Cali or Marco Polo?

[DonnyMac]

We spent near on 2 years perfecting a bespoke built 5.1, bespoke craftsman built kitchen, corien surfaces, 3000w inverter, microwave the lot - it was stunning.

Sadly, it was stolen a month or so back.

Rather than go through the whole build again we were in the market for a California, which although wasn't to the same spec as our van would be a good base to start from.

Then a friend sent us a link to the Marco Polo.

Wow. It's stunning.

Has anyone switched - are you happy/ made a mistake?

Upside/ downsides?

Thanks,
Donny

 

[sapto]

Welcome Donny
Sorry to hear about your loss. I've looked at one Marco Polo (2002 on the Viano base) before buying my Cali. Except the decor inside i liked it but it was in bad shape. I just searched "Marco Polo" and the new board popped up: http://marcopoloownersclub.com
Maybe there are some more stories about changing from any van/camper to a Marco Polo.
I hope you find "your" van again and travel can go on.

Cheers
sapto

 

[DonnyMac]

Thanks Sapto, I've seen that board but they're already converted to the MP so I'd reinforce my initial feelings.

I thought you guys would be more pragmatic and say x is better than y but a is better than b.

I never went the whole 'scene' thing, rather preferring comfort across Europe several times a year - so looks don't make the top of the list, but I am excited by the Marco Polo in a way the T6 doesn't do it for me now - and it was my immediate choice 3 days ago before I got the MP recommendation.

 

[EddieEagle]

Interesting but to be right up with the times should we all be gender neutral and call our Cali a Polo and our Marco a Fornia.
Paloma Faith done it, honest guv!!
What is the world coming to? Gender bloody neutral. Noooo. Make a stand and take the VW any day.

 

[GrannyJen]

Thanks Sapto, I've seen that board but they're already converted to the MP so I'd reinforce my initial feelings.

I thought you guys would be more pragmatic and say x is better than y but a is better than b.

I never went the whole 'scene' thing, rather preferring comfort across Europe several times a year - so looks don't make the top of the list, but I am excited by the Marco Polo in a way the T6 doesn't do it for me now - and it was my immediate choice 3 days ago before I got the MP recommendation.

You may want to look at this thread https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/mercedes-marco-polo-latest-info-2017.16645/

In-between the partisan gun-slinging and some personal niggles there are some good comparisons.

I have been very interested, twice visited a dealer for some in-deoth discussions, but sadly walked away finding a lot of MP dealers to be disinterested and lacking knowledge.

It has some superb features. At present I am still tipping towards a Cali to replace my Albert, lack of a UK 4WD being a major problem but other issues with the MP as well (the Cali in a lot of aspects I would suspect to be more durable) but it is a formidable competitor to the Cali.

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Hi and welcome.
Sorry to hear about your camper being stolen.
At least you have a handle on features you found useful v those you wont miss. Maybe even a good feel for the way those features perform and that should help you a bit with choosing between the Cali and the MP.
I'd suggest the opposite for a pragmatic approach because with the MP being a lot newer, any converts from here will have genuine first hand experience of both and may not defend any MP short comings like you seem to be expecting.
Personally I'm new to the whole scene and have never sensed a communal warmth for the MP like there s for the Cali. Just my opinion and with that in mind the wealth of experience on this forum alone repeatedly sings the praises of the Cali as the best thing they ever did and that is despite the documented short comings.
With the MP, there are way more unknowns.
I did check it before putting my money down but not as thoroughly as I would have liked to simply because Mercedes did not make it easy, If they can't be bothered then nor can I. Imagine the hassle when something goes wrong if they aren't even helping you buy.
At the end of the day your experience may differ from mine and clearly the MP excites you more. Thats a good start.

 

[Pete Wilkins]

We camped next to a French man who had a M P, he looked at ours and thought he should have a VW Cali instead not sure why he was thinking that. I prefer the VW it is personal choice and the residual values are better on the VW.

 

[Ethel's dad]

Here we go again.........

 

[Kmann]

Personally, I do not find the MP very appealing. It is mostly a personal taste. I find the plastic yacht style to flashy, and the whole dash area somewhat to oldfashioned in the lines (that's general for most Mercedes IMO).

But hat the table and chairs occupy half of the trunk, instead of being stored in the tailgate and sliding door is, in my opinion, a huge mistake. Mercedes somewhat copied the whole VW concept but left out the really practical parts.

Another thing is the rear seats. The electrical pump system is too much unnecessary "functionality" that already had proven to be very unstable.

MP not for me.

 

[calimera]

If you excited by MP ,go for it.

Best advice would be to hire both then make your choice,
In fact someone on here did that & wrote a comparison.
At the end of the day its what you want .
Some seem to like luxury car like appeal of MP .

We hired a cali twice & it confirmed it was ideal for our use . We love VW scene & this helpful forum. It helped us choose our spec & most of the things to kit it out. The Cali is used daily & fits car parking spaces easily .

 

[larrylamb]

Hi Donny, I agree the MP looks well with some nice touches but go for a Cali.
Huge dealer network with Cali experience. Useful when something goes wrong with the camper side of things.
Massive fanbase with great forums, advice, after market accessories etc.
High residuals like nothing else.
Smaller wheelbase than the MP.
More options ie 4wd
Fantastic heater as standard on the Ocean.
Space saving camping table and chairs.
Better window blinds and lower bed.
Plenty of choice out there at the moment

 

[DonnyMac]

I went into a dealer at the weekend, saw they didn't have one and so asked for a brochure.

The receptionist looked blankly for a moment and muttered we had one of those once.

What, the van or the brochure? - transpired she had once seen a brochure. That was the entirety of my dealer experience.

MB World had two in stock but didn't know much about them - when fiddling one of the electric seats didn't go flat just as in a video review I've seen.

I'll read the thread above and then get my wallet out a rent them for a ekend each.

Thanks four the warm welcome.

 

[BigMan]

Go to a cali meet, you will learn so much more than from a dealer, you will also see the Cali being used in real life. We travelled down to Brean last year, it was the best thing we ever did as we spent over four hours there talking to owners, by the end of the day we had decided what we wanted

 

[Jay586]

I used to mystery shop car dealerships, they vary widely...as did my experience with this last search. Try Preston, South Hereford if you want to chat with people who know what they're talking about, Liverpool were good once you'd identified the exact vehicle and great with an actual sale. Their videos on YouTube are good. Vindis were nice. Wrexham were ok, until they got bored.

Several didn't bother to respond at all...one did bad things verging on sharp practice...think of it as a journey!

 

[frenchie]

I had been swinging between the vw ocean and the Mercedes for some time now. I hate the interior of the vw, its just so grey and the dealers are next to useless and I did not like the lack of power of the 150bhp with the dsg box ( please fellow members I don't wish to hear how great it is, if it suits you fine). I do like the leather of the MP, also the limo class and its a better drive, but there is a fair bit of engine noise if you push it. But over the time I have been looking the prices of the mb have been dropping and a new 250d amg can be picked up for £48,000. I took out the vw 204bhp ocean and that was better a lot better in fact then the MP. after talking to my firms service manager he said buy the vw. I must say that I was a little disappointed as I liked the look of the mb. There is a marco polo forum, but do beware that a lot of the members are in fact Mercedes employees talking up the van. I have also spoken to a number of german campervan nuts who also said don't buy the MB stating various faults with the batteries and electric motors. as the company I work for is paying half of the vans cost and will be servicing it, I went with their view. so purchased a vw. mine you if one had not come up for sale from a private owner I would not of done so and looked at something else like better hotels that like ugly dogs. Only time will tale if I made the right purchase, but if not I am sure that I can trade in the vw for a cheap marco if need be. F

 

[Ginab]

Hi Donny
Sorry to hear of the loss of your van.
As someone who has just ordered an mp two weeks ago, I am biased (as is everyone on these forums, even unwittingly).
I could list all the things I prefer about the mp as well as some of the things I felt were better on the cali, but at the end of the day I went with the one I fell in love with!
As we all know, love is not entirely rational and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder etc. I think we tend to try to justify our choices with our heads after our hearts have really made the decision.
However, I expect both vans are much of a muchness, objectively. The base vehicles both have a strong pedigree and the camper bits are pretty much the same in terms of functionality. Because both vans are supplied by car dealers, I suspect the service from both will be rather gappy in terms of product knowledge.
My local mb dealer was very attentive and they did their best to answer all my questions, as well as being prepared to accept their ignorance. You may wish to take into account the view you form of your local dealers, as I have done in the past when buying cars.
I expect you could get a reasonable discount on both vehicles, if you wish to negotiate on price. When I specced up what I wanted, the mp came out about £1000 cheaper than the cali, but it might be the other way round for others - depending on their needs.
Unless they are backed up by fact, I would take with a pinch of salt any comments about reliability and other problems. For example, the roof corrosion in the cali is indisputable and accepted by vw, but something like that may not matter to you anyway.
I'm sorry to say, but only you can decide which is the 'better' van, so I've not been much help have I?!

 

[Ocean Spirit]

I hate the interior of the vw, its just so grey and the dealers are next to useless ........

I do like the leather of the MP, also the limo class and its a better drive......

as the company I work for is paying half of the vans cost and will be servicing it, I went with their view.
so purchased a vw.
mine you if one had not come up for sale from a private owner I would not of done so......

Only time will tale if I made the right purchase, but if not I am sure that I can trade in the vw for a cheap marco if need be. F

Well,
Given all that (yes I know i've chopped out some positives from your post) it doesn't sound to me like you want a California.
Let us know if you grow to love or hate it.

 

[Ocean Spirit]

That is a great post @Ginab

 

[frenchie]

to be honest as I said above, I did not want a vw, or in fact much to do with any campervan. my reasons for buying one are simple. I love my dog to bits, he is a rescue Frenchie who spend most of his life alone in a garden shed. he now hates to be alone. so as I work away a lot he comes with me. of late I have been finding it harder to get a place for him, so I looked at a van as my company is willing to pay some of the purchase price, I did not want a large motorhome as they are too slow and I cant always get the parking needed for one. my 2nd reason is that I have crohns and need to control what I eat and have had problems of late with hotel food adding cream into all sorts of things and this leads to me needing 4 or 5 days off work at a time so cooking for myself I can control what I eat. so again a campervan made sense and it fits into site car parks. however I think that vw is taking the mick asking so much for so little and I can see room for lots of improvements, as I think most of you can. getting shot of that light grey interior would be very high on my list. so this is a sort of working tool if you like. I will be honest with how I feel about it over the coming few months. my next job takes to Normandy the home of added cream, so it will be a good test. F

 

[larrylamb]

Because both vans are supplied by car dealers, I suspect the service from both will be rather gappy in terms of product knowledge.

VW Calis are sold only through their van network, not car dealerships which has its own positives and negatives.

 

[Ginab]

VW Calis are sold only through their van network, not car dealerships which has its own positives and negatives.

Yes, that’s right - I meant that neither are specialist motor home / camper van people.
Possibly get a better cup of tea at mb car dealer than vw van dealer?!

 

[Meoncoast]

When our Cali was 5 years old and had 63k on the clock we decided to buy a new van. We decided that another Cali met our needs so we bought another. Looked at other campervans but were hooked on what we had. If I wanted a MP or something else would have got that, I did not like what I saw. I am sure for a MP owner they are the best thing for them. We made our own choice. At the end of the day get what you want and like and will works for your campervan life style.

 

[Hotel California]

Welcome on board , i think the only way to find out the diffrence is to actually go camping in both....as most here don't have any campingexperience with a MP the comments need to be taken cautious as the gras is always greener on the other side.
Rent both for a weekend and post the report on the forum , oh and start of renting a MP first .. that way things can only get better....

 

[Trotty]

I was keen to switch so had a good look in the dealers and was a little disappointed. I think the Merc doesn’t lend itself to well to a conversion. Table and chairs in the boot so no boot, knife drawer didn’t allow access when table up. Centre console stops you getting from the front seats to the back easily, blinds are not integral on each window and the roof bed isn’t on hydronic struts. It’s also long wheel base so it’s hard to drive and park, with any benefit ruined by the chairs in the boot. Looks nice but couldn’t live with it. In my mind the conversion is a bit of an afterthought but still the second best one out there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WelshGas]

The MP has been around for a while in Europe but only on the market in the UK this year. However the base vehicle has been available for some time BUT the number of converters offering a MB based conversion is virtually non existant. Why?
You know what you want from a campervan so the only real way forward is to hire both and use them as intended.
I note in your conversion you had a pretty hefty Inverter fitted. I presume you did some -grid camping, something that would be more difficult in the MP which has limited Leisure Battery provision.