ELECTRIC DOOR - WARNING!

[James]

if so that does seem a bit OTT...

quote]

Like the electric roof......? :lol:

Or big alloys?

James

 

[RobdeBear]

Or Xenons? ;-)

 

[James]

Or Xenons? ;-)

Absolutely but it's my choice and I wouldn't mock anyone else's choice or what they choose to do with their money.



If people want an electric side door I don't think it's ott or silly to pay for it. People can do what they like, everything else is just opinion.

I paid 30k+ for a bright yellow T5 with pop top - the ott started long before the xenons.

James

 

[RobdeBear]

Only kidding - I'd love to have Xenons, Seikel suspension, etc etc... I replaced my Disco II headlights (very poor) with Xenons and the improvement was dramatic. I'd have them on our Cali like a shot as an option but the standard lights aren't so bad that I'd swap them out - even if I could (I think you need a power headlamp washer if Xenons are retro fitted).

I actually find the power side door really handy (unless it closes on me - somedays it seems to have a mind of its own). With the power off the door is actually quite heavy and tricky to close.

For a slightly built owner who tends to wild camp or choose non-hookup sites I wouldn't recommend the power door after hearing the tales on here of strandings with flat main batteries. For those who tend to use posher sites with electricity I'd say it was no problem at all and a nice gizmo. Let's face it, we are all a little bit gadgety on here or else we wouldn't be Cali owners ;-)

Have a great weekend, everyone

 

[Freeley]

Hear hear! Nice to read a sensible view on the electric door for a change rather than the usual "Ott what a waste of money can't believe anyone would want one" posts which can be slightly insulting to those of us that have got one but hey ho..
They have their drawbacks but I love ours so why not live and let live?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[BerndRos]

NO........I wild camped for 15 months ...... 95% of the time......SO no hook up and never ever had a battery issue with the Cali either re the electric door, fridge or anything. It's all down to basic common sense.

 

[dannosail]

Electric door battery flattening is an issue but as long as you are not in and out like a jack in a box, it has not been a problem for us over a couple of days, anyway that is what the manual button is for - always use manual at night, you still have the 'lock assist' or whatever that is that pulls the door in tight.

Major benefit I see for the electric door is parking on hills, especially with kids in the back, saves all the risk of trapped fingers and not enought strength to shut the door :idea: - bought our Cali second hand and came with the electric door so nothing lost there.

On the radio front, in our 2006 model, if you turn the radio on without the ignition key in, it switches itself off after 30 minutes; using this a few times really should not suck the power out of your starting battery. If it does, yours might be on the way out.

 

[sidepod]

Nobody is having a pop at peoples personal preferences.

I always find it amusing that the marketing people get their way over the engineers.
Who in their right mind would design a vehicle with so much pointless electronics, levers and motors adding weight and maintenance issues if they weren't told to in order to sell them.

S.

 

[beardie]

Nobody is having a pop at peoples personal preferences.

I always find it amusing that the marketing people get their way over the engineers.
Who in their right mind would design a vehicle with so much pointless electronics, levers and motors adding weight and maintenance issues if they weren't told to in order to sell them.

S.

For the Cali it's probably 100% marketing thats picking options off the caravel and transporter list as all the engineering has already been done for the higher volume models.

I agree all the electrickry will come back to haunt users, not to mention that needed to keep the engine running.

Having said this there are a lot of engineers in Germany employed designing the clever stuff in originally. I expect they are quite happy