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Hello and any opinions on a Beach vs Caravelle+roof?

D

da_murphster

Messages
82
Location
Bristol
Vehicle
T5 SE 180
All, long time lurker and T5.1 Caravelle owner that has utilised many threads on here for help - finest achievement is the rear tray and associated cooking and storage modules.

I've had my Caravelle for 18 months or so and loved it as a family adventure wagon for 3 Euro trips and several camping trips.

I was considering a pop top on my Caravelle but the cost is high, but my biggest brake to doing it was my current Caravelle is 135k and 13 years old. Just not sure its worth it on my van.

A beach was the obvious upgrade option but as a daily family wagon I'm struggling with the lower spec they usually are (manual, no leather, no climate, 140/150 over my current biturbo 180 (I know the history of these engines BTW). I'd be looking at at least an extra £10k over mine for a beach and it would be comparatively basic spec.

Another option is a decent spec T6 204 Caravelle (with adaptive cruise, DSG, adaptive suspension etc) and add the beach pop top - I could do this for comfortably under £40k. I came from a 400bhp V8 estate so a 204bhp is appealing!

Of note there is a nice T6 beach on fleabay for £40k....but 150bhp, manual a/c, no adaptive suspension, no adaptive cruise etc.

I could retrofit Beach/Cali rear blind & chair holder, vanessa rear bags for rear windows.....so its just the mid two windows I'd be missing the beach blinds on (I do not think anyone has retrofitted these have they?)

So - Caravelle with roof vs beach - residuals? anything I've not thought of?

Residuals are important to me as I'd be stretching myself for a £40k van.
 
Sorry I mean to start with a 'hello':)

Is there no 'edit' ability on posts?
 
Just to add I really like the electric closing doors and caravelle seat system so not really looking at alternative T5/T6 conversions.
 
Beach! always..they hold their value and its VW design and factory conversion rather than a third party. More sought after,
 
Beach! always..they hold their value and its VW design and factory conversion rather than a third party. More sought after,
I do like them but as this is a daily family vehicle the 'posher bits' from the Caravelle will be missed.

Me stepping from a T5.1 Caravelle to a similar age/mileage T5.1 Beach is £10k+ and a drop in spec.

A Caravelle with a (maybe OEM beach) pop top does seem attractive.

Losing my shirt on depreciation does worry me though.
 
cool, if your going to keep it and happy stick with what you have. Ive had conversions in the past and just personal choice sticking with the Beach.
 
We have a beach as our daily driver, I think by the time your think of trying to add factory blinds, electric hookup leisure battery’s etc plus the table in door and rear chairs in boot you would be better investing in a beach.

The only reason I’d personally consider converting a caravelle into a beach is if I had to have 4 motion as you can’t get that in the uk.
 
We have a T6 Beach as a family car. It is fantastic and we regularly convert it from a 7 seat MPV to/from a four/five berth campervan.

I find the 150 engine ample for our needs.

Apart from the mid range engine, ours is very high spec., with ACC, tri-zone climate control, parking heater, 2 captains chairs in second row which convert to Group 2/3 child seats, etc.

It cost £44,444 new in March 2017, so I’m confident you could find a similar spec. for well under £40,000.

As a baseline, We Buy Any Car is currently valuing Amarillo at £28,755. You should look to be paying at least that.
 
Another very high spec Beach T6 owner
former Velle T5 owner

have a serious look at a well specced Beach and try the150
 
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I do like them but as this is a daily family vehicle the 'posher bits' from the Caravelle will be missed.
What specifically on the Velle would you miss that’s not available on a Beach ?

@Catbus would be the person to ad, about the conversion, his looks exceptional, but I would assume it would come at a price ?
 
Cheapest T6 beach on the market is £40k.


No leisure battery, no auto AC, no ACC, no heater.

Makes buying a high spec one in 2017 for £44k look a bargain!

Do prices drop in winter?
 
Cheapest T6 beach on the market is £40k.


No leisure battery, no auto AC, no ACC, no heater.

Makes buying a high spec one in 2017 for £44k look a bargain!

Do prices drop in winter?
High spec = high residual on a Beach, they are much less common than Oceans, which makes finding a high Spec Beach the challenge.
 
Cheapest T6 beach on the market is £40k.


No leisure battery, no auto AC, no ACC, no heater.

Makes buying a high spec one in 2017 for £44k look a bargain!

Do prices drop in winter?
I would suggest that one in your link may have a leisure battery, it has the 12v socket above the 230v internal three pin plug ?
worth an ask

Edit: Leisure Bat should have been standard on a T6 Beach (not so on T5.1 / T5 )

if it didn’t have the battery I believe it would be fairly simple to install a spilt charger and have the 230v hook up correctly wired to charge the LB when on EHU

It has Cruise Control on the steering wheel - see marked up photo

diesel night heater easy retro fit.

rear air con can’t be retro fitted

maybe worth checking the spec vs your requirements with the seller

37DEFEE2-C4DE-4BEE-A816-B91BF5F4C772.jpeg
 
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Try
We have a T6 Beach as a family car. It is fantastic and we regularly convert it from a 7 seat MPV to/from a four/five berth campervan.

I find the 150 engine ample for our needs.

Apart from the mid range engine, ours is very high spec., with ACC, tri-zone climate control, parking heater, 2 captains chairs in second row which convert to Group 2/3 child seats, etc.

It cost £44,444 new in March 2017, so I’m confident you could find a similar spec. for well under £40,000.

As a baseline, We Buy Any Car is currently valuing Amarillo at £28,755. You should look to be paying at least that.
Try finding a 2017 Beach for under £40K at the moment. It would be a very high mileage if you did!
 
My advice would be to decide whether you really ‘need’ a pop top.

If yes - Get a Beach
If No - Keep the Caravelle. You could still add a leisure battery/ portable power station, heater, and other bits relatively cheaply.

I have been through this thought process before buying. As others have said, by the time you add up all the bits, there is likely not a lot of difference in price and the Beach would hold its value better. On the other hand the recently converted ‘Calivelle’ on this site really does look amazing!!
 
I assume as a daily driver the Caravelle meets your needs but you don't say what kind of use you are looking at in terms of camping. It sounds as though you like the current Caravelle. If it's in good condition it should last you for another few years. There's a chance that second hand prices will come down in a year or two when more pandemic purchasers realise it wasn't the right thing.

Why not try to make your Caravell work for your camping needs without spending on anything permanent like a pop-top?

You could get a roof mounted tent (possibly second hand) and sell it later on if you change your mind. Similarly you could get whatever kitchen solution you would get if you had a Beach, a portable LiFePo generator, etc. Basically things that you could either sell or transfer to a newer Caravelle or Beach at a later time.
 
What specifically on the Velle would you miss that’s not available on a Beach ?

@Catbus would be the person to ad, about the conversion, his looks exceptional, but I would assume it would come at a price ?
Yeah, I looked at the Beach before going down the California roof conversion for a Caravelle but you couldn’t spec Beach options anywhere near what you could with a Caravelle.
A Caravelle SE is comparable to a spec’d out Beach but the Caravelle Executive spec added many things as standard that were even optional on a 204 Ocean.

I guess what you need to ask yourself what you want out of a van. If you needed a full kitchen conversion and only a single door then it’s the wrong route to take with a Caravelle.
Also it’s a question of value of van vs the conversion cost.
A full California roof conversion (with keeping it so it looking like factory fitted) isn’t a cheap way to do it; my roof conversion alone was over 20% of what paid for the van (3 and half years old and very low mileage) so it still made financial sense when taking all of that into account.
I don’t know what the original owner paid for it in 2017, but in 2020 I spec’d a new T6.1 with all the same options I have in my T6 before pulling the trigger and VW wanted £72k
 
I’m still looking at this. Spoken to kernow about oem beach/California roofs.

Basically the cost of a top spec T6 caravelle plus oem roof (and potentially allowing a few £k to do leisure battery, heater, rear hatch seat carrier) is the same as the current beach prices. £40k would do it.

But you would certainly get more van and spec for your money with the conversion….. but it’s obviously not an oem beach.

The only things you miss are the blinds and ability to put the table up on the fixed door.
 
I’d not thought of a roof on a Caravelle - if you already had ‘a keeper’ vehicle, and esp. if happy to sleep upstairs only ? - then maybe you’d not miss the factory blinds etc

Depreciation & narrowed resale appeal would be the relative disadvantage: webuyanycar thinks my £42K 2016 basic T6 Beach is still worth £32K / 76%
 
I’d not thought of a roof on a Caravelle - if you already had ‘a keeper’ vehicle, and esp. if happy to sleep upstairs only ? - then maybe you’d not miss the factory blinds etc

Depreciation & narrowed resale appeal would be the relative disadvantage: webuyanycar thinks my £42K 2016 basic T6 Beach is still worth £32K / 76%

I have not seen a T6 Beach under £40k yet - and those have been relatively low spec ones.

Ref the blinds etc I would be looking at buying/fitting a beach/california rear door bit with the blind and seats - so that would be the rear blind.

Happy with vanessa bags to rear windows - that just leaves the mid two windows missing the Beach type - I would just have to lump that.

Your point on resale is probably the only reason I am nervous about doing this - although my self justification would be a converted caravelle with an oem roof would be a pretty simple thing - not like a aftermarket camper with unknown quality etc.
 
So two identically priced T6 vans :
- one is standard beach,
- one is converted caravelle, 204bhp, DSG, maybe 4motion, twin doors, nicer spec inside, dynamic suspension etc.

I'd like to think people would at least be tempted by the converted caravelle?

But I am a sucker for taking the difficult paths with things to get what I want!
 
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