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Found my perfect Cali - but it does not exist...

CDinFrance

CDinFrance

Messages
93
Location
Prevessin, France
Vehicle
T6 Ocean 204
Well,

I am about 12 months into the "process" - you may have seen my posts about the Cali vs. Marco Polo.

After the third rental of a campervan this year, we have decided we really want one. As posted it is much more about the lifestyle than about the vehicle.

However, the war on diesel and my conscience (and peers) weigh heavily on me. After the third rental, I woke up one day and said "it is not about a Cali or a Marco Polo, it is about spending 70,000 Euros on a diesel, when hybrids or electrics are just around the corner.

So the petrol Cali was now an obvious choice.

Trouble is that the three rentals we tried this year were all DSG, and we really enjoyed that. We also decided that 150 HP is plenty for our non-hurried lifestyle (the one we will have soon)

Trouble is that VW does not make a 150HP petrol DSG...

So yesterday we tried a manual shift 150 TSI. Underwhelmed. (I also love the ACC to boot)

So here is the rub - 4 choices

1) go for the 150 TSI manual - after all we have been driving manual for 40,years.

2) forget the ecolo ideas and go for the 150 TDI DSG (like everybody else)

3) go to the 204 HP DSG model -
(VW specs say lower fuel consumption than the 150 HP manual - DOES ANYONE BELIEVE THIS???

4) Just go all the way (as our salesman reccommends) and get the 204HP TSI 4 Motion - he says at 204 HP, 4 motion is a better choice.

I am going to the Dusseldorf monster show next week and will grill the VW people about the 150 DSG availability, as the last thing I want is to order one and find that the 150 TSI DSG option is available a week later. After all demand is increasing.

Opinions?
 
Similar dilemma here in Sweden, have the offer accepeted on a full fat T6 with every option 4MO 204TDI DSG but I'm thining the same, 70k euro on a dinosaur fuel that every government hates, not to mention the eye watering road tax.
 
I think you are a bit quick to rule out diesel. Its available in all variants in germany but no one buys petrol, reason is it will be more expensive to drive.
Diesel cars with Euro6 spec and AdBlue are probably better for the globe long term than a thursty petrol.
How many manufacturers actually have a normal large car thats electric? This transition will take time and I am sure the motorhome, lorrys, vans etc would not be first out.
And, are you accepting a lower range on the petrols? I cant fathom how much a turbo petrol 4motion takes on the autobahn? Fuel up every three hours? Our tdi where never over 10L/100km on our french roadtrip and I never wanted lesser range.
 
I agree but for me it's not a daily driver and erks me that road tax is 2.5 times more expensive than the same petrol Co2. But you're right, mpg alone does win even covering moderate milage.
 
I agree with Kave.

Plus - and I'm sorry to be brutal - as things stand right now surely the only ecologically sound decision is not to buy one at all.

I've ordered a diesel Beach and didn't consider the petrol to be a viable option (for my wallet or the planet).

Will try and offset (and ease the guilt) by doing away with our second car, or at least change it to a small electric/hybrid. I also drove (suffered) a Prius for many years, so figure my account is somewhat in credit. We wont be flying anywhere for holidays for while either.
 
There isn't really much difference in pollution between the very latest euro 6 diesels and petrols.

I recently heard the biggest contributor of particulates in a euro 6 car is actually the brake dust, not anything the engine is kicking out.
 
Hello all,

My first post after lurking for a time.

CDinfrance - I find myself in a very similar position to you. We are interested in purchasing a Cali - but are not too keen to pull the trigger on what should be a multi-decadal investment if there are some environmental and policy issues associated with it. We live in London - just inside the south circular. We are concerned that we might find that the costs of running such a vehicle (even if it is Euro 6) might be prohibitive in the future. Already our Borough (lewisham) has differential pricing for parking permits according to the amount of pollution ones car emits - on top of this there could be anyone of a number of increases that we cannot foresee (the cost of diesel being one of them).

I wrote to VW's Environmental Strategy and Mobility Group (info@mobility-and-sustainability.com) and asked a few questions about whether there is any chance of a plug in hybrid California being released in the forthcoming year or two.

I could really see some benefits of a plug in hybrid camper - the ability to turn up late or leave early from a campsite in stealth mode, the ability to have many more days of fridge running by linking the drive battery to the leisure battery allowing for extended periods of off grid camping and the smug self-satisfied grin one might develop like many electric/hybrid vehicle drivers develop. I also like the thought of being able to run in electric mode only for short trips saving wear and tear on the engine and limiting my impact on local emissions (I am one of those annoying types who knock on the windows of car and van drivers parked on our street with their engine running asking them to turn off their engines).

Below is a section of the email I wrote a couple of days ago...

"We are looking to purchase a California in the next year or so. However we have a dilemma. Essentially it is related to the D-word. Given we live in London and are both keen environmentalists we are concerned about the implications of running a diesel engine. I have looked at the various ratings on the next Green Car website (http://www.nextgreencar.com/new-car-search/) and things do not look promising for maintaining some semblance of my green credentials - whether that be a petrol or diesel model.
My question is - is there any possibility of a T6 plug in hybrid coming soon? I understand that the model was designed in such a way that this drivetrain could be incorporated. Moreover given that the van has a very high price point it might be foolish for us to spend so much money on something that could be eligible for scrappage in a decade. (Ford have recently announced that they are offering scrappage for polluting cars built from 2009)."

Best wishes to you all.

Ben
 
I struggle to believe that Ford's scrappage scheme is anything other than a re branding of the huge discounts that were already available on new Fords.
 
Wonder if transforming a petrol T6 to Lpg or Cng could work...
Been close to swapping my 2012SE diesel to a T6 petrol here in Belgium while chances are i still can get a reasonable price for my "polluting" diesel Cali in a few years nobody wants them anymore
But in the end i need a lot of € to put on top ....
 
I agree with your point about Ford 2into1 - however the zeitgeist suggests that this is the way we are going. With regards to CNG / LPG - the cost of conversion and the inability to take on the channel tunnel (and many other European tunnels) would be two factors that put me off.
 
Another one lurking in the shadows here and another one become obsessed with shelling out a small fortune on a Cali to replace our car. We too are booked to hire one for a weekend in a few weeks to just check that we could really live with one as our only car and then we'll take the plunge.... but the damned question of petrol keeps bothering me. Gut feel is that it would be the wrong thing to buy for lots of reasons already spelt out by people but I can't help feeling that we'll get screwed over by all of the potential penalties for diesels that are hinted at.... a definite "first world problem" though! In the mean time I shall continue obsessively reading everything that gets written on here by my "new friends" as my wife has started saying!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Bottom line is that road tax should be based on usage, insurance too, why should lower mileage users be stung for latent use or basically having it parked on the road when I'm riding my bike to work.

The multiplier here in Sweden is crazy but our justification is to buy used but less than 4 years old, we declined the very good offer on a showroom spec T6 with almost every option because we could not stomach that outlay, the only winner was the tax man.
 
I must admit - I agree with you Rod - although I am not necessarily a great fan of having a tracker fitted to my vehicle so that Her Majestry et. al. can follow my every move. My current ride is an electrically assisted cargo bike which I use for taking my child to the childminder and getting to work. Probably the best thing I have ever purchased.

At the risk of causing some controversy I would be happy to be rid of road tax in and see an increase in the taxation of fuel on the pumps. I think that this would help people to be more thoughtful about their everyday use of internal combustion engines. What is the multiplier that you refer to?
 
In Sweden we multiply on the base for diesel

https://www.carfax.eu/article/vehicle-tax-sweden

It's insanely unfair but on the other hand it's good that Sweden is tackling the issue, just very blanket.

I mean you can take pay per use a long way, I'm offsetting a whole lot of carbon for lots of people with the amount of unrequired journeys I take under my own steam, Frida too.
 
BenjaminH said:
Ouch - that is pretty brutal for diesel vehicles. The website referenced above (Next Green Car) suggests that the diesel is far better for the environment and comes out with a much better rating - the difference in NOx emissions are marginal (thanks to adblue?).

http://www.nextgreencar.com/tools/comparison/
Click to expand...
Agreed, lots of interesting legislation here in Sweden that to a Brit doesn't make much sense, but it's ultimately down to choice.
 
BenjaminH said:
My first post after lurking for a time.

We live in London - just inside the south circular. We are concerned that we might find that the costs of running such a vehicle (even if it is Euro 6) might be prohibitive in the future. Already our Borough (lewisham) has differential pricing for parking permits according to the amount of pollution ones car emits
Click to expand...

Welcome on you first post neighbour. We live in Lee when not travelling.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hybrids round the corner...???
Could be 5-10 years before a workable California is released.
Just go out, buy the California diesel and use it. You could be dying in a couple of years and regret not getting on with things.
Life is to short to worry about what might happen and future residuals.
 
The other thing no one has mentioned really is that no matter how well engineered it is, the TSI won't deliver the same driving experience you'll get from a TDI, diesels generally are more suited to the pace of a campervan. The availability of the petrol in the California range is really just an expeditious marketing move by VW to jump on the bandwagon of public disaffection for diesels. Which is pretty ironic given VWs starring role in the whole saga.
 
Agreed, its just annoying that governments are being so punitive, we will just go for something to reduce exposure but still enjoy
 
RodCouncil said:
In Sweden we multiply on the base for diesel

https://www.carfax.eu/article/vehicle-tax-sweden
it's not good that Sweden uk or any country is tackling the issue by ripping people off in tax while India America China etc don't give a toss. last time I looked they were attached to the same planet as us

It's insanely unfair but on the other hand it's good that Sweden is tackling the issue, just very blanket.

I mean you can take pay per use a long way, I'm offsetting a whole lot of carbon for lots of people with the amount of unrequired journeys I take under my own steam, Frida too.
Click to expand...
 
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