Grand California 680 Weight Problem

[VanishingPoint]

I am researching buying the GC 680 in Switzerland and due to not keeping the C rating when I transferred from UK to Swiss driving licence need it to be the 3500kg version.
I can configure a version with everything that I need with the exception of the awning - the tare weight is then 3244kg. I think that I can trim that to 3214kg by only having 50% fuel max giving 3305kg with two occupants.

That leaves me with 195kg payload capacity on the new vehicle. That will probably reduce to 150kg with some aftermarket bits added.

What are you thoughts about extended travel with 150kg payload?

The other thought is what can be taken off to reduce weight... The only obvious items are the bench seat head restraints - not much weight.

 

[WelshGas]

Touring with a 150 kgm payload for 2 people extremely challenging.
Have you included water, gas, basics such as Hookup cable, outdoor chairs and table, cooking equipment etc?

 

[Hotel California]

Here in Belgium you must bring on the verhicle with more than 50% fuel to the first technical weighing . Also water , gas must be topped up to a certain level .
195kg payload is not enough for us , we reach that amount allredy from the botles wine and champagne we take back from France....!
Long live the Cali ....sorry

That's certainly not a good startpoint imo. what if you ever take childeren/grandchilderen allong , or want to take bikes ect....
Having so much space in the GC and only 195 kg load capacity you would be in overload very quickly bringing yourself and others in danger .

 

[Jester]

I am researching buying the GC 680 in Switzerland and due to not keeping the C rating when I transferred from UK to Swiss driving licence need it to be the 3500kg version.
I can configure a version with everything that I need with the exception of the awning - the tare weight is then 3244kg. I think that I can trim that to 3214kg by only having 50% fuel max giving 3305kg with two occupants.

That leaves me with 195kg payload capacity on the new vehicle. That will probably reduce to 150kg with some aftermarket bits added.

What are you thoughts about extended travel with 150kg payload?

The other thought is what can be taken off to reduce weight... The only obvious items are the bench seat head restraints - not much weight.

forgive me if I have read this incorrectly but the 680 does not come in a 3500kg version only3.880kg

 

[VanishingPoint]

forgive me if I have read this incorrectly but the 680 does not come in a 3500kg version only3.880kg

In Switzerland you can buy it in a 3500kg plated version. The costs for tax, licence, checks, etc are quite significant if you go to 3800.

 

[VanishingPoint]

Here in Belgium you must bring on the verhicle with more than 50% fuel to the first technical weighing . Also water , gas must be topped up to a certain level .
195kg payload is not enough for us , we reach that amount allredy from the botles wine and champagne we take back from France....!
Long live the Cali ....sorry

That's certainly not a good startpoint imo. what if you ever take childeren/grandchilderen allong , or want to take bikes ect....
Having so much space in the GC and only 195 kg load capacity you would be in overload very quickly bringing yourself and others in danger .

Useful info - Thank you. For the technical check it's ok as there is no payload. I will take the version with the diesel heating which means only a 6kg propane for cooking. One bike for sure, but I don't have kids of my own. It's certainly a challenge!

 

[VanishingPoint]

Touring with a 150 kgm payload for 2 people extremely challenging.
Have you included water, gas, basics such as Hookup cable, outdoor chairs and table, cooking equipment etc?

Thanks for the helpful comment. I think that 20l of water is included in the tare weight. Filling the tank up to 90l capacity would have to be done locally. I can get gas down to a 6kg propane in a lightweight bottle of about 10kg as I will select the diesel heater.
The table and chairs are going to be the economy on weight as will be the few pans and cooking things. I will return to the UK in 3-4 years and hopefully get my C rating back and get the van re-plated to 3800kg and take the house with me.

I'm also sure that a Swiss weighbridge will weigh down to the nearest gram, and there is zero-tolerance on weight.

 

[AndyWT]

When I changed to an Italian license I also lost my C class as max age is 65.

I would say within 3,500kg it’s very difficult, our T4 Cali is at max weight 2,800kg, for extended travel and every possibility, meaning we have about 600kg payload, if we have the 2 big teens in the back with all their junk we are overweight, with a bigger van the mind boggles what extra we could carry.

Putting 600kg into the Grand could be interesting.

 

[VanishingPoint]

When I changed to an Italian license I also lost my C class as max age is 65.

I would say within 3,500kg it’s very difficult, our T4 Cali is at max weight 2,800kg, for extended travel and every possibility, meaning we have about 600kg payload, if we have the 2 big teens in the back with all their junk we are overweight, with a bigger van the mind boggles what extra we could carry.

Putting 600kg into the Grand could be interesting.

I'm wondering what you could take to add up to 600kg - but that does of course include 'the kitchen sink' in the T4.
Even though it is huge, the GC680 is only designed for two people camping, and even carrying two additional passengers would be a bit of a squeeze on the narrow bench seat.

It seems that Volkswagen assume that they are selling to 'minimalist' campers - I checked a fully specified 3880kg GC680 with 4Motion and there is only about 350kg payload capacity.

 

[Jester]

I'm wondering what you could take to add up to 600kg - but that does of course include 'the kitchen sink' in the T4.
Even though it is huge, the GC680 is only designed for two people camping, and even carrying two additional passengers would be a bit of a squeeze on the narrow bench seat.

It seems that Volkswagen assume that they are selling to 'minimalist' campers - I checked a fully specified 3880kg GC680 with 4Motion and there is only about 350kg payload capacity.

Do you need the 680 as the 600 3500 allows 421kg

 

[VanishingPoint]

Do you need the 680 as the 600 3500 allows 421kg

You beat me to it - I was just putting the 600 into the configurator. With the same options the payload increases by 170kg over the GC680.

Downside of the 600 compared to the 680:

• The bed is smaller and across the van rather than lengthways
• The kitchen is shorter
• One vertical cupboard unit next to the shower is lost
• Smaller solar panel - even the 680 is marginal in size
• Increased roof height

I'm going to leave Switzerland in 2-3 years so can get my UK licence back with the (hopefully) the C rating and uprate the van to 3880kg.
If I don't add any aftermarket modifications to the van I will have approx 200kg of payload - 270kg if I drop the passenger off before loading up with water and food drink, etc. The intention is to buy supplies on-route and not carry them so most of the payload can be clothes and equipment.

 

[Kim griffiths]

Useful info - Thank you. For the technical check it's ok as there is no payload. I will take the version with the diesel heating which means only a 6kg propane for cooking. One bike for sure, but I don't have kids of my own. It's certainly a challenge!

When choosing the Truma diesel heating in the configurator the weight goes up by 5kg!!! I guess it is not working out that you have a smaller gas bottle.

 

[VanishingPoint]

When choosing the Truma diesel heating in the configurator the weight goes up by 5kg!!! I guess it is not working out that you have a smaller gas bottle.

Did you deselect the gas heating option? My understanding is that with gas heating the van is supplied with two 11kg gas bottles with a total weight of 52kg approx. A 5kg gas bootle only should knock about 40kg off the weight.

 

[VanishingPoint]

Did you deselect the gas heating option? My understanding is that with gas heating the van is supplied with two 11kg gas bottles with a total weight of 52kg approx. A 5kg gas bootle only should knock about 40kg off the weight.

When choosing the Truma diesel heating in the configurator the weight goes up by 5kg!!! I guess it is not working out that you have a smaller gas bottle.

I changed the configuration from Diesel heating to gas and the weight went up by 1kg. For the diesel heating it depends which heating option you select - one of them also has engine coolant pre-heating.

 

[Kim griffiths]

I changed the configuration from Diesel heating to gas and the weight went up by 1kg. For the diesel heating it depends which heating option you select - one of them also has engine coolant pre-heating.

Hi just tried it again 3085kg with truma gas heating with truma diesel the weight goes to 3084kg and the gas option gets crossed out, last week it went up by 5kg I am sure about this. None of this explains going from 2x11kg to 5kg bottles. You måste choose an extra heater and I choose the cheapest which is a 1400 watt electrical heater that warms up the interior quicker when you start the engine I believe.

 

[andyinluton]

. Having so much space in the GC and only 195 kg load capacity you would be in overload very quickly bringing yourself and others in danger .

What a load of rubbish - where’s the danger?

A 3800kg. GC downplated to 3500kg for convenience to suit the driving licence held, is still designed to be loaded to 3800kg, it’s just a paperwork restriction. It’s no more dangerous than driving one plated at 3800kg.

Having now established that the vehicle is capable of carrying the weight its really a case of the original poster deciding how lucky he feels & whether he wants to risk being caught overloaded...

(you can always pull the dump valve on the water tanks on the way to the weighbridge)

 

[Kim griffiths]

I changed the configuration from Diesel heating to gas and the weight went up by 1kg. For the diesel heating it depends which heating option you select - one of them also has engine coolant pre-heating.

Hi again,
I just tried the same thing on the German version and it adds 7 kg going from gas to diesel.

 

[Hotel California]

@andyinluton , i'm no expert and don't know the GC technical details but tyres,breaks,suspention might be diffrent on both verhicles . You might call it a load of rubbish but restrictions are there for a reason.
As always a thin line between correct and incorrect.

 

[VanishingPoint]

@andyinluton , i'm no expert and don't know the GC technical details but tyres,breaks,suspention might be diffrent on both verhicles . You might call it a load of rubbish but restrictions are there for a reason.
As always a thin line between correct and incorrect.

I'm sure that the tyres and brakes are the same, but the suspension and anti-roll bars may be uprated.
You really don't want to be even 1kg overweight in Switzerland (or anywhere really). The Swiss police are extremely precise and will hit you with a big fine. Add to that - being overweight probably invalidates your insurance.
The solution is to invest some time, thought and money in being as light as possible.

 

[andyinluton]

I'm sure that the tyres and brakes are the same, but the suspension and anti-roll bars may be uprated.
You really don't want to be even 1kg overweight in Switzerland (or anywhere really). The Swiss police are extremely precise and will hit you with a big fine. Add to that - being overweight probably invalidates your insurance.
The solution is to invest some time, thought and money in being as light as possible.

They are not uprating the van for 3880 it’s designed as 3880, built as a 3880 & It’s only a paper exercise to down rate it.
The individual axle limits stay the same & it’s just the total gross weight on the plate that’s different.

 

[VanishingPoint]

They are not uprating the van for 3880 it’s designed as 3880, built as a 3880 & It’s only a paper exercise to down rate it.
The individual axle limits stay the same & it’s just the total gross weight on the plate that’s different.

It's an expensive 380kg in Switzerland - £550 for the 3880 rating, then £520 a year in tax and a similar amount for a C rating medical. Then the insurance goes up as well.

 

[mpglueck]

Hi just tried it again 3085kg with truma gas heating with truma diesel the weight goes to 3084kg and the gas option gets crossed out, last week it went up by 5kg I am sure about this. None of this explains going from 2x11kg to 5kg bottles. You måste choose an extra heater and I choose the cheapest which is a 1400 watt electrical heater that warms up the interior quicker when you start the engine I believe.

The gas bottles are not included in the tara weight acc. to some forums in Germany. Besides the configurator is a bit unreliable.

 

[mpglueck]

@andyinluton , i'm no expert and don't know the GC technical details but tyres,breaks,suspention might be diffrent on both verhicles . You might call it a load of rubbish but restrictions are there for a reason.
As always a thin line between correct and incorrect.

Yes, its solely for the kiddy licenses...