3 zone air conditioning

[JimP1992]

Morning all,

We've put a deposit down on a VW California SE 140 Manual 2015 at VW Van Centre Poole. The van is fully serviced at VW in accordance with the manufacturer, and offered with 12 months warranty. This will be our second California.

We're paying a bit over the odds in the current market, but this one is very much unused; it has unusually low mileage at 1,250 miles. It still has the cellophane to the top mattress, and the hob and fridge look as new; supposedly the previous owners have never slept in it, with one owner since new. We intend to keep the van for the foreseeable future, so it's nice that we don't have to worry about mileage and we're getting an 'as new' van, albeit 6 years old. We have lived in one for four months and know for sure that a Cali is the right van for us. We intend to use it at every given opportunity: weekends, holidays, visiting family in the Netherlands etc. This is why we are not concerned about paying over the odds, because life is for living, right?

Now, my only concern is that it does not have 3 Zone air conditioning. I did like the feature in the past. I've never had experience with the standard air con - is 3 Zone something which people think they could live without? Would it be a deal breaker? I feel although it was a nice feature to have, the bulk of our use with our previous Cali was in the summer months, so we didn't use the 'rest' feature. However with this one, we will be using it all year round.

Now on the flip side, as we intend to keep the van for a long time, is it perhaps one less thing to worry about going wrong? Also, surely if you want to heat up the van whilst you're out and about doing bits and bobs, then you simply switch on the auxiliary heater with the remote, right? Is the 'rest' feature that necessary?

It would be good to hear people's opinions in order to assist with our decision, because we are quite conflicted.

Thanks

James

 

[andyinluton]

Having gone from a 2015SE without 3 zone to a T6.1 with it I would say that unless you are travelling with rear passengers it makes very little difference.

You are correct, the auxiliary heater really negates the need for the rest function. The only time I can see rest function being used is for when stopping for a break at a service station when I wouldn't bother putting on the heating, but it might be nice to have a bit of heat if that makes sense.

The 3 zone does cool down the whole van quicker as there are effectively 2 air con systems, one for the front & one for the back, but we coped fine 5 in the van travelling in Spain in midsummer, and its nice to let the kids argue amongst themselves to decide how hot/cold they want to be.

I think you are also right , long term there's less to go wrong.

Re your warranty, could you get the dealer to put you on & pay for the all-in scheme? gives 2 years warranty, recovery and servicing& MoT for about £750. may be worth discussing especially if you can get the dealer to pay.

 

[ArunAlec]

Got 3 zone and could happily live without it. Seldom do we have any rear seat passengers.

 

[JimP1992]

Having gone from a 2015SE without 3 zone to a T6.1 with it I would say that unless you are travelling with rear passengers it makes very little difference.

You are correct, the auxiliary heater really negates the need for the rest function. The only time I can see rest function being used is for when stopping for a break at a service station when I wouldn't bother putting on the heating, but it might be nice to have a bit of heat if that makes sense.

The 3 zone does cool down the whole van quicker as there are effectively 2 air con systems, one for the front & one for the back, but we coped fine 5 in the van travelling in Spain in midsummer, and its nice to let the kids argue amongst themselves to decide how hot/cold they want to be.

I think you are also right , long term there's less to go wrong.

Re your warranty, could you get the dealer to put you on & pay for the all-in scheme? gives 2 years warranty, recovery and servicing& MoT for about £750. may be worth discussing especially if you can get the dealer to pay.

Thanks Andy, that’s really useful.

Other than the 3 zone, it has everything that we need. It also has the tow bar prep, which we thought it didn’t have, which is an added bonus, as I was worried about retrofitting.

That’s a good shout r.e. the all in scheme, we can use the lack of 3 zone to our advantage and try and see if we can get this included in to the asking price.

 

[JimP1992]

Got 3 zone and could happily live without it. Seldom do we have any rear seat passengers.

Thanks Alec, it’s just the two of us and the dog, so I’m thinking will it be missed…

 

[Joker 1299]

Just a thought - have the tyres been changed? Consensus seems to be that they should be replaced at 5 - 6 years

 

[Jim2007]

Took me a while to work out what the rest button did. Tried it. Very noisy and ineffective compared to the auxiliary heater in my view. Have never pressed the rest button again.

 

[soulstyledevon]

We never needed 3 zone when it was just two of us. Lived without it for years and just standard cab AC.

However, we are now a family 3 and I honestly wouldn’t be without it. Kids get really hot in the back and if you need to travel long distances with them. It’s the difference of grumpy little ones with lots of stops or comfortable passengers happy to sit with cooling air and Netflix…

 

[ArunAlec]

Took me a while to work out what the rest button did. Tried it. Very noisy and ineffective compared to the auxiliary heater in my view. Have never pressed the rest button again.

I always forget to push it!

 

[JimP1992]

Just a thought - have the tyres been changed? Consensus seems to be that they should be replaced at 5 - 6 years

That’s a good point. I’ll have to raise this when we have our viewing on Wednesday. I think the answer will likely be no, as it looks to have done 200 miles per year.

 

[JimP1992]

Took me a while to work out what the rest button did. Tried it. Very noisy and ineffective compared to the auxiliary heater in my view. Have never pressed the rest button again.

Thanks for the reply. I must admit, I never used it on my other Cali - but the more I read the more I wanted it.

 

[JimP1992]

We never needed 3 zone when it was just two of us. Lived without it for years and just standard cab AC.

However, we are now a family 3 and I honestly wouldn’t be without it. Kids get really hot in the back and if you need to travel long distances with them. It’s the difference of grumpy little ones with lots of stops or comfortable passengers happy to sit with cooling air and Netflix…

Thanks!

We’re likely 3-4 years away from having kids, so we’ll worry about that later …

 

[Bartleby]

We're just the two of us plus the dog on the parcel shelf. We don't have 3 zone for her in the back so I bought a fan on a clip (from Amazon) that I attach to the rubber handle on the right of the back seat and plug it into the 12V underneath.

That sends enough cold air back to keep her happy. I've put a thermometer back there with a phone app to check as we're driving, and it stays a decent temperature on the hottest days.

Happy to take a picture of it in action if you think it'll help.

 

[JimP1992]

We're just the two of us plus the dog on the parcel shelf. We don't have 3 zone for her in the back so I bought a fan on a clip (from Amazon) that I attach to the rubber handle on the right of the back seat and plug it into the 12V underneath.

That sends enough cold air back to keep her happy. I've put a thermometer back there with a phone app to check as we're driving, and it stays a decent temperature on the hottest days.

Happy to take a picture of it in action if you think it'll help.

That would be great!

We have a small cockapoo, so likely she will be by the feet of whoever is in the passenger seat.

 

[Bartleby]

That would be great!

We have a small cockapoo, so likely she will be by the feet of whoever is in the passenger seat.

Our cocker is also small but I couldn't have her not secure, she would definitely get into mischief!

Below is the fan in place, pointed towards her soft crate in the back. In the 6.1 there is an air con vent just below the 12V point (where the cable is leading to), so we turn that on through the control panel and that air gets picked up by the fan (but I imagine it would still work well just on the front vents).

We store the fan when not needed but it's also good in general to put in different places, just for moving air around in hot weather or if we need to get rid of cooking smells out of the window.

The fan is this one but there's plenty to choose from - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B086L4TZ4F/?tag=eliteelect-21

 

[JimP1992]

Just as an update … we proceeded with a T6 with 3 zone in the end, amongst other features.

For us, we wanted to 3 zone for our spoilt little cockapoo, who will be sited in the back.

Thanks for your input.