Help -Cannot Decide!! (Coast, Ocean, Marco Polo or Nugget)

[Thepuma]

As the title suggests, I'm just about to pull the trigger on our first foray into camper vanning but with so much choice and all the options having pros and cons, I'm struggling - I keep going from one to the other.

I need some help/advice/tips from those who have been in a similar situation, to help make the final decision.

Heres the rub...

1) VW Cali OCEAN
Cost - £57k
Pros - Got everything we need, Residual values, tied and tested camper.
Cons - cost (most expensive out of the 4 choices) not as luxurious as the MP

2) VW Cali Coast
Cost - £50k

Pros - Cheap with great residual, probably get back almost all the cost if sold it after a year. A classic camper at a good price.
Cons - Doesnt have the large zip out window in the pop top (but can add), manual roof (although its one less thing to go wrong), interior cloth probably not the best aesthetically or quality wise.

3) Marco Polo
Cost - £49k

Pros - Most luxurious of the 4, great quality drive and comfort, leather interior, best spec of the 4.
Cons - Table and Chairs poor location in boot, no front window in pop top, not as good residual value. 6 month waiting list.

4) Ford Nugget

Cost - £59k list (but doesn't appear on DTD or AEB so hard to know what price is possible.)

Pros - By far the best arrangement of cabin/lounge/kitchen. Hot water in kitchen
Cons - Unknown residual values, storage potentially an issue as kitchen in boot space. Not many (any) about to get user reviews on.


So there it is...can anyone add to this and maybe come up with something I've missed or advice on this....I've got my hand on the trigger to purchase one.

I suppose for me the total cost of ownership plays a big part....My head goes with the VW Coast as I can get it for £49k and if I decided to sell it in 12 months time (anyones situations can change at any moment) then id say i could get almost what I paid back for it..maybe £2k loss at most? And so this is the least risky.

I love the quality of the MP but the 6 months wait puts me off as foes this issue they have with their paint bubbling roof. The Nugget is my favourite layout by far, but its hard to get any reviews on it or know the residuals, which poses a risk financially on my decision. The Ocean has a good spec but is the most expensive and I believe would lose more than the Coast short term.

Decisions decisions.

 

[TripleBee]

I don't know where you get your prices from, but a same specced MP will be at least the price of the Ocean.
And to be honest, if your only concern is the residual value, and you are already mentioning selling it after 12 months, why would you buy one in the first place? If you don't buy one, you will have lost £0, so that is way better than throwing away £2000.
For me, this was and still is the last thing on my mind.
Why would you not buy a second or third hand one, and sell it 12 months later for the same price you bought it?

 

[larrylamb]

Your post sounds like you have it sussed. I wouldn't make a big deal of the front zip out window, not essential. Coast sounds good with a few carefully chosen extras.

 

[Meoncoast]

Think the Coast you can add the zip open large window as an extra when I was looking

 

[Thepuma]

I don't know where you get your prices from, but a same specced MP will be at least the price of the Ocean.
And to be honest, if your only concern is the residual value, and you are already mentioning selling it after 12 months, why would you buy one in the first place? If you don't buy one, you will have lost £0, so that is way better than throwing away £2000.
For me, this was and still is the last thing on my mind.
Why would you not buy a second or third hand one, and sell it 12 months later for the same price you bought it?

The MP price is from Autoebid - I've attached the screenshot.

I get your point "why bother" - but my point being I guess is that this is my first camper, who knows if I will take to it? Who knows if ill lost my job in 12 months due to covid redundancies etc etc....BUT, if it costs very little due to resale values being so good, then to me its a no brainer, lifes too short - why not try it and find out rather than play safe and never know l, always wondering "what if".....I have the money in the bank earning 1% so I'm hardly losing much in interest by using it to buy a van.

And who know...I may absolutely love it and keep it ten years!!

The point being, its not a huge financial risk - not like paying £55k for a car and it being worth £40k in 12 months.

 

[Thepuma]

Why would you not buy a second or third hand one, and sell it 12 months later for the same price you bought it?

True...in an ideal world...but at the moment a 12 month old one is pretty much the same as new, so its a no brainer to buy new. I mean, even 5 year old ones are going for £45k so for me personally I see the value in new.

But yes, if I could get a 12 month old one for £5k less than new then yes, id do that. But 2nd hand values are crazy at the moment which is why I'm buying new.

We normally go to America a couple of times a year which costs £3k plus each time, so with covid stopping that we will be no worse financially getting a camper and potentially selling when covid is done and in the meantime do some touring in the camper and add a new life experience.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Wouldn’t get too tied up with resale values as these are never guaranteed; Go for van layout that works best for your needs.

 

[CaliMac]

I was in a similar position a year ago then chose the Coast with a couple of options. The MP is nice but the tacky window curtains let it down most imo.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

True...in an ideal world...but at the moment a 12 month old one is pretty much the same as new, so its a no brainer to buy new. I mean, even 5 year old ones are going for £45k so for me personally I see the value in new.

But yes, if I could get a 12 month old one for £5k less than new then yes, id do that. But 2nd hand values are crazy at the moment which is why I'm buying new.

We normally go to America a couple of times a year which costs £3k plus each time, so with covid stopping that we will be no worse financially getting a camper and potentially selling when covid is done and in the meantime do some touring in the camper and add a new life experience.

True, but what is the actual lead / delivery time on a new van. This might explain the small price differential between new & nearly new.

 

[CaliMac]

A concern I would have with the Nugget is that everytime I see a rusty panel van, it has a Ford badge on the front.

 

[Thepuma]

True, but what is the actual lead / delivery time on a new van. This might explain the small price differential between new & nearly new.

Yep..this is definitely a minus point to buying new. The dealer did say that he thinks we may have it this year, but from what I've heard in here its realistically going to be February, which I'm totally fine with as I'll only be losing the winter months and also would then probably also wait a few weeks and get it registered March for the 21 plate.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

A concern I would have with the Nugget is that everytime I see a rusty panel van, it has a Ford badge on the front.

Same could be said about the Cali roof!

 

[WelshGas]

The MP price is from Autoebid - I've attached the screenshot.

I get your point "why bother" - but my point being I guess is that this is my first camper, who knows if I will take to it? Who knows if ill lost my job in 12 months due to covid redundancies etc etc....BUT, if it costs very little due to resale values being so good, then to me its a no brainer, lifes too short - why not try it and find out rather than play safe and never know l, always wondering "what if".....I have the money in the bank earning 1% so I'm hardly losing much in interest by using it to buy a van.

And who know...I may absolutely love it and keep it ten years!!

The point being, its not a huge financial risk - not like paying £55k for a car and it being worth £40k in 12 months.

View attachment 67324

The fact that you can get a 23% Discount on a Marco Polo should tell you something, especially at this time when Campervans are flying out of the Forecourt.

 

[Scoobz1]

The point being, its not a huge financial risk - not like paying £55k for a car and it being worth £40k in 12 months.

View attachment 67324

It could well be if we have a deep recession, which is looking more likely than not. The Government has managed to insulate the majority of people from the impact of Covid up untill now, but the time will come when the money will run out and or needs to be paid back

 

[TripleBee]

If you are not sure it's your cup of tea, You'd better hire one for a few holidays. That way you could find out if you are in for it or not.
Buying one, trying, findind out it's not for you looks quite improvident (?).
Then trying to sell it for the price you bought it makes you no better than all the others who sell their 1 year old van for a nearly new price you don't want to spend at, like you said.

 

[GrannyJen]

My view, having for the second time just done the round of camper and MH suppliers and who three years ago fell in love with the MP and fell out of love again:

The MP. Hopelessly fussy in the downstairs bed area and almost everyone I have known or read about having one have had disrupted nights sleep due to inability to getting the bed level. All those glossy, shiny surfaces in the habitation area would drive me nuts. It loses out on having a much more "luxury car" feel in the front as there's nowhere to put anything and the bit I love about the Cali is there's always a nook and cranny somewhere to stow something away. The table and chairs arrangement is a dogs dinner, the dealer knowledge even worse than VW and an almost non-existent community to get ideas and support from.

The Nugget: Please find me one that I can sit in and test drive. It is a camper, nothing else, you can't convert it into a van and stuff it full of stuff like you can the Cali. No community, no history of resale values, almost non-existent presence, buying a pig in a poke.

A Cali. It's a Cali. Does all those things that I wish the others would plus a community of nearly 20,000 members to get tons of support from plus a track record of multiple usage going back decades. You know what you are getting and what it does and with the limitation of size it does it very well indeed.

 

[Wondering Star]

Wellhouse leisure may be worth a look if you go down the Ford route, suspect you will get more sense out of them than the Ford dealership.
Saw one on a campsite last year in Austria and was impressed.
Small side kitchen with 3 belted rear seats.
They also do a LWB and high top.

 

[Soton Campers]

The MP price is from Autoebid - I've attached the screenshot.

I get your point "why bother" - but my point being I guess is that this is my first camper, who knows if I will take to it? Who knows if ill lost my job in 12 months due to covid redundancies etc etc....BUT, if it costs very little due to resale values being so good, then to me its a no brainer, lifes too short - why not try it and find out rather than play safe and never know l, always wondering "what if".....I have the money in the bank earning 1% so I'm hardly losing much in interest by using it to buy a van.

And who know...I may absolutely love it and keep it ten years!!

The point being, its not a huge financial risk - not like paying £55k for a car and it being worth £40k in 12 months.

View attachment 67324

Have you got the same screenshot for the California Ocean?

 

[2haw]

Sounds like a 50k Coast is your best bet.

i know that if I’d bought a Nugget and a California pulled up next to me at the lights, I’d always be wondering if I’d made the right decision.

 

[2haw]

Personally though, I’d have to add about 5 grands worth of options to a Coast and I think an Ocean will always be worth 4-5 grand more, so I’d think sod it and go for the Ocean!!

 

[2into1]

After 3 years Marco Polo buyers still don't seem to understand the heater options so be very careful if you go that route that you actually get a proper parking heater. That might add £1.5k to your price???

 

[VWCoastbusters]

I'd be cautious about resale values especially when the market has been hugely buoyant with campervan sales this year. A dealer tolf me this week theyve done 3 years sales in 6 months! If the recession worsens (likely) and there are job losses etc, the market could well be flooded with second hands and then asking prices will drop. The figures you're seeing right now are not typical for Calis over the last 5-10 years. Yes, they hold value but not to the current extent. In my view, it's like buying at the top of a housing bubble.

Whilst I love them, they are not for everyone and I'd really recommend hiring them a few times before choosing to buy. Some people/families love them, others don't. In fact we bought our 5.1 from someone who's bought for his family and the kids hated it.

Also, as an aside, the Coast is new to the UK market so there are no resale records to consider. And now the Beach is coming back, it will be interesting to see if the Coast stays or goes, which could affect its resale either way.

 

[2into1]

I'd be cautious about resale values especially when the market has been hugely buoyant with campervan sales this year. A dealer tolf me this week theyve done 3 years sales in 6 months! If the recession worsens (likely) and there are job losses etc, the market could well be flooded with second hands and then asking prices will drop. The figures you're seeing right now are not typical for Calis over the last 5-10 years. Yes, they hold value but not to the current extent. In my view, it's like buying at the top of a housing bubble.

Whilst I love them, they are not for everyone and I'd really recommend hiring them a few times before choosing to buy. Some people/families love them, others don't. In fact we bought our 5.1 from someone who's bought for his family and the kids hated it.

Also, as an aside, the Coast is new to the UK market so there are no resale records to consider. And now the Beach is coming back, it will be interesting to see if the Coast stays or goes, which could affect its resale either way.

Good Post. Add in the fact that all the new demand has left the campsites full and charging more than the empty hotels (OK slight exaggeration but you get the point).

 

[sapto]

Hi and welcome!

Wow great and exciting time to decide! As mentioned before: Rent or lend one and in fact it doesn't matter which one it is just to get a feeling of camping in a - let's be honest - car. And best would be to test in aweful weather conditions because camping in sun and warmth is not much of a challenge.

I hope you soon find what you're looking for! And when decided for a VW one you'll find a lot of friendly people on here happy to help and answer all kind of questions!

 

[Thepuma]

Have you got the same screenshot for the California Ocean?

Yep....