Buying a Cali

[gotat5cali]

Hi

We are thinking of buying a T5 Cali. Would any of you existing owners be prepared to share both the good and the not so good points of T5 vans with us. We have a small caravan at the moment which, since we have moved we have to store rather than keep at home. This and the feeling that we would like to be free of the need to hitch and unhitch and also have a vehicle that we can take out for a day and still use as a place to sit and with our dog and have a cuppa is propelling us towards a campervan. I am aware, however, that when looking at T5s I tend toward the fanciful rather than the practical. So will some of you tell me it like it is, warts and all, so that we can make a more informed decision?

PR

 

[calikev]

Hi there & welcome.
Have a good look around the forum and you will get a good idea of
What's what. Bear in mind forums generally have most posts about people's
Problems but it's not all doom & gloom I have had relatively very few problems and love using my cali

 

[DavidofHook]

We did this about 12 years ago and bought a T4 Cali with a towbar. The idea was to use the Cali for touring and also to pull the caravan (an Eriba) for long stay trips to Spain and France. In fact we hardly did any pulling and eventually sold the caravan. Using the Cali was such bliss after pulling a caravan.
It is small inside and you have to be very disciplined about how much 'stuff' you take. Keep it simple. We no longer take barbies etc but do cook outside on an electric stove (if hooked up) and we take a Sunn camp daytent instead of an awning. We take books, DVD's iPads. Mostly we have Rohan clothes which are easy to wash so not many of them. We don't have a dog and there is just two of us but the Cali is good. We have upgraded to a T5 which needs a bit more TLC than the T4 but it is still a great way to camp. And we don't need a second car.
The gymnastics required to use the upper bed are beyond us so we use the lower one which some people regard as uncomfortable. It IS hard but we find it to be ok. We camp mostly in the summer and abroad if possible, if you are a winter camper then I would think very carefully before taking the plunge
Hope this helps.

 

[Alfrla]

We camp mostly in the summer and abroad if possible, if you are a winter camper then I would think very carefully before taking the plunge
Hope this helps.

We bought our Cali this year. I wanted to see what it was like in minus temperatures so we drove to Salzburg for the night. It was only -5 but we were warm enough. Having said that I have to admit that we had a lot of blankets etc with us This year we are planning on Spain

 

[DavidofHook]

Hi Alfria,
Sorry I should have made it clear I meant camping in the UK in Winter. They generally are wet, damp and also moderately cold (it's pouring with rain here in Hampshire and 5degrees outside). It's more to do with what you do with your wet anoraks and how you get stuff dry. Oh, and the mud of course!

 

[Hotel California]

Caravan's are for camping , with a Cali it is travelling in style..... :mrgreen:
Try renting a Cali before you by one if you need that xtra puch to convince you , it is a big investment and you should concider your own needs .
Here on the forum i think you don't find many who regred they'r purchase...
Suc6

 

[Looby]

Hi Alfria,
Sorry I should have made it clear I meant camping in the UK in Winter. They generally are wet, damp and also moderately cold (it's pouring with rain here in Hampshire and 5degrees outside). It's more to do with what you do with your wet anoraks and how you get stuff dry. Oh, and the mud of course!

This is a fair point to bear in mind about winter camping. However, after weighing up the what we felt were positives and negatives we decided to make the switch from caravan to the Cali now on order.

Positives for us
Van sitting in drive, packed in advance and ready to head off any Fri night after work, even in winter. We wouldn't even consider the 30 mile round trip to collect caravan from storage then driving and trying to pitch caravan at night in winter for a night or two.

In winter when weather nice, can head where forecast is good for one or two nights and wild camp, a definite no no with a caravan

Nice days out to beach areas, up the glens or wherever we fancy when opportunities arrive.

For us the caravan went into storage after the October holidays and stayed there till Spring. I think the camper offers many more opportunities in Winter if it has to fit in with a working week.

For me, caravaning was a bit too organised and predictable and less sociable than tent camping. I missed the cooking and sitting outside till all hours, washing dishes at the designated areas and having a wee blether and while I could have still done this, it was all too easy not to.

Have fun whatever you decide suits your lifestyle. There's loads of valuable info and lots of helpful people on this site.

 

[Gasgas]

We have just ordered our Cali, but prior to purchase we borrowed our dealers demonstrator in January on two separate occasions and have camped out four nights in total ,no problems at all we really enjoyed it and cannot wait until we take delivery in April.As other people mention it is the spontaneity of just taking off for the day / weekend ,true freedom and escapism .

 

[gotat5cali]

Thank you to all of you who have answered my question. I would say that pluses outweigh minuses by a large margin. In truth, I think that, although we are sad to see our Eriba go, we had actually made up our mind some time ago that Campervan was the way to go now that the caravan is not near by. Mind you, I can't see us "wild camping" just yet,40 years ago maybe.

 

[surfbus]

Postby Wannat5cali
We are thinking of buying a T5 Cali. Would any of you existing owners be prepared to share both the good and the not so good points of T5 vans with us.

Hi Guys,

I have approached this purchase from the other direction i.e. a glorified van rather than a downgraded caravan.
Currently I have a Caravelle which normally only has two seats in it so that I can use it as a T5 Transporter for my work. Also, you can get a large 3 seater and 2 seater sofa in there with room to spare. However, for family days out you have a luxury people mover.
I am now in line for a Cali Beach which will extend the "T5 Transporter" workhorse through the people mover functionality to the added bonus of an occasional camper.

Good luck,

Bill

 

[LindaF]

We camp mostly in the summer and abroad if possible, if you are a winter camper then I would think very carefully before taking the plunge
Hope this helps.

We bought our Cali this year. I wanted to see what it was like in minus temperatures so we drove to Salzburg for the night. It was only -5 but we were warm enough. Having said that I have to admit that we had a lot of blankets etc with us This year we are planning on Spain

We got our Cali on 18th December and were keen to get away in it as soon as possible, depsite it being winter. Our first weekend away was 10th January to London (Crystal Palace) and the temperature on Saturday night dropped to -2. We didn't put the heating on overnight and we were still nice and cosy (normal duvet) - heating on for half an hour first thing in the morning soon had us lovely and warm enough to get up for breakfast. Thermal screen cover and roof topper helped We are delighted with our Cali and are planning our next weekend away in a couple of weeks (work keeps getting in the way!!)

 

[Cali_Freaks]

We deliberated long and hard before we bought ours two and half years ago, an 18 month old 180 DSG with only 7k miles for the 'bargain' price of £37000

We finally took the plunge based on the logic that if things didn't work we could easily recover almost all of our outlay with used residuals being rock sold. I still reckon we'd get within a couple of grand of the original purchase price now.....but we ain't sellin'

The California has it's niggles, which are very minor and far outweighed but the practicality and cool factor. I can't imagine many people have bought one and not absolutely fallen in love.

One word of warning, be prepared to spend a small fortune on top of the purchase price accessorising your vehicle.

CF