difference between model year and production year is foggy), but its still in use in the vito today - only the most powerful vito (240ps) uses the new engine. Likewise the 1.6 engine is available and similar to the one used in cars, however its only available with limited power outputs in the vito to 134 bhp whereas in cars you can get it with 158 and 178 bhp as well..
So the engines are similar, but on the whole I think the state of the vito backs up my assertion that they are less advanced than some engines available in cars (and by forcing consumers into older, larger engines for the same power output, they have lower fuel economy)
@5lab I used to work with Mercedes/Daimler commercial engines (and buying/specifying them in vehicles).
Its not that they are less advanced (potentially the opposite in some cases). But for use in Sprinters, Vitos etc they may take a family of engines also used in a C Class for instance but in the commercial or van version they are specified with far more strenous cooling demands - cooling pack capacity, Sprinters have transmission (and even diff) coolers, larger Air Con compressors which take more engine demand etc etc... There are also other factors such as fuel quality, and service intervals.
Hence it may feel like in the van you get less power and economy for given size, but the van version is in fact designed to take far more abuse than the car. And actually, our typical use of the Vans in the UK and Europe doesnt even get close to what they are tested for.
We tried numerous times to get some of the smaller and higher output engine variants into some lighter duty commercial vehicles but Mercedes would absolutely not entertain it.
Hence it may feel like in the van you get less power and economy for given size, but the van version is in fact designed to take far more abuse than the car. And actually, our typical use of the Vans in the UK and Europe doesnt even get close to what they are tested for.
I don't disagree this is the case - the drivetrain of vans is engineered to be more suitable for the working life of a van. As a result it prioritises abuse handling and price over absolute fuel economy. That's great for DHL who have hooligans getting around their route as fast as possible, the aa when they're towing a car with their T6 and rent-a-van companies trying to cope with noobs abusing everything, but isn't much help when you're just pottering up to a trail centre with 2 kids and 40kg of bikes in the back - for people using vans as family vehicles its pretty much only a negative.
2018 Vito 119D (OM651 7-speed auto) with Pendle remap.
Liverpool to Hull running on V-Power with a dose of Archoil D-6400
