First Impressions - California Beach

[Anonymous]

I popped into Listers Coverntry today, and stumbled into the Beach demonstrator which they had just got into the showroom.

Having looked on the internet when they were first announced I thought that they would be quite a bit more basic.
Having seen it in the flesh, I was really impressed with it.

Accepting that it is a more austere fit, the quality of all of the interior trim remains high.
It is not just a Kombi with door cards at all.

The manual roof seemed to pop up and down easily enough.
It was in the Candy Yellow and was fitted with the two-seat rear bench together with the storage box on the near side where the hob & sink would be on a full Cali.

It has certainly turned my head, I can say - accpeting that it isn't a full spec Cali.

Having joined the french forum, there is a seperate area for the Beach Boys, who seem to be pleased with it.

 

[Iain&Shani]

Yup, saw that when I was picking up mine. Looked pretty cool but ...... seemed neither one thing or another.

 

[jts46]

can you give me the address for the french forum?

 

[Anonymous]

Here it is John.

http://www.t5calif.info/forum/index.php

 

[Anonymous]

I went back for another look at the Beach at Listers Coventry today, this time taking the Lad with me.

He shot up into the upstairs bed in a flash.
The demo vehicle has the 2-seat rear bench seat with the padded storage box where the funiture is in the full Cali.
When the seats are folded flat the downstairs bed is huge, and more importantly for a broken down rugby front row like myself, wide .

I like the fact that the bench seat, the box and teh multi-flex baord can all be removed to give you Van-size carrying capacity If that is what you need.

Everything feels of high quality (as you would hope).

The Sunny Yellow colour is a grower. I was unsure at first sight, but I do think it is cheery and cool in it's own way. I would, however, fear that if you were parked in the right / wrong place you would be drowning in midges & black flies after a very short time.

The hard floor as opposed to carpets made a lot of sense to me in terms of keeping clean etc.

Having just gone through the option lists, if I was ordering one I would definitely go for the 3-seat rear bench ILO the 2-seat bench and storage box.

I can see how not carrying the water tanks over the rear N/S corner might change the feel of the handling compared to normal Cali.

Hmm...I am tempted.

 

[James]

i think the Beach is a wonderful idea however the the UK has always been resistant to these type of vans - since the 1980's when VW launched it's T3 multivans - which are in effect the same idea - they were never imported to the UK.

i notice on the Beach like it's big brother - the sliding door is on the wrong side, this doesn't both me but it does reveal it's LHD Multivan origins. For me having a practical van that I could camp in or go away for the odd night and still use it doing the week is perfect.

Can't deny the Beach is expensive for what it is. I looked at a lovely 2010 Velle specced to camp in and it was loaded with toys and still below 28k. You are paying for the Beach but I prepared to accept that.

James