Goodbye club and thankyou

[Lizziwhizz]

We have just sold our Cali to a really nice couple through this forum / sales section. Over the four years of ownership, we have had highs and lows with camping.
The experience we have gained from this forum and its members has enabled us to work through all the typical issues throughout our ownership. Thankyou to all of you!

Owning a Cali is a labour of love and although we will miss the experiences of freedom, it's time to try out different things.

Best regards, Wayne and Liz

 

[calikev]

Good luck in the future

 

[edocali]

Good bye!

I'm nosy ...
What were your least loved aspects of owning and using a California ?
What new things are you looking to try out ?

 

[ThomasHJ]

And when do you reckon you'll be back telling us about your new Cali? ;-)

 

[BeeBee]

Owning a Cali is an adventure, good luck and enjoy your new ones x

 

[Vagophile]

I have read your posts about modifications with interest. Given the thought and effort you have put into this, I'm surprised that you have moved on after only four years. Whatever the different things are, enjoy them.

 

[HectorPascal]

Best wishes and good luck for the future. Thanks for your contributions.

 

[Lizziwhizz]

Good bye!

I'm nosy ...
What were your least loved aspects of owning and using a California ?
What new things are you looking to try out ?

Hi, sorry I missed your reply - only just logged backed in!

For us searching for campsites at a reasonable price with availability that wasn’t hours and hours to drive to and in a pleasant area was becoming a challenge. We often found that we weren’t enjoying many campsites either, too many kids and barking dogs, even midweek when we thought it would be quieter. Having enough space to be comfortable without having to take awnings, running costs were also adding up compared to how much use we were getting out of it. We considered a new van so we didn’t have the repair costs as much but the new van prices have just gone crazy and don’t seem worth it to us for what you get for your money, £70k for a new van is just obscene when you could have picked one up for £54k a few years ago. Many refer the Cali to a Swiss Army knife, which it is and when you use that thing so often it becomes difficult to use. The van was a shuffle all the time, which gets tedious and we were very minimal in our travels with the limited amount of stuff we took with us. It isn’t a 4 season van and using it in the winter was tricky, especially lack of insulation and waking up to the doors frozen shut, condensation build up, and constantly checking the weather for winds and heavy rain. Then there is the list of endless issues on both habitation and mechanical that they are prone to.

Out of the 5 Vw Transporter based camper vans/ motor homes (4 Autosleepers,) we have owned, the Cali has been the most awkward and complex to live with. Although it has been the best one we have had to drive. The camping experience was better in our other vans especially the VW Autosleeper Topaz (similar to a Club Joker) was probably the best one on a long wheel base high top with toilet/washroom and DSG.

We did pop to Wanderhome and looked at a Westfali Club Joker, lovely van, looked heavy especially towards the rear, £82000.00 ish, looked second hand but could of been new, vehicles at this place all look tired. They had a Cali Ocean 2017, roof had collapsed about half way, they also had a Cali beach, roof was all nice and taught, no surprises as to why…
They also had a Sven Hedin in the duck blue grey colour, not impressed. Looked drab and they have used the yellow cream plastics inside to cover panels, we had that type of covering in the Autosleepers and it doesn’t last, they discolour and crack near the fixings due to heat expansion etc…
The build quality seems to be poor on the Westfalias, apologies to those who own them, just our opinion, the pop top roofs look cheap, and the Cali roof looks far better quality and in a different league.

Went to see a Hymer Free S at Loudhams on the Mercedes, again build quality seemed poor, pop roof wobbled side to side when we entered vehicle, Cali roof much better. The rest of the build looked cheap, although it is the cheaper version of the Grand Canyon so no surprises there.

The new Cali Ocean is lovely, we looked at one a few weeks ago at JCT 600 in Hull. You cannot deny that these vehicles are lovely quality and by far the best on the market. I still feel VW haven’t addressed some of the ongoing issues that have plagued these vans since 20 years ago, it does feel to me that the chassis certainly needs an update, whether the new version will be better, or demand for the previous T6 may well increase. The T6 dash in the Ocean was my favourite, lovely quality and nicer than the the 6.1, although the digital dash is also very nice!
As mentioned above, the price of California has risen too much, but to be fair, so has all the other makes and models, so unfair to pick on VW, that said, they have a lot to answer for when reading how some owners on this forum have been treated / fobbed off, when trying to get warranty work completed…. I feel your pain.

We are going to rent Shepherds Huts and cottages for a while and have a break from vans and campsites.

Best regards and thank you for some of the nice comments.

 

[Lizziwhizz]

And when do you reckon you'll be back telling us about your new Cali? ;-)

When the prices drop a bit a you can find a campsite that doesn't cost the earth - we're in for a long wait

 

[edocali]

Hi, sorry I missed your reply - only just logged backed in!

For us searching for campsites at a reasonable price with availability that wasn’t hours and hours to drive to and in a pleasant area was becoming a challenge. We often found that we weren’t enjoying many campsites either, too many kids and barking dogs, even midweek when we thought it would be quieter. Having enough space to be comfortable without having to take awnings, running costs were also adding up compared to how much use we were getting out of it. We considered a new van so we didn’t have the repair costs as much but the new van prices have just gone crazy and don’t seem worth it to us for what you get for your money, £70k for a new van is just obscene when you could have picked one up for £54k a few years ago. Many refer the Cali to a Swiss Army knife, which it is and when you use that thing so often it becomes difficult to use. The van was a shuffle all the time, which gets tedious and we were very minimal in our travels with the limited amount of stuff we took with us. It isn’t a 4 season van and using it in the winter was tricky, especially lack of insulation and waking up to the doors frozen shut, condensation build up, and constantly checking the weather for winds and heavy rain. Then there is the list of endless issues on both habitation and mechanical that they are prone to.

Out of the 5 Vw Transporter based camper vans/ motor homes (4 Autosleepers,) we have owned, the Cali has been the most awkward and complex to live with. Although it has been the best one we have had to drive. The camping experience was better in our other vans especially the VW Autosleeper Topaz (similar to a Club Joker) was probably the best one on a long wheel base high top with toilet/washroom and DSG.

We did pop to Wanderhome and looked at a Westfali Club Joker, lovely van, looked heavy especially towards the rear, £82000.00 ish, looked second hand but could of been new, vehicles at this place all look tired. They had a Cali Ocean 2017, roof had collapsed about half way, they also had a Cali beach, roof was all nice and taught, no surprises as to why…
They also had a Sven Hedin in the duck blue grey colour, not impressed. Looked drab and they have used the yellow cream plastics inside to cover panels, we had that type of covering in the Autosleepers and it doesn’t last, they discolour and crack near the fixings due to heat expansion etc…
The build quality seems to be poor on the Westfalias, apologies to those who own them, just our opinion, the pop top roofs look cheap, and the Cali roof looks far better quality and in a different league.

Went to see a Hymer Free S at Loudhams on the Mercedes, again build quality seemed poor, pop roof wobbled side to side when we entered vehicle, Cali roof much better. The rest of the build looked cheap, although it is the cheaper version of the Grand Canyon so no surprises there.

The new Cali Ocean is lovely, we looked at one a few weeks ago at JCT 600 in Hull. You cannot deny that these vehicles are lovely quality and by far the best on the market. I still feel VW haven’t addressed some of the ongoing issues that have plagued these vans since 20 years ago, it does feel to me that the chassis certainly needs an update, whether the new version will be better, or demand for the previous T6 may well increase. The T6 dash in the Ocean was my favourite, lovely quality and nicer than the the 6.1, although the digital dash is also very nice!
As mentioned above, the price of California has risen too much, but to be fair, so has all the other makes and models, so unfair to pick on VW, that said, they have a lot to answer for when reading how some owners on this forum have been treated / fobbed off, when trying to get warranty work completed…. I feel your pain.

We are going to rent Shepherds Huts and cottages for a while and have a break from vans and campsites.

Best regards and thank you for some of the nice comments.

Thanks for your informative reply! Enjoy your next cottages and huts !!!

 

[sidepod]

, too many kids

I’ve never really understood why parents automatically assume, wherever they are, automatically becomes a playground for their feral offspring.

 

[soulstyledevon]

When the prices drop a bit a you can find a campsite that doesn't cost the earth - we're in for a long wait

Camping has become insanely popular because of Covid and the “vanlife” movement which have helped create very comfortable vans.
It’s great having these vans, but it’s a shame about the campsite situation and no parking overnight signs, that seem to be appearing everywhere…

 

[Lizziwhizz]

There is very little opportunity for wild camping in our area, there just isn't the places, we're hours from nice locations and parkups are usually occupied by trucks or no overnight stays. It's as though campervans are not welcomed. The local council have put weight limits on one of car parks in our area overlooking the sea and that's even if you wanted to park during the day. I dreaded the hours of searching on line for the ideal campsite every week for quick getaways. It just wasn't working for us any more. We'd have another Cali tomorrow if there were more places of interest to go to. We found a site at York which when we turned up were told that normally they don't allow campervans as they don't have their own toilet facilities! It's just getting too much hassle these days that it has lost its spontaneity and affordability for regular weekends away.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Fully understand your frustrations.
We have a train to Europe booked next week. Our top pick of places have zero availability at any of our old stomping grounds. Were going to search out the less well known places and hope for the best.
School holidays don’t help, but we had trouble in Holland last May too.

Fingers crossed, hopefully it will work out I don’t fancy two weeks of road side lay-bys …

Already talking about hiring a couple of houses next year instead.

 

[sidepod]

Re wild camping, it’s a good thing councils resist overnight stays. Sadly, in this country, we are overrun with t***s.
If overnights were allowed every location would be full of crappy white/sign written vans with a mattress in the back and idiots playing loud music and burning pallets for campfires.
We don’t have the self respect/control gene here so we need protection from our selves.

 

[Lizziwhizz]

I’ve never really understood why parents automatically assume, wherever they are, automatically becomes a playground for their feral offspring.

You have a point, we noticed scruffy converted motor homes parked in the car park near the seaside, looked like full timers, as you said, vans looked rough, so I guess it was only a matter time before council imposed the ban. We never parked there in our Cali as respected the rules and we was over the stated weight limit, many chose to ignore and I think they are now installing pay meters and a height barrier… Times are changing..

 

[Lizziwhizz]

Fully understand your frustrations.
We have a train to Europe booked next week. Our top pick of places have zero availability at any of our old stomping grounds. Were going to search out the less well known places and hope for the best.
School holidays don’t help, but we had trouble in Holland last May too.

Fingers crossed, hopefully it will work out I don’t fancy two weeks of road side lay-bys …

Already talking about hiring a couple of houses next year instead.

We always thought we could do lay-bys, wild camping on side of roads, but never tried it, always reverted back to cheaper camp sites.. that said, the last couple were not that great and we had spent a lot in fuel to get there.The disappointment when you arrive and you find you are in a field where cattle was grazing a week before! Sheep poo everywhere…. Not good!

 

[studioTUNGSTEN]

We always thought we could do lay-bys, wild camping on side of roads, but never tried it, always reverted back to cheaper camp sites.. that said, the last couple were not that great and we had spent a lot in fuel to get there.The disappointment when you arrive and you find you are in a field where cattle was grazing a week before! Sheep poo everywhere…. Not good!

100% with you, compare to the trip to Spain-Portugal last April, we(the UK), def, need simple & quiet stopovers. Hard to find the sites but there are still little jams to look for.
Take a good break and come back soon.

 

[ThomasHJ]

We are in the UK right now. Our first time. We have been able to find nice sites (school holidays havent started yet), but these prices,... wow!

45 up to 66 pounds for a single night. No electricity! In a beautiful field, but a field none the less.

And 'things to do' are equally expensive.

Beautiful countries though! and people are all so friendly. Loving it.

 

[larrylamb]

45 up to 66 pounds for a single night. No electricity! In a beautiful field, but a field none the less.

I'm sorry to hear that, we've never paid anything like that for a field. Enjoy your holiday anyway.