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

[Vantastic2]

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?

Stick to diesel,cheaper in France and most of Europe plus better torque !

 

[ROKET]

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.

You will never get rid of diesel engines.Ninety four percent of the worlds engine are diesel and new technology i read in one of the magazines sounds like it will be around for some time.The small particles that damage the lungs are given out by petrol engines mostly in winter on warm up because they do not have a particulate filter.

 

[Poppins]

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 have a late 2014 T5 diesel and have also felt increasingly uncomfortable. Before moving up to the California we had a 2.5l V6 petrol Ford Freda (Mazda Bongo to you) imported for us and converted to LPG. LPG is arguably cleaner than either diesel or petrol and SO much cheaper (particularly in Belgium). The same importer now sells the Toyota Alphard (another Japanese MPV not available in UK except by importing) which has the option of a hybrid. Put an LPG conversion on that...? But to go back to a smaller, older vehicle after a Cali?? You can check out any time you like but you can never leave!

 

[sidepod]

when hybrids or electrics are just around the corner

A corner with a radius similar to the distance between earth and the sun!!

 

[Skylark2.0]

Isn't diesel a by product of producing refibed petrol?
There will be a point when enough people stop using diesel that the cost of duesel will go down... if you have petrol cars you will have diesel cars....

 

[Legin]

It doesnt work like that, spent my life in a refinery. All that happens is dieselisation reverses and refiners stop buildng hydrocrackers and go back to cat crackers, which is where we were 30 years ago. In fact the UK is still stuck on cat crackers.

I can tell you that the industry is still moving the barrel towards diesel vs petrol. For years petrol has only been seen as a negative by product to make diesel.
Waggons and aircraft will be running distillate ( the diesel pool) for longer than we need petrol. Dont see an electric jumbo any time soon.

All this is like when fuel prices shoot everyone sells the V8 petrol, the smart folk go and buy the v8 cheap and wait for things to calm down again. Its the same with diesel, so last year I bucked the trend and bought a big diesel at a good price and guess what its lost less money than the petrols have and still cheaper to fuel and better to drive.

I have ordered the 199 ? cali with no concerns whatsoever apart from VW non delivery of course and would not buy the TSI even if I could.

 

[Wongo]

End to end pollution is worse with electric cars as the lithium mining and recycling issues are factored in, that’s without even considering the source of the recharging electricity (Cisl, Gas etc).
Bosch have a superckean fuel pump now out.
It’s just another tax dressed up as a moral necessity.
Hogwash.

 

[willwander]

Hasn’t VW already announced plans for an all electric van? I’m sure I saw a concept vehicle on the web recently.

 

[B J G]

Hasn’t VW already announced plans for an all electric van? I’m sure I saw a concept vehicle on the web recently.

Biggest problem with electric/battery vans is the weight of the batteries reducing the weight of cargo that can be carried. This the 'payload' is a major factor for commercial users and you may find that a current T6 Cali with the required amount of batteries would have no luggage capability.
Crafter range would be more suited, reason for Grand being introduced?

 

[willwander]

Found it. It's called..
VW ID Buzz

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/electric-hybrid/id/buzz

 

[CDinFrance]

This is definitely a complex topix, but I bought a TSI and am happy with it. In France, the discussion is much more centered around public health and latest research indicates that diesel is five times worse than petrol in that regard.
https://www.cleanairday.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=7eb71636-7d06-49cf-bb3e-76f105e2c631

We do mixed travel and spend significant time in urban areas, so this was an important consideration for me. Of course, as someone stated, the real answer is that neither diesel nor petrol are great for health or the environment, and we would be better to take the train...

 

[WelshGas]

Basically, to be blunt, everything is a Hazard to Health in some way or another. No technology is hazard free when you examine it closely in its entirety.
The Governments of the world are being very disingenuous and hypocritical in their policies relating to fossil fuels.
Wind and Solar power have a significant polluting effect over their total lifespan.
All this pollution might well shorten mankind’s lifespan but we’re doing a pretty good job already of doing that anyway through numerous other means.
Governments can say what they like but the people are not going to volunteer to give up car ownership unless there is a viable alternative and there isn’t one for the masses.

 

[Bellcrew]

Basically, to be blunt, everything is a Hazard to Health in some way or another. No technology is hazard free when you examine it closely in its entirety.
The Governments of the world are being very disingenuous and hypocritical in their policies relating to fossil fuels.
Wind and Solar power have a significant polluting effect over their total lifespan.
All this pollution might well shorten mankind’s lifespan but we’re doing a pretty good job already of doing that anyway through numerous other means.
Governments can say what they like but the people are not going to volunteer to give up car ownership unless there is a viable alternative and there isn’t one for the masses.

A cursory glance at the numbers in the "Clean Air Day 2018" report shows some heroic assumptions many without any rational justification and no mention of the game changing SCR technology in the whole 18 pages.
If the damage caused to the population of London's health was significant all the polluting vehicles would just be banned. Instead they will be charged a small fee to continue to spread death amongst the population, unbelievable.