Cali virgins - advice please

[jillyfish]

Hello there

We are seriously considering buying a Cali Ocean, and have done a bit of on line research although feel quite unsavvy around the issue and because it is a big spend for us, want to be sure, find out all we can before going ahead. It may be that we wait a year or two before buying, but that would also give us more time to save toward the full cost as opposed to taking a loan. We both semi retired, me 60 and Steve 63 and only i drive. I currently drive a Polo and not used to driving bigger vehicles although i did do once when had to hire a van to move. We have booked an ocean to rent for a weekend at the end of next month from OConnors in Devon (we live in Devon also) and going to try the manual first and then give the auto a trial after, if the first weekend works.

couple questions then:

Would love to buy new. Can you tell me HOW MUCH I can expect to pay for new Ocean from Dealer, with all the essential or standard 'extras' included. (i.e. parking sensors, awning, ) not sure what else but you guys will tell me what is advisable to include. It seems to me that the Cali is much in demand and there are likely to be few discounts or deals when purchasing?

Can someone recommend a VW dealership in the Devon/Somerset area? Would I go to a commercial specialist or to normal outlet?

Calis are hard to spot on the road as most camper vehicles seem to be Transporters. We are going to see a conversion company today and I expect they will expand on the merits of their product based on custom build and cost. Does the T6 provide the same driver experience as the Cali ? from what i have seen the cali has more comfortable seating as well as offering quite a few details that conversions cannot.

any advice much appreciated.

thanks
Jill and Steve

 

[MattBW]

Once you know the signs they are very easy to spot. The sliding door and awning in the UK will be on the EU side, i.e. the right/uk drivers side, most conversions will be on the left side. You will occasionally get a Caravelle double slider but most of the time it will be a Cali.

 

[Meoncoast]

Yes big spend. The price keeps going up. What we paid 50k for 3 years ago is pushing 60k plus today. We looked at conversion but often the base van is of lower spec. A good spec camper will not be much less that a California. One of the errors we would have made would have been getting a campervan without a rock & roll bed. These make the van so useable. My view go for it sooner rather than later if you are not overstretching the finances.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

In the past we have owned 3 different conversions (t2 Viking, t25 autosleeper, T4 Bilbo)from reputable companies, and always thought what is the point of paying a premium for a California, until I sat in one! We went for a Beach as it better suited our needs. Everything fits perfectly, very well designed with very little lost space. Same also applies for the California Beach.

The other upside is that you won’t need to drive the van back to the original conversion company if you should have an conversion issue, you can drop into any VW commercial dealership (uk or abroad), which comes in handy when travelling.

2nd hand T6 / T5 California’s are worth looking at as majority will have been very well cared for and previous buyers will have already paid the premium for many of the extras. Many have very low mileage.

 

[2haw]

Hello there

We are seriously considering buying a Cali Ocean, and have done a bit of on line research although feel quite unsavvy around the issue and because it is a big spend for us, want to be sure, find out all we can before going ahead. It may be that we wait a year or two before buying, but that would also give us more time to save toward the full cost as opposed to taking a loan. We both semi retired, me 60 and Steve 63 and only i drive. I currently drive a Polo and not used to driving bigger vehicles although i did do once when had to hire a van to move. We have booked an ocean to rent for a weekend at the end of next month from OConnors in Devon (we live in Devon also) and going to try the manual first and then give the auto a trial after, if the first weekend works.

couple questions then:

Would love to buy new. Can you tell me HOW MUCH I can expect to pay for new Ocean from Dealer, with all the essential or standard 'extras' included. (i.e. parking sensors, awning, ) not sure what else but you guys will tell me what is advisable to include. It seems to me that the Cali is much in demand and there are likely to be few discounts or deals when purchasing?

Can someone recommend a VW dealership in the Devon/Somerset area? Would I go to a commercial specialist or to normal outlet?

Calis are hard to spot on the road as most camper vehicles seem to be Transporters. We are going to see a conversion company today and I expect they will expand on the merits of their product based on custom build and cost. Does the T6 provide the same driver experience as the Cali ? from what i have seen the cali has more comfortable seating as well as offering quite a few details that conversions cannot.

any advice much appreciated.

thanks
Jill and Steve

You can always tell if it's a California if the passenger side only has a front door.
All UK T6 Kombis, Caravelles and Shuttles will have a sliding door on the passenger side.

Seems like 10-13% discount maybe available on current T6s at the moment.

 

[Scanacali]

Have a look at the thread 'Ordered a T6 Ocean today: what you should know' started by M at the W on 24 July.
It gives a good indication of the currents discounts available at the dealers.

 

[B J G]

On Conversion Transporter versus VW Cali. One aspect that gets missed is the Cali has far superior sound proofing on the road and 3 point air conn/heating plus normally a higher spec engine and transmission fitted.
Ocean has night heater as well.
Cali is also better in lower bed/seating in its ability to slide if using for bulky storage/transport.
recent case mentioned of Conversion only having a board base in upper bed, Cali has sprung wooden slats.

T6 is in the process of being replaced by T6.1 facelift model and there are T6's to be had at a good discount.

Think it's fair to say that most Cali owners went through the conversion comparison route before deciding on a Cali original. Me included, but it's a personal choice.

 

[Elmo3]

If you can move now, there are great deals on the last of the T6’s before the pending 6.1. It’s all a compromise to some extent but a decent conversation will cost as much and simply won’t drive or work as well. Many cheaper conversions are based on the 5 speed 102 engine which is worlds away from a 6 speed or DSG 150. You can put a bumper to bumper 5 year VW warranty for very little cost on a new Cali, which to me at least is another huge advantage.

 

[DrJuanKerr]

... then there's depreciation. Cali's depreciate a lot less than conversions. They're the #1 in terms of lack of depreciation at the moment

 

[Ting Tong]

My sister recently bought a standard Cali ocean via autoebid for £53k including £1400 extras such as an awning. That price includes a £2500+vat loyalty discount because I own one. This isn’t available anymore but there is a similar deposit contribution if you take the finance (which can be cancelled afterwards).

Buy it now and enjoy it. Plus god knows what will happen to the price post Brexit.

 

[BeeBee]

All of the previous ... plus
We just purchased our Cali Ocean 4 months ago after looking at various conversions all of which were pretty good but not 'as good' as the Cali and not too different in price.
I would seriously recommend having a 'rear camera' as well as sensors, especially if you aren't used to driving slightly larger vehicles. You'll get lots of advise on other options on this site but lots of it is down to personal preference...we went for 150 DSG .
We had been considering it for a few years but knew we had to 'go for it'.... both retired plus our rescue black lab.
I have been doing most of the driving and my husband ( who now drives my Subaru Forrester) has only had a couple of drives and is OK with it but I'm a 'bad passenger' !
We have done just under 2000 miles since getting it in April....good luck with your research ...hope you find one

 

[highroad]

My sister recently bought a standard Cali ocean via autoebid for £53k including £1400 extras such as an awning. That price includes a £2500+vat loyalty discount because I own one. This isn’t available anymore but there is a similar deposit contribution if you take the finance (which can be cancelled afterwards).

Buy it now and enjoy it. Plus god knows what will happen to the price post Brexit.

I was going to recommend autoebid because (i) it shows you discounts without calling around, and (ii) unlike the VW configurator, it actually seems to work!

I'm not seeing anything on the VW website about a deposit contribution for finance. Have you seen it recently liaoyang? How does that work -- one asks for financing, gets VW to contribute to the deposit, but then you pay it off right away so you don't have to pay the interest? Is it an 'open' loan so to speak? Thanks for any advice on this.

 

[highroad]

sorry, a quick follow up. I was only looking at hire purchase. For "Solutions PCP" and "10 year hire purchase" there is a £2750 deposit contribution. That would be a huge additional discount if one could somehow get it without actually having to use the financing!

 

[Scanacali]

I was going to recommend autoebid because (i) it shows you discounts without calling around, and (ii) unlike the VW configurator, it actually seems to work!

I'm not seeing anything on the VW website about a deposit contribution for finance. Have you seen it recently liaoyang? How does that work -- one asks for financing, gets VW to contribute to the deposit, but then you pay it off right away so you don't have to pay the interest? Is it an 'open' loan so to speak? Thanks for any advice on this.

Current offers are not shown on the VW website. The dealer has them on a sheet showing the offers available from VW for each type of commercial vehicle.
Current offers for a VW California are :
A Volkswagen contribution of £2250 + 2 free services for a cash purchase.
or
A Volkswagen contribution of £2750 + 2 free services if bought on either PCP or HP.
Then you also have the dealer discount payable by the dealership that you negotiate direct with the dealer to add to the discount price above.
So quite a bit of discount available at the moment on a new Cali.
I think the Autoebid price factors in the VW contribution when it quotes you a price.

 

[Ting Tong]

No autoebid doesn’t factor in any extra finance or loyalty discounts and you have to proceed with the order and then wait for them to call you: they’ll then revise the offer after they’ve spoken to the supplying dealer (vw vans Liverpool), with whom you’ll eventually place the order. You could just call James at Liverpool first to see what they’ll do direct and clarify the finance offer. The price includes delivery to your door but you’ll have to collect if you want a salesman handover with a demo how it all works.

 

[highroad]

Thanks Scanacali. That makes a huge difference. It's crazy that I've been talking to a couple of dealers and neither have mentioned either of these.

Am I right to understand that the cash purchase contribution from VW is only on a new vehicle, whereas the contribution that comes with using PCP or HP is new or used (that looks to be the case on the VW website).

thanks again!

 

[MattBW]

Most conversions also use the weak 102ps engine too.

Plus with the current DVLA issues of changing use to motor caravan, you may find a new conversion will show as a van on the V5 restricting you to 60 on dual carriageways.

 

[Bill R]

If buying new as we did, I had a great piece of advice on this forum.
Dealers have “demonstrators” which they have from VW cheaper and sell on at great discount because they have been used for people to look round and test drive, BUT most of them have demonstrator stock that have not been used for this and we had a huge discount on the online configurator price of just over 15%, it just depends on the spec of a particular van being to your liking but it seems they are generally highly specced.
Also as Autoebid have been mentioned and some people are wary of online purchasing - I purchased a new car through them happily and successfully 3 years ago.
You won’t regret buying a Cali for sure

 

[Scanacali]

Thanks Scanacali. That makes a huge difference. It's crazy that I've been talking to a couple of dealers and neither have mentioned either of these.

Am I right to understand that the cash purchase contribution from VW is only on a new vehicle, whereas the contribution that comes with using PCP or HP is new or used (that looks to be the case on the VW website).

thanks again!

You will have to check that with the dealers, as I was after a new vehicle, so did not ask if those offers were available on used/pre registered stock.

 

[Resfeber]

Check the VW Commercial site for available nearly new Oceans ( although not many at this time)

Used Volkswagen California Vans for Sale | VWCV

used.volkswagen-vans.co.uk

Best price is this Cali Ocean 150 DSG with 9 miles at £52991 (Gross Non vat qualifying) from Liverpool van centre.
Has reversing camera and heated front screen plus sat nav (good spec).
Also finance options.
Not connected with Liv van centre but purchased similar spec vehicle in Feb for £52 and 7000 miles from Robinson’s Norfolk.
Cannot fault dealer prep of these vehicles and balance of warranty and extended guarantee and service packs available and negotiable.

 

[Resfeber]

Sorry last link was faulty the below takes you to the vehicle

Used Volkswagen Vans | Details - - : Volkswagen UK

used.volkswagen-vans.co.uk

 

[Elmo3]

Sorry last link was faulty the below takes you to the vehicle

Used Volkswagen Vans | Details - - : Volkswagen UK

used.volkswagen-vans.co.uk

Best to call as their stock changes so quickly...

 

[Resfeber]

Best to call as their stock changes so quickly...

Just wanted to show that nearly new options are available to them and my experience was just as good as new vehicle.
Enjoy the search for your Cali
Also cannot praise DSG enough once you are used to it (I trained on an Audi Q3 SLine plus for 3 years ) Let’s you concentrate on manoeuvring particularly on some of your Devon & Cornwall roads.
I drive a manual vehicle for work and the only issue is forgetting to put the clutch in at the occasional junction.

 

[2into1]

Sorry last link was faulty the below takes you to the vehicle

Used Volkswagen Vans | Details - - : Volkswagen UK

used.volkswagen-vans.co.uk

There are several good deals at Liverpool, like the one linked here. There is a 9 mile Apr 19 manual for under £50k, which seems cheap. What is difficult to understand is why their claimed savings are low. What are they measuring that against?.... Last weeks price perhaps... Savings seem too small to be measured against list price.

Do be aware that the chance to extend the factory warranty to 5 years may have passed on an Apr 19....the window to add that is very brief, and don't fall for the 'you can buy an extension after 3 years' line, as that is a very different product.

 

[TripleBee]

First rent one if you are not sure yet.

Then: Just do it!