California Reliability

[Dave Wickham]

I have a 2018 VW Cali Ocean. When I bought it I joined this forum, thought it would be a good idea. In the intervening years I have a learnt a lot (thanks for that). However there seem a lot of threads about 'problems' with Cali's - the T5, the T6, and quite a lot about the T6.1. My Cali has had some minor problems - a leaking rear brake light in the rear tail gate (when camping), a broken window latch on the sliding door window, a slow drive shaft oil leak - all repaired. The oil leak could happen on any vehicle - yes the other 2 just perhaps 'typical' to a camper van. Given that a camper van has more 'non-mechanical' components that can go wrong I am surprised at the number of threads that indicate some more serious problems. I get the impression that VW quality is very variable or that some problems reported are a bit exaggerated! If an alien landed on earth looking to buy a Cali and he/she (it) read some of the posts I guess they would not want to buy one. Not my experience overall. I have had cars that have given more headaches which don't have a bed, a fridge, cooker or elevating roof.

 

[sidepod]

I have a 2018 VW Cali Ocean. When I bought it I joined this forum, thought it would be a good idea. In the intervening years I have a learnt a lot (thanks for that). However there seem a lot of threads about 'problems' with Cali's - the T5, the T6, and quite a lot about the T6.1. My Cali has had some minor problems - a leaking rear brake light in the rear tail gate (when camping), a broken window latch on the sliding door window, a slow drive shaft oil leak - all repaired. The oil leak could happen on any vehicle - yes the other 2 just perhaps 'typical' to a camper van. Given that a camper van has more 'non-mechanical' components that can go wrong I am surprised at the number of threads that indicate some more serious problems. I get the impression that VW quality is very variable or that some problems reported are a bit exaggerated! If an alien landed on earth looking to buy a Cali and he/she (it) read some of the posts I guess they would not want to buy one. Not my experience overall. I have had cars that have given more headaches which don't have a bed, a fridge, cooker or elevating roof.

You’ll only ever read doom on-line. Large number of issues are user generated. The number of people posting on here is minuscule compared to the number of vans out there.

 

[TripleBee]

Reliable?
3,5 years old, first problem: EGR.
A bit later: temperature sensor in the DPF.
A few years later: broken drive shaft.

And some minor issues: lock in the sliding door, leaky 3rd brake light, electric foldable mirrors.
And of course the corrosion.

But for driving: very reliable.
There was only 1 occasion I physically couldn't drive the van anymore: broken driveshaft. All the other problems were more just a little hiccup.

Oh, and today it's 14 years old, with not yet 198000 km (123000 mi) on the clock.

And because of where I live, near the North Sea, I'm having some rust issues on the underside I am planning to tackle.

 

[ALEXT6.1]

in my opinion - the t5 with 2.0 caac ea189 engine is very reliable. It can do 1.000.000 kilometers without problems with engine. But I can’t say this about newer ea288 engines.

 

[TripleBee]

in my opinion - the t5 with 2.0 caac ea189 engine is very reliable. It can do 1.000.000 kilometers without problems with engine. But I can’t say this about newer ea288 engines.

My CCHA engine is from the first batch of engines in the T5.1. Only produced in 2009 and 2010. It's the 140hp, manual.

 

[Pegsinho]

You’ll only ever read doom on-line. Large number of issues are user generated. The number of people posting on here is minuscule compared to the number of vans out there.

And you also have to consider the number of people drawn to a specific car forum seeking a solution to a problem vs. just coming to say how trouble free their car is must skew the picture somewhat!