Hello - 'Acapulco Blue' T6 Beach

[hirsty]

Not in Acapulco sadly, but North Yorkshire ... I've been a long-term lurker, registered in March & paid-up in April and I'm pleased to say I picked up my T6 Beach 150 DSG with a 2-seat bench on #SuperCaliFriday along with a few others who may have posted some bits here & there ... I'm sure this would do just as well in either Intros or Beach section, but here we are.

I've come to a California after 4-years in a 2009 T5 conversion convinced me that a) van life is for me, being outdoors & camping / cycling / walking / lazing really is my thing and b) a VW van works very well as a daily driver and sole vehicle. Most of my work travel is by train & the VW is in lieu of car for me, so it has to cover school runs / tip / supermarket / B&Q etc and excels at everything I've thrown at it so far.

Prior to that I did a lot of caravanning as a kid, ran an ex-British Telecom Bedford HA van as a student, borrowed my Dads brilliant Hymer B-Class when I became a father myself (too big a van for me), a bit of half-hearted tent camping at Le Mans, and a few rentals of air cooled VWs (too short-range) more recently.

Having made what turned out to be a minor mistake buying the last of the T5s when I couldn't afford a T5.1 I decided to overstretch the budget & get a T6, particularly as T5.1 prices remain so firm. I didn't finish my first gas bottle in four years, so a Beach was self-selecting as we didn't need another unused kitchen to lug around. Fairly light spec - my only must-haves were aircon (which is standard now), parking beeps and DSG having had it before in a '54 Touran. I like to keep things simple & actively did not want power-folding mirrors, active cruise, swivelling foglights or an electric roof - I share Gordon Murrays affection for the first Renault Kangoo ...

A pre-registered demo with delivery miles came up on the VW Approved Used website & I was driving it home 27-hours after first phoning the dealer - blown away by how smooth, quiet & refined it is on rattly country roads and motorway alike:

 

[hirsty]

Cruise Control was included in the listed spec but absent from the left hand stalk, so that's a conversation for tomorrow morning ...

I know you can add it as a retrofit - the guy in Coventry seems to be quite prolific. I have the MFD fitted already, so whilst I think it's a £208 option at ordering time it seems to be about £370 to fit afterwards as it's 2.5 hours labour (plus a stalk )

 

[hirsty]

the Moonrock Grey interior is very pale & the carpet would've been knackered in 10-minutes, so job #1 on Saturday was to roughly cut-out a section of some random orange coloured (and orange peel textured!) vinyl flooring I had stashed in the cellar to brighten-up the old T5.

Looks okay & pic to follow - it'll do til I've decided what to order as a permanent solution. I don't see that I'll be sliding the bench on the rails unless I'm putting the bed down, so any temp carpet or lino could just be rolled up or slung out under the awning or under the van at night. One to mull.

 

[Stoneybroke]

Brilliant. Have fun!
And I see from the photos that the front seats swivel.

 

[hirsty]

cheers, yep - definitely a swiveller!

at handover we talked only of swivelling & sat nav, salesman said that was where the majority of questions came from by far.

 

[Sp0_0k]

Nice to see somebody goes for 2 seater bench.

 

[sapto]

Looks great: colour, wheels! Hope you get all what was promised to you!

 

[storma63]

Hi Hirsty, welcome, thats a great looking beach.

 

[hirsty]

they're the standard 16" wheels which I thought might be a bit small, but they look fine in person - rides very nicely both slow & fast and the rims themselves are quite well protected by the rubber (I kerb wheels, it's very tight parking round my way).

I don't think I'm going to muck about with it too much now, having had side-rails, 17" wheels, dubflecta window things etc on the last one.

 

[hirsty]

I'm also okay with the silver awning - the black one doesn't look any better IMO, although if it had've been black I'd have had a better excuse to justify Dakar wheels

 

[hirsty]

I do like a side stripe though, perhaps a subtle silver one?

View media item 945

 

[hirsty]

Cruise Control was included in the listed spec but absent from the left hand stalk, so that's a conversation for tomorrow morning ...

I know you can add it as a retrofit - the guy in Coventry seems to be quite prolific. I have the MFD fitted already, so whilst I think it's a £208 option at ordering time it seems to be about £370 to fit afterwards as it's 2.5 hours labour (plus a stalk )

Dealer claims that cruise control is not yet available as a retrofit option on the T6 - the parts are physically not available for sale. Will be doing a ring around ...

 

[CALI FATE]

Listers Worcester told me i could have it fitted

 

[Borris]

they're the standard 16" wheels which I thought might be a bit small, but they look fine in person - rides very nicely both slow & fast and the rims themselves are quite well protected by the rubber (I kerb wheels, it's very tight parking round my way).

I don't think I'm going to muck about with it too much now, having had side-rails, 17" wheels, dubflecta window things etc on the last one.

Also the 16" tyres are a lot cheaper.

 

[hirsty]

Listers won't / don't do cruise & referred me to an Independent.

Teeside sent me an email which didn't make much sense, but hinted the parts aren't yet available but a Polo stalk might work?

Neither make me feel super confident in betting half-a-house worth of brand new van on a fairly small item!

 

[soulstyledevon]

Listers Worcester told me i could have it fitted

I remember my vehicle came without cruise. Worcester said they could retro-fit but were adding am extra third party stalk. I didn't want that, so got Hazzy to fit original cruise stalk.
Somehow they knew how to do it, but the dealer said it wasn't possible

 

[soulstyledevon]

Great colour Hiristy

 

[CALI FATE]

Great colour Hiristy

clever how you got the cali shadow onto that mountain - you must have some flashgun

 

[hirsty]

I remember my vehicle came without cruise. Worcester said they could retro-fit but were adding am extra third party stalk. I didn't want that, so got Hazzy to fit original cruise stalk.
Somehow they knew how to do it, but the dealer said it wasn't possible

The dealer proposed adding a third-party stalk rather than an OEM VW part?

Who is Hazzy please? - they fitted the VW OEM stalk that the dealer couldn't / wouldn't?

I'd assumed it'd be the same factory part that's used in many current gen VW / Audi / Skoda / Seats, just stuck in a poly bag & given a part no. It seems that the T6 is different to the T5.1 here - probably the electrical / loom / BCM parts rather than the physical stalk itself.

I now have about six contradictory responses but no-one saying they can and/or have done it on a T6 yet.

 

[Digger]

Vanworx advertise that they can do retrofit. Maybe they can help.

 

[hirsty]

cheers, I'll try them tomorrow then @Digger

 

[Digger]

Hope they can help as they seem competent.

 

[soulstyledevon]

The dealer proposed adding a third-party stalk rather than an OEM VW part?

Who is Hazzy please? - they fitted the VW OEM stalk that the dealer couldn't / wouldn't?

I'd assumed it'd be the same factory part that's used in many current gen VW / Audi / Skoda / Seats, just stuck in a poly bag & given a part no. It seems that the T6 is different to the T5.1 here - probably the electrical / loom / BCM parts rather than the physical stalk itself.

I now have about six contradictory responses but no-one saying they can and/or have done it on a T6 yet.

Had mine fitted in 2013 and it's been faultless. They come to your house and complete the installation on the driveway.
Absolutely spot on

http://hazzydayz.com/vw-transporter-t6-cruise-control---2015-6869-p.asp