Heated front Screen Option - worth having?

[soulstyledevon]

I have front and rear windows heated. I wouldn't do without them. It's the side windows that are the problem, waiting for them to clear.

Hmmm, possibly easier to just put the diesel heater on and clear all the windows and warm the cab too.
Volkswagen offering this option on a California is what’s called squeezing the Lemon...

 

[Borris]

Both our current vehicles have heated windscreens. Our previous Beach also had one. In my view they are a very useful feature.

On most very cold mornings I will activate the parking heater about fifteen minutes before we are due to leave the house. Obviously that warms the interior and helps to clear the windows. However if there has been a particularly hard frost, frozen rain or snow then the windscreen may still be frozen. On those occasions and also when there is condensation on the inside, a few minutes of the heated windscreen will sort matters out.

Yes, they aren't essential but I much prefer a heated windscreen to all that scratching about with a debit card or scraper. Mind you I've never done that. I've always preferred to chuck a bucket of warm water over it!

For complete and utter luxury go for the parking heater, heated windscreen and bum warmers.

 

[jimmywease]

Personally I enjoyed having the heated windscreen, for fast demisting and defrosting HOWEVER visibility has been affected by a recent windscreen replacement. Autoglass have replaced the cracked original screen with a non-original screen and the heating elements are much much more visible.

I have raised this issue with Autoglass and await their inspection. I'm sure they'll fully agree that the new screen is an unacceptable replacement and have it changed for an original screen free-of-charge, as the customer is always right, yes?

 

[Eber123]

Good afternoon,

If I would configure a California I would add this option.

Cleaning the front screen of the van is a pain, because to reach everything is difficult. If there is ice and snow on the screen, even with an extension on the scraper, it is not easy to get everything off (well, I must admit I am not the tallest with 1,75).

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[jillyfish]

I LOVE this forum. mind changed back again! Others sharing their experiences and views are just so helpful and useful. best thanks Jill

 

[Keith Smith]

£500 for something that could be possibly slightly useful occasionally.

 

[soulstyledevon]

£500 for something that could be possibly slightly useful occasionally.

Get Amarillo, some maths and stats to work out.
How many times a year is HFS used averaged over a 3 year ownership...???
Going by some of the answers here, the cost per clear could be as high as £50 a defrost...

 

[soulstyledevon]

Actually, going by Motorcyclists

Used ours once in two years. I wouldn’t spec it myself, but ours was a showroom van already specked.

Although, the one time I did use it, it worked great!

Actually Motacyclist current wins the highest defrost cost at £500 per melt...

 

[Billy]

I have heated windscreen and its up there in my top three options that I would choose again, these threads make me laugh as the haters just appear to be jealous as they have not got the option, thats all it is so I think at the end of the day you will have to make your own mind up .
It's the same when there is a LED headlight thread on here, all the haters will pick away to find the smallest things wrong because secretly they wish they had them.

 

[motacyclist]

Actually, going by Motorcyclists


Actually Motacyclist current wins the highest defrost cost at £500 per melt...

That’s a complete bargain compared to what the cost to sleep in it per night works out at!

 

[westfalia]

I have it on another vehicle and it probably gets used about 5 times a year,
if you are not gonna be driving off early each morning then you won't need
it.
See what your brothers think

 

[Borris]

Get Amarillo, some maths and stats to work out.
How many times a year is HFS used averaged over a 3 year ownership...???
Going by some of the answers here, the cost per clear could be as high as £50 a defrost...

An interesting and important exercise. Everyone should do a cost benefit analysis of every option and aspect of the California before buying. Will I actually use this? If so how often? Therefore is it worth it?

How many times does "never cooked in" or less often "never slept in" appear in the for sale section?

As for the heated windscreen, I use it quite a lot during the colder months and not only for frosty conditions. A bunch of dripping wet kids can often cause misting up.

 

[Perfectos]

An interesting and important exercise. Everyone should do a cost benefit analysis of every option and aspect of the California before buying. Will I actually use this? If so how often? Therefore is it worth it?

How many times does "never cooked in" or less often "never slept in" appear in the for sale section?

As for the heated windscreen, I use it quite a lot during the colder months and not only for frosty conditions. A bunch of dripping wet kids can often cause misting up.

I’m with you Borris, taking that to an extreme, what about styling, no functionality what so ever, although many people happy to spend many thousands on wheels, spoilers,, B pillar black outs, extra tinted glass, wraps, polishes, splitters, hula girls, mascots and more.
It’s an option for a reason !

 

[blondebier]

Hula girls? I missed that option.

Tell us more...

 

[Perfectos]

Hula girls? I missed that option.

Tell us more...

They must have removed that from the configurator for your build !

 

[soulstyledevon]

How many times does "never cooked in" or less often "never slept in" appear in the for sale section?

Always wonder about that one myself, but then I can understand the reason for sale...

Options will always be subjective and on personnel needs/wants
But many options I see recommended are rarely needed.
Just trying to rack my brains on options I have, but don’t use.
The only thing I can think of, is heated seats.

 

[Borris]

Always wonder about that one myself, but then I can understand the reason for sale...

Options will always be subjective and on personnel needs/wants
But many options I see recommended are rarely needed.
Just trying to rack my brains on options I have, but don’t use.
The only thing I can think of, is heated seats.

I suppose when you think about it most owners use many of the options and features infrequently. The parking heater, the heated seats, tow bar, awning etc etc are all items that don't get used that much. Still if you need to tow a trailer or your bum's cold then they come in very useful.

Taking it to the next level how many of us actually need a California?

 

[Pips Dad]

Our Ocean has this facility as it came with the ex demo spec. I too have only used it a couple of times but it was very efficient at clearing the screen.
You can always pop the air con. on for a few seconds and the screen clears of mist before your very eyes!

 

[WelshGas]

Our Ocean has this facility as it came with the ex demo spec. I too have only used it a couple of times but it was very efficient at clearing the screen.
You can always pop the air con. on for a few seconds and the screen clears of mist before your very eyes!

Haven't turned the AirCon off yet.

 

[Elizabeth Silman]

I was just reading a recent post re getting a chip to the heated front screen. Noted that this option is one of the few extras listed on the T6.1 configurator. Do others who have this feature find it super useful? Does having it mean no more scraping frost and ice off in the early morning? To me this is only an issue when i need the car first thing in the morning but maybe not so important when camping. I also queried with VW what "wing door right in passenger compartment' refers to and it seems that is a poor translation in relation to the electronic door opening option.

Yes!!!! Proved its worth this week as the first real frosts arrived. Windscreen super clear in just a few mins

 

[BeagleMum]

I was just reading a recent post re getting a chip to the heated front screen. Noted that this option is one of the few extras listed on the T6.1 configurator. Do others who have this feature find it super useful? Does having it mean no more scraping frost and ice off in the early morning? To me this is only an issue when i need the car first thing in the morning but maybe not so important when camping. I also queried with VW what "wing door right in passenger compartment' refers to and it seems that is a poor translation in relation to the electronic door opening option.

We have front & rear heated screens wouldn’t be without them. For instance we are currently just outside York, beautiful morning with a hard frost. Screen heater had windscreen clear in no time

 

[rod_vw]

We have a front heated screen and do use it sometimes but as others say with blown air heating and aircon the screen can be cleared pretty quickly.
I wear glasses when driving and find in certain conditions when the sun is low in the sky etc. the heating elements can be distracting.
I would suggest that a heated screen is one of those 'nice to have' options but not at all necessary.

 

[BeagleMum]

We have a front heated screen and do use it sometimes but as others say with blown air heating and aircon the screen can be cleared pretty quickly.
I wear glasses when driving and find in certain conditions when the sun is low in the sky etc. the heating elements can be distracting.
I would suggest that a heated screen is one of those 'nice to have' options but not at all necessary.

Interesting, have never noticed the elements under same conditions you’ve described

 

[rod_vw]

Interesting, have never noticed the elements under same conditions you’ve described

I think it's all down to my glasses and very definitely varies with the the light conditions.

 

[DavidofHook]

I've had a heated screen on two Fords we have had in the past and it is one of the things I miss now on those frosty mornings. It's a great thing to have in my view, never had any problem with sunlight on the wires, I'd go for it myself.