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5th Seat?

D

dsou

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9
Hi

a post as someone who is keen to buy a cali

is it possible to add a 5th seat to a vehicle supplied with the normal 4 seats?

I have had confusing answers from dealers re the floor ie that a 5th seat can only be fitted from new and that you can't retro fit due to floor bars. There seems to be some confusion around the issue though

also given width can you actually add a double seat for occassional use as a 6 seater? I can't see why not but am told i am the first person to have asked this which I can't believe is right?

Obviously the above would only be for day to day use- to be removed when camping etc

any clarity anyone can give would be appreciated

d
 
Cali's have the rear seat mounted on rails. A 4 seat Cali will by default have only two rails. If it is purchased new to support a 5th seat, they add a 3rd rail.

I imagine it would be possible to retrofit a 3rd rail but it would be expensive and difficult.

I'm not sure if you could get a second double seat in - probably! (but I doubt you'll see many come up for sale!)
 
To fit second double seat you would need a locking mechanism for it to keep it in place in the rails. They are apparently heavy, two man job to remove & awkward to re-fit.

As I said in another thread 5th seats do come up on ebay, I sold mine & the guy who bought it was having third rail fitted by a third party for I think around £500. Don't know who was fitting it though.

Have just emailed Matt who bought the seat to ask who fitted the third rail. Will post any further info.
 
order the fifth seat as option...cost is not a lot and much less than having the floor ripped up by some non VW aftermarket team. The extra rail is only now fitted to order as a build option early ones had it however. So if you buy a seat off ebay or similar you have to take the bus to a reputable coachbuilder and have an expensive job to be done...
we have the 5th seat sitting in spare room...but its nice to have option of putting it in if we need to travel 5 - which is conceivable...
no extra cost to leather / alcantara option either :eek:
however note if you have ordered your Cali you can't go back and add this in
warning
its heavy and bulky and takes up a lot of internal room. Really is a two person job to put in / take out. But well worth ordering if you ever think you may travel 5 in the bus.
 
This is really helpful- thank you all

It is one of those slightly annoying areas to be honest. We have three boys and would want to use it as a family vehicle every so often but it limits you to buying brand new I guess. I also assume there is no way of telling if it has the rails until you try to fit an extra seat

The seat spec of the new california beach also looks interesting now? More seats and potentially bigger bed by the sound of it but no cooker, fridge etc. May be a good compromise- cheaper too

I just wish that VW fitted the bars to all and then they let you chose what you wanted to do at later stages of ownership.

Also can anyone tell me how far forward the rear seats slide? how large can you make the load area at the back if you need to?

thanks

D
 
I had the same struggle before purchasing, but went for the 5th seat option.

You can see the rails clearly when you look into a van. If you look on the VW commercial website, most of the vans have an internal picture, you can see 2 rails.

If they are specified for a 5th seat you will see the additional rail in the photo and usually text description.
 
We went for the 5th seat and removed it as soon as we arrived home. After playing around with the bench seat I realised that it does not go back far enough for the 5th seat to be useful without having to unscrew the brackets for the rear shelf. Has anyone else figured out a configuration for the 5th seat to be practical without messing around with the rear shelf brackets ?
 
Hi Mark - I'm not sure what you mean by needing to unscrew rear shelf brackets? On our 2010 Cali, what prevented the rear bench going back as far as it needs to to make sense of using the fifth seat was a "stopper" that you can feel if you put a finger between the rubbers that run along the track on the floor (I think the one nearest the sink side) behind the bench. We simply removed this - can't recall whether with a screw driver or socket spanner - either way, it's easy. Once that's gone, you can slide the bench right back no problem and with no adverse consequences that we have encountered. Oh, other than you won't be able to open the drop down storage thingy if you push the bench right back unless you fold the headrests down. As I recall, I came across this advice on the Facebook site.

Why is the stopper there in the first place? Maybe someone can answer that one! I guess I have to say do this at your own risk!

I think there's one in front of the bench as well that you might want to remove.
 
dsou said:
This is really helpful- thank you all

It is one of those slightly annoying areas to be honest. We have three boys and would want to use it as a family vehicle every so often but it limits you to buying brand new I guess. I also assume there is no way of telling if it has the rails until you try to fit an extra seat

The seat spec of the new california beach also looks interesting now? More seats and potentially bigger bed by the sound of it but no cooker, fridge etc. May be a good compromise- cheaper too

I just wish that VW fitted the bars to all and then they let you chose what you wanted to do at later stages of ownership.

Also can anyone tell me how far forward the rear seats slide? how large can you make the load area at the back if you need to?

thanks

D

I have a July 2011 140 manual, very high spec coming up for sale including 5th seat, only 6000 miles. Give me a call or drop me an email if interested.

Oli
 
I have been told that with the stopper removed the bench will go back far enough for you to fit two single seats behind each other.weather this is true I cannot say and weather the rail is man enough to hold it in a big crash remains to be seen
Now it's a long story but I have an anthracite 5 seat in mint condition which owes me an arm and a leg when what I really really need turns out to be a Crete one.........
 
Just bought a 5th seat for use in my '08 California.

I have had the Cali from new, but didn't really need the extra seat until we moved to Bournemouth and are now inundated with visitors :D

I have actually had a 5th seat before, but didn't use it or even fit it in the bus and ended up selling it (long story), so remember them being heavy. That said, I have been able to move it around and fit it / remove it myself, without injury to me or the bus - a cracking bit of kit!

Andy
 
there is also the issue with 4motion Calis.

You can't get an extra rail so you can't fit an extra seat!

Only a problem if ordering new or trying to retro fit I guess.
 
We ordered the 5th seat from new and when it came it didn't look as thought there would be enough room to make it useful. However the rear bench will quite easily slide right back and lock on the rails on our new van ( June 2012 ) as long as (obviously) the rear bench is removed and stored vertically behind the bench seat where it fits quite nicely. There do not appear to be any obstructions to doing this and you can then use the 5th seat facing forwards or backwards either right next to the door or next to the sink depending on which two of the three rails you use.
That said we haven't used it yet as its not really practical to take on camping trips but we will put in for the Winter months when we're too soft to camp.
 
According to the brochure, you can't get the 5th seat for a 4-Motion. Puzzling!
--Nick
 
JockMacMad said:
Indeed so then lol

So have you got one with a 5th seat then?!

Apparently something to do with insurance rules it out (??!)

Same with front parking sensors (can't spec them) yet some have them on 4Motions. Bizarre!
 
JockMacMad said:
No I changed dealer at the last minute and so ended up with a different vehicle :)

I'm confused. As usual.

You've got a raven blue something I think?!
 
Hi all!

We are getting our 5th seat delivered in a few days...long story, but here in Spain all the Cali's I have seen have the 3 rails! odd! But the dealer we bought it from had no 5th seat...maybe he sold it but I don't think so. Anyway we got one for the same price as if we had ordered it with our van and he ordered it with his next Cali order from VW. Anyway...waffling as I do... :oops: ...how to you get the small inserts out and the plastic grey end covers? I'll lever them out and probably break something if I don't ask folk that know much more than I. :help :thanks

Oh...with the bench pushed back to the stop, yes there is clearly enough room for the 5th seat and yes the shelf and bed/cushion fit behind the rear seat upright no problem...I played and it worked fine. :cool
 
:help :help Just got our 5th seat....and boy it does weigh a bit.... :lol: :lol: ....but an incredible bit of kit. Can anyone tell me how to take out the small ali insets in the rails and also the plastic end caps, so I can fit it. Just not keen to break anything! :thanks :thanks
 

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