First trip out in our new toy

[Superfly]

Hi
Collected our van last Saturday and went down to Newquay for a 3 night stay at Hendra. Great first impressions of the van, which was a huge relief as there are 4 of us including a baby!. Can't fault the 204 dsg and AAC, plenty of go when you need it and effortless to drive, would recommend this setup to anyone. (Was tempted to do the A30 speed test but thought I had better behave myself)
I'd like to thank everyone who has posted on this site for making things a bit easier for us newbies and hope to see you in the new year for the club meets.


So in time honoured tradition here is the "SHOW OFF LIST AND PICTURES"
T6
204
4motion
DSG
Removable tow bar
Bike rack
Discover media stereo
Rear shower
Xenon headlights
Can't get a set of seat covers for all the tea in china

 

[WelshGas]

Hi
Collected our van last Saturday and went down to Newquay for a 3 night stay at Hendra. Great first impressions of the van, which was a huge relief as there are 4 of us including a baby!. Can't fault the 204 dsg and AAC, plenty of go when you need it and effortless to drive, would recommend this setup to anyone. (Was tempted to do the A30 speed test but thought I had better behave myself)
I'd like to thank everyone who has posted on this site for making things a bit easier for us newbies and hope to see you in the new year for the club meets.


So in time honoured tradition here is the "SHOW OFF LIST AND PICTURES"
T6
204
4motion
DSG
Removable tow bar
Bike rack
Discover media stereo
Rear shower
Xenon headlights
Can't get a set of seat covers for all the tea in china
View attachment 17367 View attachment 17368 View attachment 17369

Is that your awning?

 

[Superfly]

its my old tent, works a treat, i have a Oxygen 3 drive away for the longer trips

 

[WelshGas]

its my old tent, works a treat, i have a Oxygen 3 drive away for the longer trips

Excellent. As long as some short sighted Campsite owner doesn't get confused and charge for 2 vehicles.

 

[Days out]

Congratulations! Bet that shower came in handy to wash the sand of your baby's feet.

Seat covers are a must with kids. I as luck that I bought a set on eBay a few weeks before my van arrived and paid a small fortune for them. They are for a T5 - but fit a treat except the front headrests because the T6 has taller ones. So I'm all protected apart from the front headrests but hey there is no chance they will get messy ... Guess where the only place my son wiped his yogurt covered hands on was then?

 

[Lewis]

Can't get a set of seat covers for all the tea in china

vwcampershop.nl have Brandrup Second Skin seat covers in stock. Delivery within 72hrs. Pricey but very high quality and original fabrics means you get to retain the original look.

Great looking Cali by the way!

 

[Superfly]

Thanks Days out. The rear shower was indeed very useful as my children are like untrained dogs at this current point of their lives. I just hope the interior and my nerves can take the 6-8 week wait time from inka.

 

[Superfly]

Hi Lewis. If i start buying things from Brandrup I will no longer be alive as i have sold most of my body parts to get the van. I am however contemplating medical trials so I can afford the brandrup spice rack!

 

[Days out]

Hi Lewis. If i start buying things from Brandrup I will no longer be alive as i have sold most of my body parts to get the van. I am however contemplating medical trials so I can afford the brandrup spice rack!

I'm sure you can keep your kidneys and make a spice rack with two coat hangers a toilet roll and some sticky back plastic. By the way what do you actually use spices for?

 

[Days out]

Thanks Days out. The rear shower was indeed very useful as my children are like untrained dogs at this current point of their lives. I just hope the interior and my nerves can take the 6-8 week wait time from inka.

You won't. They will find a way to destroy it before the covers come. Accept that it will never look like it did when you picked it up from VW.

I fitted mine before my children were within a mile of looking at my new van.

My son at the age of 2 annihilated my bedroom carpet by burying a hairdryer into the pile and burning "pretty circles" into the middle of it before carefully un-plugging said hairdryer and putting it back. Needless to say I wasn't particularly happy. But every cloud has a silver lining. I have cut out and kept the damaged piece to present to him on his 21st birthday and the I've use some of the remaining carpet to carpet the boot and cabin of the California to reduce damage to that floor by him.

Interestingly he has already stood on a tomato ketchup sachet and made an nice red streak straight between the front seats so thank the lord that I had the foresight to use the bedroom carpet to protect the Cali! Still love him to bits though!!!

 

[Superfly]

Thanks Days Out again for making my nightmares a reality! Im getting the feeling new cali ownership plus children is a bitter sweet pill that i will have to live with. Glad i done it though, its nice to have them out the house and enjoying the silly things in life and not burning holes in my carpet. i guess like your kids, you can't wrap your cali in cotton wool......or can you?

 

[Days out]

Thanks Days Out again for making my nightmares a reality! Im getting the feeling new cali ownership plus children is a bitter sweet pill that i will have to live with. Glad i done it though, its nice to have them out the house and enjoying the silly things in life and not burning holes in my carpet. i guess like your kids, you can't wrap your cali in cotton wool......or can you?

Ha ha! All I will say is that since we've had our Cali we have had more quality family time together away from the tele. Little weekends away even one night stays where we wake up and have a new view from our "bedroom" window!

Can you imagine one morning looking out over this lake view the next the seaside!

 

[Smiffy4bikes]

Great photos DO

Having any kind of camper is all about memories, and if you have kids then being precious about the family camper is utterly pointless!! Like you, I speak from experience... bless 'em!! Baby wipes are amazing for cleaning up all sorts.

I take the view that every mark or blemish is a reminder of a great day out, in my experience having a 'show and shine' camper or bus is so stressful it's not worth the pain. I reckon those 'ratty bus' owners have got it right!

Oh, and SF, great looking Cali, and, top tip of the day for getting sand off the kids feet, talcum powder. Sprinkle it on their feet, it absorbs all the sand and moisture and simply falls off

 

[Days out]

Great photos DO

Having any kind of camper is all about memories, and if you have kids then being precious about the family camper is utterly pointless!! Like you, I speak from experience... bless 'em!! Baby wipes are amazing for cleaning up all sorts.

I take the view that every mark or blemish is a reminder of a great day out, in my experience having a 'show and shine' camper or bus is so stressful it's not worth the pain. I reckon those 'ratty bus' owners have got it right!

Oh, and SF, great looking Cali, and, top tip of the day for getting sand off the kids feet, talcum powder. Sprinkle it on their feet, it absorbs all the sand and moisture and simply falls off

Having said that kids have a habit of making food prints on the seats, this weekend I took the seat covers off and gave them a wash. (I even took the front headrests original covers off because the Brandrup ones I got on eBay fitted everywhere apart from the front headrests) the van is back to new again. Plus a quick clean to the oryx white and hey presto back to show bus again.

 

[larrylamb]

Thanks Days out. The rear shower was indeed very useful as my children are like untrained dogs at this current point of their lives. I just hope the interior and my nerves can take the 6-8 week wait time from inka.

We use cheap ikea fleecy blankets to cover seats etc and makes it cosy.

 

[Superfly]

hi smiffy hope your wallet is ready for the 204. its taken me back to when i had 3.0 petrol a4 quattro on the fuel consumption, God its poor mpg but goes well for a kitchen on wheels maybe I'm out of touch having had a fuel card for so long and I'm just adjusting to caring what the cost is after every fill.
Get the rose tinted specs out again a?

 

[Smiffy4bikes]

hi smiffy hope your wallet is ready for the 204. its taken me back to when i had 3.0 petrol a4 quattro on the fuel consumption, God its poor mpg but goes well for a kitchen on wheels maybe I'm out of touch having had a fuel card for so long and I'm just adjusting to caring what the cost is after every fill.
Get the rose tinted specs out again a?

I'm used to air-cooled dubs that do 20-25mpg, if you're lucky !! And, I had a 2ltr petrol Mazda Bongo for a while that wasn't much better either, so I'm hoping that the 204 will be better than that lot!