Australian Cali

[Greg&Mel Australian Cali]

Australia is a Beach only country. VW can’t import the Cali Ocean as the vehicle rules don’t allow a passenger rear door that opens onto the road. So the Beach with two sliding doors is it. One advantage is it saves the Beach or Ocean debate. It becomes the Beach or ‘converted van with kitchen’ debate instead. Nowhere near as hot a conversation if you want a Cali.
So our Beach should arrive before Christmas and I have already designed a pull out kitchen for the rear that we can remove when not travelling. Very exciting.
There have only been 150 California’s sold in Australia to date and I am yet to see one on the road, so very special here. We have ordered the two colour 450 4motion with all the options permitted by VW. You can’t get them all as they limit the weight, assuming you have 4 x 100 kg people travelling in the van and full of luggage.
Very annoyed about paying Luxury Car Tax on it though. The tax was brought in more than 30 years ago to protect Australia’s car manufacture industry. We don’t have that now but still have the tax. If you buy a Campervan you are exempt but the Tax department says the Cali Beach is a car as it doesn’t have a kitchen. I beg to differ but was over-ruled. Sorry VW, the Cali Beach is a car! That will start the Beach vs Ocean debate all over again.
I will post photos of my Cali Beach ‘’Campervan’ when it arrives.

 

[Swampfrog]

Australia is a Beach only country. VW can’t import the Cali Ocean as the vehicle rules don’t allow a passenger rear door that opens onto the road. So the Beach with two sliding doors is it. One advantage is it saves the Beach or Ocean debate. It becomes the Beach or ‘converted van with kitchen’ debate instead. Nowhere near as hot a conversation if you want a Cali.
So our Beach should arrive before Christmas and I have already designed a pull out kitchen for the rear that we can remove when not travelling. Very exciting.
There have only been 150 California’s sold in Australia to date and I am yet to see one on the road, so very special here. We have ordered the two colour 450 4motion with all the options permitted by VW. You can’t get them all as they limit the weight, assuming you have 4 x 100 kg people travelling in the van and full of luggage.
Very annoyed about paying Luxury Car Tax on it though. The tax was brought in more than 30 years ago to protect Australia’s car manufacture industry. We don’t have that now but still have the tax. If you buy a Campervan you are exempt but the Tax department says the Cali Beach is a car as it doesn’t have a kitchen. I beg to differ but was over-ruled. Sorry VW, the Cali Beach is a car! That will start the Beach vs Ocean debate all over again.
I will post photos of my Cali Beach ‘’Campervan’ when it arrives.

Hi Greg
we are lucky enough to have one of one of the new Cali’s running around ln Oz, there are a lot here on the east coast. I would look into the luxury car tax a little harder? In NSW, a Cali registered after a second stage manufacture with Engineers report and fitting the criteria of a camper van, can be exempt of luxury car tax.
cheers
Swampy

 

[WelshGas]

Australia is a Beach only country. VW can’t import the Cali Ocean as the vehicle rules don’t allow a passenger rear door that opens onto the road. So the Beach with two sliding doors is it. One advantage is it saves the Beach or Ocean debate. It becomes the Beach or ‘converted van with kitchen’ debate instead. Nowhere near as hot a conversation if you want a Cali.
So our Beach should arrive before Christmas and I have already designed a pull out kitchen for the rear that we can remove when not travelling. Very exciting.
There have only been 150 California’s sold in Australia to date and I am yet to see one on the road, so very special here. We have ordered the two colour 450 4motion with all the options permitted by VW. You can’t get them all as they limit the weight, assuming you have 4 x 100 kg people travelling in the van and full of luggage.
Very annoyed about paying Luxury Car Tax on it though. The tax was brought in more than 30 years ago to protect Australia’s car manufacture industry. We don’t have that now but still have the tax. If you buy a Campervan you are exempt but the Tax department says the Cali Beach is a car as it doesn’t have a kitchen. I beg to differ but was over-ruled. Sorry VW, the Cali Beach is a car! That will start the Beach vs Ocean debate all over again.
I will post photos of my Cali Beach ‘’Campervan’ when it arrives.

Same problem in UK.
Beach Camper with 1 sliding door, drivers side, + small 1 burner gas stove built in is classed as a Campervan.

Beach Tour with 2 sliding doors and no built in gas cooker is classed as a Car and subject to the UK Luxury Car Tax.

 

[Greg&Mel Australian Cali]

I corresponded directly with the Australian Tax Office and a Campervan must have a kitchen to be exempt from the Luxury Car Tax. Aftermarket kitchens do not count. So we are paying and extra $13,000 for LCT on top of the usual taxes.
I would love to wait for an ID4 Camper but we would be 70 by the time they expect them to be available in Australia. Plus we live in Western Australia and we usually drive over 1,000 kms a day leave the state, either north or east. Very few recharging stations here compared to the east coast though that will improve over time. Australia is such a vast empty country and if you want to travel inland you still really need a diesel vehicle. Outback stations only have diesel and I struggle to see how a 4WD electric California would be very useful, I hope I am wrong.
But we are excited that our Beach has now been built and is awaiting a boat in Germany. It should be here by November, much earlier than we expected.
It is by far the most expensive vehicle we have ever purchased, by a factor of 2.5. No regrets though, can’t wait.

 

[benmac]

Hey Gregory,

Good to hear you are designing your own pull out kitchen, I am doing the same at the moment as my beach arrives next week.
I am building a new pull out drawer and MFB so I can take the width of the kitchen area from around 1030 to 1140.

These guys in Germany have done quite a nice job of it!

calibox - DAS ORIGINAL - calibox

www.calibox-shop.de

Ben

 

[Ozzy Pete]

I corresponded directly with the Australian Tax Office and a Campervan must have a kitchen to be exempt from the Luxury Car Tax. Aftermarket kitchens do not count. So we are paying and extra $13,000 for LCT on top of the usual taxes.
I would love to wait for an ID4 Camper but we would be 70 by the time they expect them to be available in Australia. Plus we live in Western Australia and we usually drive over 1,000 kms a day leave the state, either north or east. Very few recharging stations here compared to the east coast though that will improve over time. Australia is such a vast empty country and if you want to travel inland you still really need a diesel vehicle. Outback stations only have diesel and I struggle to see how a 4WD electric California would be very useful, I hope I am wrong.
But we are excited that our Beach has now been built and is awaiting a boat in Germany. It should be here by November, much earlier than we expected.
It is by far the most expensive vehicle we have ever purchased, by a factor of 2.5. No regrets though, can’t wait.

I can’t really see how any outback garage will ever get an EV fast charger. Most of the remote areas run on generators and solar so will never have the capacity to charge an EV. Unless you don’t mind waiting 2 days to get a full charge.. with EVs the world has put all its eggs into one basket.

 

[Greg&Mel Australian Cali]

Hey Gregory,

Good to hear you are designing your own pull out kitchen, I am doing the same at the moment as my beach arrives next week.
I am building a new pull out drawer and MFB so I can take the width of the kitchen area from around 1030 to 1140.

These guys in Germany have done quite a nice job of it!

calibox - DAS ORIGINAL - calibox

www.calibox-shop.de

Ben

Hi Ben, I would be very keen to see your kitchen progress.
Greg

 

[benmac]

Hi Ben, I would be very keen to see your kitchen progress.
Greg

Hey Greg,
I am working on the 3d design and it is quite specific to my needs. We are a family of 4 so we want the large 55l dometic fridge with ice maker and I have incorporated soft close drawers at the front and the 2 burner primus stove will side out to the side. We are mad about coffee so have designed the space to accomodate a flair 58 manual espresso machine as well as bellman steamer and all the other gear.
You can view it here on sketch up but not sure you can see it without creating an account.
The design is not finished but getting there. We are also building a new MFB and slide out drawer to house the kitchen and fridge.

app.sketchup.com/app?3dwid=0201b6b9-801e-4205-9e9b-062c0754e88a

Ben

 

[Greg&Mel Australian Cali]

Don’t have sketch up Ben. What about a couple of photos?
Greg