From Reimo t4 to California?

Big Ted · Jan 23, 2019

Hi,
We’ve had a N reg T4 Reimo converted camp van for 4 and a bit years. In this time we’ve had many adventures as a family of 4 with preteen kids and love the van to bits. After camping for 20 years, it’s a one way ticket sleeping in the van on a decent bed,
The van was converted on day one by the former owners and it just works so well in terms of the layout, fit and function. When I look at the California, it offers a near identical layout (apart from the left hand/right hand door,)
The T4 is touching 20 years and is starting to feel old. The lack of abs & airbags prey on my mid a bit, with the lack of AC an issue last summer when in South west of France during the heatwave.

Onwards and upwards we’re thinking, and the California seems to be the obvious choice.
The price of them are a touch eye watering, considering we payed 8.5k for the T4!!

After being a long time lurker, and researching lots, I believe the van I’d search for is....
California SE Ocean.
2.0 BiTdi 180. - need to keep eyes open to the potential 2010/11 MY due to issues.
DSG
4 motion would be a lovely option, but not essential.
3 zone climate
Bike rack
Cruise - ACC would be great, as I have it today and use it constantly, but not sure on the year this was introduced.
Remote parking heater.
This van would become my primary vehicle with a 30 mile round trip commute most days.

So now in my mind we’ve 3 options.
1. Buy new and go for 204 van and pay top price - not really an option due to cost.
2. Nearly new, £50k ish, still a chunk of change
3. £30-40k mark - seems a bit more palatable.

Thankfully there is no urgency to replace the t4, so I have the luxury of time, can even wait 12 months.
Clearly a private sale of the van and my existing car helps boast my funds, but a trade in is an easier and quicker process.

The real dilemma I find myself in now, is when looking at trade sellers on ebay/autotrader, I see 3 potential vans.
30k 4motion silver, my 2010, 100 k miles
32k berghaus limited edition, MY 2010, 80k
40k toffee brown, fully loaded van 2011, 40k

Each of these have pro’s and con’s, with the last one looking like the favourite, due to the high spec.
The nagging doubt is they are all 180’s in the problem years of manufacture.

I know the web is filled with horror stories of new engine replacements costing 7k, and this rings in my ears.
So I’m now torn with looking at the nearly new options to buy my way out of this age of van and pick up a 204, but it’s an expensive jump up in price.

Has anyone been in the same predicament and if so, what was your thought process and end result?

Many thanks for reading this, I look fwd to one day upgrading and becoming an active member.

kp64zl · Jan 23, 2019

I had similar(ish) predicament although starting from scratch, again with a 20 year old car that worked fine.

End result was I saved for longer and bought new.

My reasoning was that the difference in price between 'nearly new' and brand new is not great in relative terms (low depreciation).

Was enticed by:
1) the dealer discount (got about 8% off list price through autoebid),
2) the 5 year extended warranty and
3) ability to spec exactly to my needs (none of the second hand vans that I looked at had the spec I wanted and this was over a 3 month period)
4) less hassle (e.g. dealing with conversion companies, second hand dealers etc)

Started off looking at converting a van myself - but that's a different story.

Scorf · Jan 23, 2019

Much the same, we originally looked at a 64 plate 140 DSG Beach with 22k on the clock, priced at £30k. It was a lovely van & I was sold, but Mrs H didn't like the custard yellow paintwork so we missed out on that one....

After much soul searching, we decided to go the new route, on the basis of.....

IF we are spending that much (be that £30k or the £55k we've now committed to!), we should have exactly what we want spec wise
Mrs H could have whatever colour she wanted
Extended warranty & free services calms the anxiety
Low depreciation means we're not spending (losing) all that money, just investing it a Cali until we want to withdraw whatever sum its worth in the future

Of course the intangible benefit is the whole specifying, ordering & build up to collection process which becomes a pleasure to enjoy with a new van rather than a chore to endure with associated panic & nerves in the 2nd hand world.

Of course all this presumes that finances can be stretched / tweaked / overhauled to make the sums add up, but generally where there's a will there's a way.....

Velma's Dad · Jan 24, 2019

Big Ted said:
The real dilemma I find myself in now, is when looking at trade sellers on ebay/autotrader, I see 3 potential vans.
30k 4motion silver, my 2010, 100 k miles
32k berghaus limited edition, MY 2010, 80k
40k toffee brown, fully loaded van 2011, 40k

Each of these have pro’s and con’s, with the last one looking like the favourite, due to the high spec.
The nagging doubt is they are all 180’s in the problem years of manufacture.

I understand your dilemma. But it sounds as though the 180 engine uncertainty is the only thing putting you off a 2010/11 van and hence saving at least £10k cash on your 'nearly new' option.

So, you could buy that 'loaded toffee brown' van for £40k and also put £7k or £8k to one side as an 'engine insurance policy'. If it did need turn out to a new engine at some stage - absolute worst case scenario although very unlikely, it seems - you'd still be covered. But if not, you could eventually spend the insurance fund on something fun like taking your van on a final grand tour or something before you change it next time. (Or a nice pressie for Mrs Big Ted - in case she's reading this).

If you play it 'safe' and buy a £50k later-year van, it doesn't sound like you're going to get any more pleasure out of it because apart from the number plate there's no real difference between a 2011 and a 2015 T5.1, while the extra £10k you forked out is a definite sunk cost (let's not quibble about the slightly different depreciation profiles etc as the main difference in price between 10 yo and 15 yo Calis seems to be more about spec and condition than vintage).

sidepod · Jan 24, 2019

We had similar with our 94 T4, no air con etc.

Again I kicked several T5 tyres but in the end decided on the last of the T4’s. this gave me everything I needed without spending an extra £10-15k for no perceptible benefit.

The only downside (depending on your point of view is the LHDness).

Big Ted · Jan 24, 2019

Velma's Dad said:
I understand your dilemma. But it sounds as though the 180 engine uncertainty is the only thing putting you off a 2010/11 van and hence saving at least £10k cash on your 'nearly new' option.

So, you could buy that 'loaded toffee brown' van for £40k and also put £7k or £8k to one side as an 'engine insurance policy'. If it did need turn out to a new engine at some stage - absolute worst case scenario although very unlikely, it seems - you'd still be covered. But if not, you could eventually spend the insurance fund on something fun like taking your van on a final grand tour or something before you change it next time. (Or a nice pressie for Mrs Big Ted - in case she's reading this).

If you play it 'safe' and buy a £50k later-year van, it doesn't sound like you're going to get any more pleasure out of it because apart from the number plate there's no real difference between a 2011 and a 2015 T5.1, while the extra £10k you forked out is a definite sunk cost (let's not quibble about the slightly different depreciation profiles etc as the main difference in price between 10 yo and 15 yo Calis seems to be more about spec and condition than vintage).

This hits the nail on the head and is my current thinking.
Just waiting to see the part ex offers on my 2 motors to see what the numbers truely work out as.
My extra bit of logic to be applied is that my Volvo XC70 will depreciate faster than any T5’s will over the next 12 months, so it makes sense to do the deal now rather than wait.
Let’s see what pans out over the next day or so.
(Thanks for the other comments and views too.)

AlanC · Jan 24, 2019

If the two older 180's have been affected with the engine blight issue, it is easy to check.

See what the part number of the EGR Cooler is. If it has a 'C' or preferably 'D' suffix you should be OK.

If the vans have had the work done by a VW dealer, there will be a record of the install on the VWUK computer system and maybe something in the service book. The service department of a dealer will not give you a printout (data protection issues), but may tell you verbally what has been done to the van, when and possibly at what mileage. You will need the reg number though.

If you can't get any info, I would not risk it.

Having said all that, VW themselves admit the final fix was not achieved until 2015 when the 'D' suffix cooler was introduced.

Alan