Buying T7 California Beach Camper

[thatsnotmynaim]

Oh yes how weird, kind of defeats half the point of it really....

 

[2haw]

One thing to be aware of is that the Hybrid beach camper is only available as a four seater. It's not very clear on the configurator unless you check the interior pictures.

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Oh yeah. Thanks. That rules that out then!
Typical useless VW information!
The brochure and configurator doesn’t give any other larger wheel options for the Beach but if you choose the 18”winter tyres, it makes you add an 18” wheel, so larger wheels are possible. Shame it only lets you have the Anthracite finish though.

 

[Rhauri]

No but I looked at the back (from boot) and front (from behind seats) of the unit and whilst from the back it looks like the electrics that take up a 3rd of the space are separate to the kitchen, if you look at it all from behind the seats it’s more like 50:50 and more like one unit. So can’t be removed without removing the electric hookup and inverter which is probably wired to the van so it can be charged from the engine..
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Good to know this.
I hope it's not true, as for me I like my current 2021 Beach as it means very limited extra weight from a kitchen & cupboard, but when we pull up, easy to pop the pop top, reverse the front seats ....
Up to us if we pop the rear shelf in to make downstairs a bed too.

So plenty of room for surf boards, dogs etc.
I don't want half the rear 'boot' area taken up by a kitchen unit we'll not use (a JetBoil to make hot drinks, heat soup is plenty for us).

 

[thatsnotmynaim]

I don’t think you sensibly can without voiding warranty, even if you could / did as it forms part of the downstairs bed it would mean you can no longer use that, unless you fashion a new rear deck. The easiest way I’d say is if you could somehow get the T7 Beach Tour parts from outside the uk, but it would mean new inverter housing (and perhaps inverter / battery / wiring) then new rear bed deck as the tour has the deck and table sideways (like the Ocean) and the Beach Camper it’s longways.

In our old T6.1 we also used to be able to put our dogs folding travel crate sideways between the front seats and bed, in the T7 the gap is much smaller, just enough to stand on and leave your shoes, not sure where the dog can go now?!?

 

[FamCamping]

I don’t think you sensibly can without voiding warranty, even if you could / did as it forms part of the downstairs bed it would mean you can no longer use that, unless you fashion a new rear deck. The easiest way I’d say is if you could somehow get the T7 Beach Tour parts from outside the uk, but it would mean new inverter housing (and perhaps inverter / battery / wiring) then new rear bed deck as the tour has the deck and table sideways (like the Ocean) and the Beach Camper it’s longways.

In our old T6.1 we also used to be able to put our dogs folding travel crate sideways between the front seats and bed, in the T7 the gap is much smaller, just enough to stand on and leave your shoes, not sure where the dog can go now?!?

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Hi,
Not really a question about the kitchen, but as we are waiting for our Cali now, and you already use it for some time. Is there any space for porta potty in the Beach now?
Thanks for your help

 

[thatsnotmynaim]

Depends where you want to keep it, there’s the obvious but only main space in the boot, it’s ~1m deep and accessible from the van if you pull the seat in front of it forward or remove the seat altogether (perhaps just travelling with 4seats), if we travel with our dog we sometimes remove the centre rear seat as that leaves a nice gap. Also this weekend I discovered the big draw below the cooker is fully removeable, pull it nearly all the way out, press 2 clips and then pull out altogether. Cooker still works fine with lower drawer removed.

 

[stoobthealien]

Have driven it around a bit more yesterday and I must say it drives loads better than our Cali T6.1 ever did, feels more like a car, less rattles, you feel closer to the ground, less sat on top of it perhaps, it doesn't feel heavy or like I'm fighting in the corners with it's weight or speed.

Also just had a quikc play with the layout of the seats and the rear space behind them. You can remove the part if the bed extension that's only semi fixed, so a coupe of catches on top and a special latch underneath that I hadn't found the other day, and if you remove the bed padding and the half of hte bed extension that's removeable, then the seat on the right can be moved much further back and I can fit one of the other seats in front of it no problem at all and with quite a bit of leg room. Not sure about weight limits, but I've taken some kit out, but if you add a 6th seat and a 6th passenger, not sure what that does for the payload.

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This is amazing and may have just saved my bacon / made my decision. From what I can see here you're saying that if you remove the mattress and the top part on the rear right hand side you can fit the seat in the back...and therefore if I got another multivan seat I could have a 6 seater?

Also seems to make sense if I'm using it as a daily driver even with the 5 seats in terms of having a bit more room for luggage and then I could put the top bit and the mattress back on for camping?

(I recognise that I'd need to do a DVLA change etc if it's registered as a 5 seater, etc etc)

 

[Georgeo]

This is amazing and may have just saved my bacon / made my decision. From what I can see here you're saying that if you remove the mattress and the top part on the rear right hand side you can fit the seat in the back...and therefore if I got another multivan seat I could have a 6 seater?

Also seems to make sense if I'm using it as a daily driver even with the 5 seats in terms of having a bit more room for luggage and then I could put the top bit and the mattress back on for camping?

(I recognise that I'd need to do a DVLA change etc if it's registered as a 5 seater, etc etc)

Can it take the weight?

 

[stoobthealien]

Can it take the weight?

It's got just under 500kg of payload so I can't see why not?

 

[WelshGas]

This is amazing and may have just saved my bacon / made my decision. From what I can see here you're saying that if you remove the mattress and the top part on the rear right hand side you can fit the seat in the back...and therefore if I got another multivan seat I could have a 6 seater?

Also seems to make sense if I'm using it as a daily driver even with the 5 seats in terms of having a bit more room for luggage and then I could put the top bit and the mattress back on for camping?

(I recognise that I'd need to do a DVLA change etc if it's registered as a 5 seater, etc etc)

I may be wrong but I don’t think the Multivan seats are swappable. Also I would check with DVLA if 6 seats are allowed. Do VW sell a 6 seater version?
On the Transporter based Beach such a vehicle was sold so no problem upgrading the number of seats on the V5c registration.

 

[FamCamping]

I may be wrong but I don’t think the Multivan seats are swappable. Also I would check with DVLA if 6 seats are allowed. Do VW sell a 6 seater version?
On the Transporter based Beach such a vehicle was sold so no problem upgrading the number of seats on the V5c registration.

Wouldn’t this be reviewed based on a Mutivan?
As the van / car is the same, with just added kitchen, this shouldn’t be a problem,

Hm, I hope someone can confirm

 

[Kayleigh]

I may be wrong but I don’t think the Multivan seats are swappable. Also I would check with DVLA if 6 seats are allowed. Do VW sell a 6 seater version?
On the Transporter based Beach such a vehicle was sold so no problem upgrading the number of seats on the V5c registration.

My T6 Beach with 2-seat bench is still registered as a 7 seater even though you would need to swap out the bench to do that. I would imagine if the T7 Beach comes registered as a 5 seater, that is the maximum legal capacity.

 

[WelshGas]

Wouldn’t this be reviewed based on a Mutivan?
As the van / car is the same, with just added kitchen, this shouldn’t be a problem,

Hm, I hope someone can confirm

I don’t think it is as simple as that. The T7 Beach has a different roof , built in Leisure battery etc. as well as the removable kitchen and this is how it will be certificated by DVLA.
Previous versions of the Beach were, as stated, sold with upto 7 seats so easy to increase seat numbers from 4 to 7.

 

[sticky1]

My T6 Beach with 2-seat bench is still registered as a 7 seater even though you would need to swap out the bench to do that. I would imagine if the T7 Beach comes registered as a 5 seater, that is the maximum legal capacity.

I’m not sure I’d be that worried about DVLA however I would definitely ensure that you include any additional seats on your insurance and probably as an agreed modification.

I know you can get a six seat multivan but I think they are a different seat, more comfortable than we get in the California’s, I could be wrong but I had one pick me up in London as a minicab and the seats felt different.

Does this help? https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...verting-a-van-to-carry-passengers-in-the-rear
My interpretation of this is you cannot exceed 8 seats in a car, which would be quite cosy in a Beach!

 

[This Eva]

Hello all,

I am lurking here for a while, so it is nice to meet you all ,

Me and my family want to buy T7 Beach, it looks like it will be perfect for our (2+2 young kids) needs,

We are looking to add below:
- Auxiliary heater (I really don’t know the diference between this one and the remote controlled one ‍)
- 3 zone climatronic
- tow bar
- basic parking assistance (sensors + rear view camera)
- power tailgate

I checked the discounts on Drive the Deal, but it looks like discounts are not great at the moment, it is 5% for now. Hence my question, do you think it will be possible to get similar / better deal directly from dealer?

We will test drive tomorrow in Bristol, let us know if you know something about them

Any help is much appreciated,

Thank you,
Alicia

Please take a look at Wrexham van center. They have a grey T7 beach fully loaded for £59,490 with 8 miles on the clock unregistered.

 

[2haw]

Please take a look at Wrexham van center. They have a grey T7 beach fully loaded for £59,490 with 8 miles on the clock unregistered.

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Breeze at Poole will usually beat DtD.

Try @Tomdbreeze for a quote.

 

[Californication69]

Breeze at Poole will usually beat DtD.

Try @Tomdbreeze for a quote.

They have for me.
3rd van lucky / time for me.
Breeze are really good.

 

[stoobthealien]

Back to my extra seat conundrum - I was reading that the latest T6.1 beach camper (not tour) was registered as 5 seaters (elsewhere in this forum) and it was just a simple form to the DVLA to up it so they could add additional seats (and of course tell the insurance) so I've been assuming that's the same case here.

I don't suppose anyone has the T7 beach and could confirm that it's registered as a 5 seater? (apologies if I've missed that in the thread!)

 

[2haw]

Back to my extra seat conundrum - I was reading that the latest T6.1 beach camper (not tour) was registered as 5 seaters (elsewhere in this forum) and it was just a simple form to the DVLA to up it so they could add additional seats (and of course tell the insurance) so I've been assuming that's the same case here.

I don't suppose anyone has the T7 beach and could confirm that it's registered as a 5 seater? (apologies if I've missed that in the thread!)

Why wouldn’t the T7 Beach be registered as a 5 seater?

From what I understand, it’s only the Hybrid 4motions that only come with 4 seats?

 

[stoobthealien]

Why wouldn’t the T7 Beach be registered as a 5 seater?

From what I understand, it’s only the Hybrid 4motions that only come with 4 seats?

Sorry I was more thinking the other way round - in case on the off chance it's been registered with more given the base van

 

[FamCamping]

I’m not sure I’d be that worried about DVLA however I would definitely ensure that you include any additional seats on your insurance and probably as an agreed modification.

I know you can get a six seat multivan but I think they are a different seat, more comfortable than we get in the California’s, I could be wrong but I had one pick me up in London as a minicab and the seats felt different.

Does this help? https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...verting-a-van-to-carry-passengers-in-the-rear
My interpretation of this is you cannot exceed 8 seats in a car, which would be quite cosy in a Beach!

Yeah, for now my interpretation is, if you can add to the van, you can probably add to California. The load is there, so I don’t see a problem.
I will try to change paperwork the second we will get our new T7 Beach ,

 

[WelshGas]

Yeah, for now my interpretation is, if you can add to the van, you can probably add to California. The load is there, so I don’t see a problem.
I will try to change paperwork the second we will get our new T7 Beach ,

There is no Van version of the T7 Multivan.
There is a 6 or 7 seat version. But the 7 seat version has very little luggage capacity and also doesn’t have the kitchen, pop top roof , Parking Heater or Leisure Battery.
The Beach might seem to be capable of another seat but when certified by VW it would assume to be being used as a Campervan and so certain assumptions made.
The Beach Tour is registered as a MPV and different assumptions made for certification.
I hope you are right in your interpretation but I fear you may have problems with DVLA and Insurance.

 

[sticky1]

There is no Van version of the T7 Multivan.
There is a 6 or 7 seat version. But the 7 seat version has very little luggage capacity and also doesn’t have the kitchen, pop top roof , Parking Heater or Leisure Battery.
The Beach might seem to be capable of another seat but when certified by VW it would assume to be being used as a Campervan and so certain assumptions made.
The Beach Tour is registered as a MPV and different assumptions made for certification.
I hope you are right in your interpretation but I fear you may have problems with DVLA and Insurance.

The DVLA classifications are pretty broad, lots of people add seats to change the seating capacity of their vans without issue.
As long as you are within the vehicle classification and have correctly informed your insurance I believe you will be covered.

 

[WelshGas]

The DVLA classifications are pretty broad, lots of people add seats to change the seating capacity of their vans without issue.
As long as you are within the vehicle classification and have correctly informed your insurance I believe you will be covered.

Perfectly correct in relation to the Transporter based California as there was the Transporter Shuttle sold with unto 9 seats and there was the Beach Tour with a 7 seat Option.
But the T7 Multivan , although available in a 7 seat version has a lower carrying capacity and the VW Certificate of Conformity may not allow such a variation in seating on the California versions due to the weight of the additional fixed equipment.
There were Options of additional seats on various models of the Transporter based California variants. Are there such Options on the T7 California variants sold in the UK?

 

[flymartin]

This chat about seat changes has made me wonder about my T6.1 Beach Camper. But the answer could be relevant to a T7 as well. Mine is a 5-seater as sold and I bought two extra seats which I use occasionally. I have not yet told DVLA or insurance about them. Should I inform them both every time I increase or reduce the number of seats?