Ford Nugget review

[Camperfamily]

One thing I’ve been wondering is whether the water heater in the Nugget gets in the way (when the bench is in sleep mode). It looks like it would be where your feet are supposed to be. Wife and I are both around 6ft, so wondering whether this would be an issue for us.

I’m not sure we want a water heater but it doesn’t seem that the Nugget Plus can specced without it from my initial scanning of the brochure.

 

[Kemper-van]

One thing I’ve been wondering is whether the water heater in the Nugget gets in the way (when the bench is in sleep mode). It looks like it would be where your feet are supposed to be. Wife and I are both around 6ft, so wondering whether this would be an issue for us.

I’m not sure we want a water heater but it doesn’t seem that the Nugget Plus can specced without it from my initial scanning of the brochure.

I don‘t have the boiler fitted, didn’t really miss it so far, and it is a fairly expensive option in BE. I do know it’s located where your feet are when sleeping. Also note that the lower bed is approx 1m90 in length, not sure how tall 6ft is in cm…

 

[Corradobrit]

I don‘t have the boiler fitted, didn’t really miss it so far, and it is a fairly expensive option in BE. I do know it’s located where your feet are when sleeping. Also note that the lower bed is approx 1m90 in length, not sure how tall 6ft is in cm…

About 1m 83

 

[PaulBastowski]

About 1m 83

Not sure if you’re still looking to buy, as this is an older post. We have recently purchased the Nugget Plus and I can tell you that the bottom seat can take people up to 2.25 meters in length, because you can use the front seat to lay your head on. So, even with the water heater installed it will not be a problem.

I agree that the VW seems more refined, with its magical built in curtains and electric roof, but I can’t fault the driving ability of the ford atm. And I won’t have to go through the stress of the electric roof failing on us during holidays again .

 

[Corradobrit]

Not sure if you’re still looking to buy, as this is an older post. We have recently purchased the Nugget Plus and I can tell you that the bottom seat can take people up to 2.25 meters in length, because you can use the front seat to lay your head on. So, even with the water heater installed it will not be a problem.

I agree that the VW seems more refined, with its magical built in curtains and electric roof, but I can’t fault the driving ability of the ford atm. And I won’t have to go through the stress of the electric roof failing on us during holidays again .

Sounds like you want a Coast. I bought one exactly because it has a manual roof.

 

[Craig Gilbert]

We recently traded-in our 2013 Cali SE, and I promised to post a review of the Ford Nugget we've bought to replace it. I appreciate this is a Cali owners forum, so everyone is sold on the idea of a Cali, I'm not trying to persuade anyone to follow suit, I just thought it'd be useful info.

It's worth noting the context of our situation, we're a family of five, with kids of 12,10 and 7. Our Cali was a well used, ex-hire, 2013 model and we had to use the 5th seat for travel (and then take it out again to camp or use the van for anything other than travelling).

We only spent the one night in the Nugget, just to make sure all was well ahead of our summer holiday. I've set out below the pros and cons, plus other thoughts.

Pros
- The Westfalia parts of the van feel very well put together, I'm no longer worried the kids will kick all the doors in (we had to replace a couple of doors in the Cali for this reason). I'd question whether white is a practical colour for the units though.
- Not having to remove the 5th seat is a game changer. Not only is that a major faff, it robs all the space inside when it's there
- Having three access points (tailgate, and side doors each side) opens the van right up when camping and is really practical with the kids when using it as a car
- I was able to make dinner in the kitchen while my wife played board games with the kids on the table. That will be so much more convenient on cold/rainy days than sending the kids into the roof.
- The roof bed is much wider than the Cali, so we can use that for all three kids quite comfortably. In the Cali we were putting two kids downstairs, one across the front seats and us upstairs. That meant carrying a KFoam cab mattress, which took up a lot of boot space.
- All bedding (for five) goes in a hatch behind the rear seats, all camping extras go under the seats (about 2x the size of the Cali underseat storage), and there is a cupboard for the Porta Potti. So the boot area remains free to start camping as soon as we arrive. For our summer trip I'll use that space for 2x inflatable kayaks and the SUP.
- There is a nice deep cupboard for five fold up Decathlon chairs. You get two Westfalia chairs with the van, but they are massive and there is nowhere obvious for them. Whilst we had the 2x VW chairs in the Cali tailgate, three more chairs in the Cali boot took up yet more space.
- It has an electric hot water boiler. I didn't think we'd need it, but actually being able to wash up in hot water in a decent sized sink was good and saved a trip to the washing up area. Now if I could only figure out how to turn the boiler off.
- Being 7 years newer, it feels more modern and has an auto gearbox to make things more relaxing.

Cons
- The Ford part of the van feels a bit more functional. It's more plasticky than the Cali, which may actually wear better, but is less plush.
- There is less kitchen storage. On the Cali we had one shelf for plates, one for pots, and then two for food. On the Nugget we have one shelf for plates, another for pots, a tall and thin cupboard (which would take about 4x wine bottle and some sauce bottles) and then a half shelf for food (think 10 cans of beans).
- The swivel seats don't lock into position facing backwards. It's annoying that they move around.
- The table is stored behind the rear seats, the table leg under the seats. That's more faff than the Cali, but actually to get the table up in the Cali we had to remove the 5th seat, so the Nugget wins
- We carry a roof box and single bike rack on the roof (and then four bikes on the back). We had the electric roof on the cali and that stayed up fine once we'd removed the bike and most of the weight out the roof box. The Nugget roof drops a bit with the weight of the empty roof box and bike rack. The actual roof does lock into position, so there is no fear of it coming down, but without the weight it sits about 5cm higher than the stopper on the locking mechanism.
- Having to put a towbar bike rack on is less convenient than folding down the VW rack on the tailgate
- I miss the waves from other Cali owners. Although I did have a roofer admire the van the other day, he also had a Transit.
- The Nugget name. Seriously, who thought of that?

In terms of cost, we paid £60k for the Nugget which was 17 months old and has 7,500 miles on the clock. We got £30k trade-in on the Cali, the same as I paid for it in November 2019. The Ford dealer in Christchurch had the Cali up for £38k, but it's been sat there for 2 months and is now down to £36k. £60k feels a lot for a Transit, but it's going to work much better for us, which is really down to the size of our family and the way we'll use it.

I can't see the Nugget catching on in the same way as the California, but I had a courtesy call from the Ford dealer last week and he told me they've taken lots of orders, but also lot of people were being put off by the 12 month wait. I'm still hopeful of seeing another on the road at some point.

Any questions, just let me know!

View attachment 95879

View attachment 95880

We, bought our cali from the Ford garage in Christchurch, they had the nugget and the nugget plus,

We recently traded-in our 2013 Cali SE, and I promised to post a review of the Ford Nugget we've bought to replace it. I appreciate this is a Cali owners forum, so everyone is sold on the idea of a Cali, I'm not trying to persuade anyone to follow suit, I just thought it'd be useful info.

It's worth noting the context of our situation, we're a family of five, with kids of 12,10 and 7. Our Cali was a well used, ex-hire, 2013 model and we had to use the 5th seat for travel (and then take it out again to camp or use the van for anything other than travelling).

We only spent the one night in the Nugget, just to make sure all was well ahead of our summer holiday. I've set out below the pros and cons, plus other thoughts.

Pros
- The Westfalia parts of the van feel very well put together, I'm no longer worried the kids will kick all the doors in (we had to replace a couple of doors in the Cali for this reason). I'd question whether white is a practical colour for the units though.
- Not having to remove the 5th seat is a game changer. Not only is that a major faff, it robs all the space inside when it's there
- Having three access points (tailgate, and side doors each side) opens the van right up when camping and is really practical with the kids when using it as a car
- I was able to make dinner in the kitchen while my wife played board games with the kids on the table. That will be so much more convenient on cold/rainy days than sending the kids into the roof.
- The roof bed is much wider than the Cali, so we can use that for all three kids quite comfortably. In the Cali we were putting two kids downstairs, one across the front seats and us upstairs. That meant carrying a KFoam cab mattress, which took up a lot of boot space.
- All bedding (for five) goes in a hatch behind the rear seats, all camping extras go under the seats (about 2x the size of the Cali underseat storage), and there is a cupboard for the Porta Potti. So the boot area remains free to start camping as soon as we arrive. For our summer trip I'll use that space for 2x inflatable kayaks and the SUP.
- There is a nice deep cupboard for five fold up Decathlon chairs. You get two Westfalia chairs with the van, but they are massive and there is nowhere obvious for them. Whilst we had the 2x VW chairs in the Cali tailgate, three more chairs in the Cali boot took up yet more space.
- It has an electric hot water boiler. I didn't think we'd need it, but actually being able to wash up in hot water in a decent sized sink was good and saved a trip to the washing up area. Now if I could only figure out how to turn the boiler off.
- Being 7 years newer, it feels more modern and has an auto gearbox to make things more relaxing.

Cons
- The Ford part of the van feels a bit more functional. It's more plasticky than the Cali, which may actually wear better, but is less plush.
- There is less kitchen storage. On the Cali we had one shelf for plates, one for pots, and then two for food. On the Nugget we have one shelf for plates, another for pots, a tall and thin cupboard (which would take about 4x wine bottle and some sauce bottles) and then a half shelf for food (think 10 cans of beans).
- The swivel seats don't lock into position facing backwards. It's annoying that they move around.
- The table is stored behind the rear seats, the table leg under the seats. That's more faff than the Cali, but actually to get the table up in the Cali we had to remove the 5th seat, so the Nugget wins
- We carry a roof box and single bike rack on the roof (and then four bikes on the back). We had the electric roof on the cali and that stayed up fine once we'd removed the bike and most of the weight out the roof box. The Nugget roof drops a bit with the weight of the empty roof box and bike rack. The actual roof does lock into position, so there is no fear of it coming down, but without the weight it sits about 5cm higher than the stopper on the locking mechanism.
- Having to put a towbar bike rack on is less convenient than folding down the VW rack on the tailgate
- I miss the waves from other Cali owners. Although I did have a roofer admire the van the other day, he also had a Transit.
- The Nugget name. Seriously, who thought of that?

In terms of cost, we paid £60k for the Nugget which was 17 months old and has 7,500 miles on the clock. We got £30k trade-in on the Cali, the same as I paid for it in November 2019. The Ford dealer in Christchurch had the Cali up for £38k, but it's been sat there for 2 months and is now down to £36k. £60k feels a lot for a Transit, but it's going to work much better for us, which is really down to the size of our family and the way we'll use it.

I can't see the Nugget catching on in the same way as the California, but I had a courtesy call from the Ford dealer last week and he told me they've taken lots of orders, but also lot of people were being put off by the 12 month wait. I'm still hopeful of seeing another on the road at some point.

Any questions, just let me know!

View attachment 95879

View attachment 95880

We bought our Cali from the Ford dealership in Christchurch and we did check out the Nugget and the Nugget plus but for us the Cali was just too good looking and after a test drive we were smitten, having said that there's only the 2 of us and the dog, so with the seat pushed right back the dog gets a nice space.

 

[Campingrookie]

I’ve found this thread really helpful, thanks to those that have contributed with their experiences of the Nugget.

I’ve got three children and we’re lucky to have a T6 Beach but it’s not working that well for us. We seem to have been unlucky with lots of rainy camping!

So I’ve been looking for alternatives that would tick more boxes for us, and the nugget seems to do that from the research I’ve done, albeit it does have flaws. The new 2024 Nugget looks really nice, I’ll be taking a look at that when it comes out although I think I’d find it hard to sell the Beach in reality!

 

[DevillBelgium]

I’ve found this thread really helpful, thanks to those that have contributed with their experiences of the Nugget.

I’ve got three children and we’re lucky to have a T6 Beach but it’s not working that well for us. We seem to have been unlucky with lots of rainy camping!

So I’ve been looking for alternatives that would tick more boxes for us, and the nugget seems to do that from the research I’ve done, albeit it does have flaws. The new 2024 Nugget looks really nice, I’ll be taking a look at that when it comes out although I think I’d find it hard to sell the Beach in reality!

I know what you are going through.
We are in a similar situation. Only options now is that I am looking around on the market en testing/Renting out the possible options.
I love the Cali and I realy want one. But it is missing some tiny things we can sort out, but the wife sees the differently then me. In the the decision has to be an agrement of the both of us and not just me.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

I’ve found this thread really helpful, thanks to those that have contributed with their experiences of the Nugget.

I’ve got three children and we’re lucky to have a T6 Beach but it’s not working that well for us. We seem to have been unlucky with lots of rainy camping!

So I’ve been looking for alternatives that would tick more boxes for us, and the nugget seems to do that from the research I’ve done, albeit it does have flaws. The new 2024 Nugget looks really nice, I’ll be taking a look at that when it comes out although I think I’d find it hard to sell the Beach in reality!

A friend of ours has 3 kids and the current LWB Nugget. Works well for them as gives a lot of storage in the boot when combined with stacking eurocrates. The double sliders also makes things a bit easier when you have a lot of bodies + possible to have a fixed awning on one side and still have the roller on the other.

The only gripe that they have is that spinning the seats / dropping the downstairs bed can initially be a faff…but can’t be much different to spinning the drivers seat on a Cali without catching the door trim / handbrake!

(The 2024 Nugget only has one slider, but gains the stowed table & camping chairs)

 

[danvan]

A friend of ours has 3 kids and the current LWB Nugget. Works well for them as gives a lot of storage in the boot when combined with stacking eurocrates. The double sliders also makes things a bit easier when you have a lot of bodies + possible to have a fixed awning on one side and still have the roller on the other.

The only gripe that they have is that spinning the seats / dropping the downstairs bed can initially be a faff…but can’t be much different to spinning the drivers seat on a Cali without catching the door trim / handbrake!

(The 2024 Nugget only has one slider, but gains the stowed table & camping chairs)

The current LHD Nugget has one slider and stowed table, whereas the RHD gets twin sliders and a separate table. Not sure if this will continue with the 2024 version. When we bought ours most of the photos in the brochure and online were of the LHD version, so we weren't entirely sure whether we'd get one with twin sliders.

 

[Kemper-van]

The current LHD Nugget has one slider and stowed table, whereas the RHD gets twin sliders and a separate table. Not sure if this will continue with the 2024 version. When we bought ours most of the photos in the brochure and online were of the LHD version, so we weren't entirely sure whether we'd get one with twin sliders.

LHD twin sliders existed as well in the (now discontinued version): it used to be the Trail version.

Sleeping arrangements with 3 growing kids are the biggest challenge: nothing beats the Beach’s 3 seater bench for sleeping 3 kids. The Nugget bench is just a bit too narrow. If I could find a solution to extend the width of the Bench for sleeping only, that would be great!

 

[Corradobrit]

Any one considering buying a Ford Nugget/Westfalia should check out CaliCamperFamily and their experience with a Ford Commercial main dealer in Italy refusing to work on a problem in the habitation area. Westfalia were equally unhelpful which leaves the owner in no mans land and caught between the two companies waiting for timely warranty work.

 

[Bobby D]

Yes, as with anything non factory you are best to find out where each dealership is local to you. Ford really need to start integration into van centres...they've been selling nuggets for donkeys years

 

[danvan]

LHD twin sliders existed as well in the (now discontinued version): it used to be the Trail version.

Sleeping arrangements with 3 growing kids are the biggest challenge: nothing beats the Beach’s 3 seater bench for sleeping 3 kids. The Nugget bench is just a bit too narrow. If I could find a solution to extend the width of the Bench for sleeping only, that would be great!

We use the Nugget's top bed for the kids. It is 140cm wide, so slightly narrower than the downstairs Beach bed, but it is an improvement on the downstairs SE bed they all used to sleep on.

I don't think we've got many more years left with a campervan though, in about 2 years two of my kids will be full-sized, so we won't squeeze them all in. And the issue you run into with a family of 5 isn't the sleeping arrangements with a bigger van, it's having 5 seats. Everything has 4 (presumably it's a weight thing)

 

[danvan]

Any one considering buying a Ford Nugget/Westfalia should check out CaliCamperFamily and their experience with a Ford Commercial main dealer in Italy refusing to work on a problem in the habitation area. Westfalia were equally unhelpful which leaves the owner in no mans land and caught between the two companies waiting for timely warranty work.

We have a similar issue with Ford/Westfalia: we've split the roof fabric. Westfalia will send us a new one, Ford won't fit it.

 

[Jimmylondon07]

We use the Nugget's top bed for the kids. It is 140cm wide, so slightly narrower than the downstairs Beach bed, but it is an improvement on the downstairs SE bed they all used to sleep on.

I don't think we've got many more years left with a campervan though, in about 2 years two of my kids will be full-sized, so we won't squeeze them all in. And the issue you run into with a family of 5 isn't the sleeping arrangements with a bigger van, it's having 5 seats. Everything has 4 (presumably it's a weight thing)

Saw a van at the NEC called the Dreamer Family which was a crack at a 5 seat campervan. Thought it was quite an interesting concept.

 

[Azteccamper]

We have a similar issue with Ford/Westfalia: we've split the roof fabric. Westfalia will send us a new one, Ford won't fit it.

Had this conversation at the NEC about a Ford Westfalia Kelsey. Two separate warranties and the two don’t mix. Crazy for a £70k vehicle.

 

[Corradobrit]

Had this conversation at the NEC about a Ford Westfalia Kelsey. Two separate warranties and the two don’t mix. Crazy for a £70k vehicle.

Thats a deal breaker IMO. If Ford sell a vehicle from their official dealerships they must warranty and service the entire package. I'm curious how the Ford/VW Campervan support would be handled.

 

[Campingrookie]

Thats a deal breaker IMO. If Ford sell a vehicle from their official dealerships they must warranty and service the entire package. I'm curious how the Ford/VW Campervan support would be handled.

I totally agree with this. To be honest the video of the 24 nugget on YouTube really got my interest so I did a lot of research to the point I was an open door.

I then went onto the Ford website, looked for nugget dealers which led me to an average looking word document converted to a pdf listing nugget dealers (I was expecting an interactive map showing how far away they were etc).

I then clicked on the configurator which took me to commercial vans with no mention of the nugget.

All of this led me to think if they can’t get the front end right what’s the back end like…

 

[Bobby D]

Yes the new Nugget looks like a massive Cali Killer, but if Ford don't warrant the parts that They are selling (no matter what the badge on it says..Westfalia etc) then they will lose potential customers. Such a shame because that Van and layout have so many plus points over the New Cali prototype.

 

[danvan]

Had this conversation at the NEC about a Ford Westfalia Kelsey. Two separate warranties and the two don’t mix. Crazy for a £70k vehicle.

That's a slightly different issue: the Kelsey is a Westfalia conversion of a Ford vehicle (like, say, their Club Joker conversion of a VW van). You'd run into that issue with any conversion.

The Nugget is a Ford Campervan, sold directly by Ford, but where the conversion to a camper is outsourced to Westfalia (like the Mercedes Marco Polo). So you shouldn't run into this issue as Ford should deal with all issues.

 

[Corradobrit]

Such a shame because that Van and layout have so many plus points over the New Cali prototype.

Different target markets. The new Cali Prototype is aimed at empty nesters and young couples or singles looking for a nice habitation package. It's too small to accommodate 2 adults and 2 kids comfortably and the storage is totally inadequate.

 

[danvan]

Yes the new Nugget looks like a massive Cali Killer, but if Ford don't warrant the parts that They are selling (no matter what the badge on it says..Westfalia etc) then they will lose potential customers. Such a shame because that Van and layout have so many plus points over the New Cali prototype.

From what I can see having tried to get camping parts fixed on our Nugget:

- Westfalia are reasonably helpful when they receive queries from Ford dealers. But there is a limit to what they can do as they have just the one factory in Germany.

- For any camping related issue, Westfalia will issue instructions to the Ford dealer on how to fix it.

- Ford dealers have zero experience in fixing camping issues. For warranty type problems they do seem willing to try to sort the problem once they've received guidance from Westfalia. As with this type of situation, you only see comments from owners when these things go wrong.

- Where you struggle with the dealers is if you break something, or need an out of warranty fix. Our ripped roof is an example. Ford can source us a roof fabric from Westfalia, but aren't willing to fit it.

I watched the recent Cali Camper Family video. That was a camping issue that they tried to get sorted at a Transit centre which wasn't a Nugget dealer. As expected, the Transit dealer refused to work on the camping side.

 

[Kemper-van]

- Ford dealers have zero experience in fixing camping issues. For warranty type problems they do seem willing to try to sort the problem once they've received guidance from Westfalia. As with this type of situation, you only see comments from owners when these things go wrong.

- Where you struggle with the dealers is if you break something, or need an out of warranty fix. Our ripped roof is an example. Ford can source us a roof fabric from Westfalia, but aren't willing to fit it.

My experience with warranty fixes on the ford nugget is quite good. Our dealer in BE is one of the larger Nugget sellers in the country, and they know both car and camping side very well.
Had to have the roof replaced very early on due to leak in the roof rails, this was executee without any issue or problem. Idem for the the functioning of the fridge (software update + sensor).

 

[DevillBelgium]

My experience with warranty fixes on the ford nugget is quite good. Our dealer in BE is one of the larger Nugget sellers in the country, and they know both car and camping side very well.
Had to have the roof replaced very early on due to leak in the roof rails, this was executee without any issue or problem. Idem for the the functioning of the fridge (software update + sensor).

I see you are from belguim, and you had an Ford nugget?
Cause your profile states you now have a cali beach edition (wich looks realy nice).
May I ask who your dealer was and where he is situated?
Reason for me asking is I live int the same area, and the one close to me seems to be oblivious for the camper part.