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Help.. finalising the Spec

I ordered my Coast Edition LHD last week and agonised over the same options. In the end I eliminated many of the electronic nanny (imo) features and went for basic options such as cruise control without the 'adaptive' features.
The Edition Pack already includes many of the nicer features such as LED lighting front and back and interior, shower and comfort mattress which by itself doesn't get rave reviews but provides a great base on which to add additional toppers.
For personalised options I went with the wood effect floor. Looks great and being the light oak finish will brighten the interior vs the grey rubber floor covering. I also wanted the 3rd window and canvas roof bellows.
For practicality I included a detachable tow bar (I prob won't tow anything but it gives me the option to install a bike rack), AGM battery, 4 keys, rear view camera and parking sensors (prob standard on the Ocean), 80L tank, heavy duty rubber mats up front and air heater (not standard in EU spec for Coast). Privacy glass and reinforced torsion bars (since this is the 199 motor and 4motion I wanted a little rigidity for cornering).
 
Hi Newbie and welcome, I had a heated front screen on my first van conversion and loved it. I didn't have it on my Cali and didn't miss it. I personally won't spec it on my next Cali.
 
Hi Newbie and welcome, I had a heated front screen on my first van conversion and loved it. I didn't have it on my Cali and didn't miss it. I personally won't spec it on my next Cali.
Thanks Karlos
 
Hi there, we have the wood effect flooring and Discover Media pro, both worth it in my opinion; having the sat nav on the instrument cluster is a pretty cool feature and frees your big screen up for CarPlay, music, settings or whatever.. and the big touch screen is beautiful. Can’t comment on the standard flooring but the wood effect is really easy to keep clean and looks great!
Well done Tom for being on the ball. We need dealers to be proactive, otherwise we will end up buying our Calis from Amazon.
Add to spec imo,
4 keys
235 All weather tyres ( standard 215 )
Safe Box
EXTENDED WARRANTY.
Hi SusiBus - Thanks for your comment - Can you tell me your thinking on the all weather tyres?
 
Hi newbie, exciting times.
I’d say the 80L fuel tank is a no brainer as the heating runs off diesel in the tank, and the extra range will no doubt be handy at least once. It’s only £78.
Also wish I’d spec’d a tow bar to carry a cycle rack that lets you get into the boot with bikes mounted on it.
 
Hi SusiBus - Thanks for your comment - Can you tell me your thinking on the all weather tyres?
As yet, as they are on our new Cali which we are yet to collect, l have no road experience. The advice l received was that 235 that were always fitted to 180/204 Calis had been replaced by 215's. These are pure van tyres, with stiffer side walls ( probably fitted on cost or mileage reasons ) 235's AW give a better ride, plus all weather advantages Lots of good posts on the forum on these.
 
As yet, as they are on our new Cali which we are yet to collect, l have no road experience. The advice l received was that 235 that were always fitted to 180/204 Calis had been replaced by 215's. These are pure van tyres, with stiffer side walls ( probably fitted on cost or mileage reasons ) 235's AW give a better ride, plus all weather advantages Lots of good posts on the forum on these.
Thanks Susibus
 
Good afternoon,

In colder weather it easaly can happen that the front screen will fog up. Doesn't matter if it is in the morning or in the evening after work.

The front screen can get really wet and it takes ages to let the aircon and blower try the front screen. I normally never wipe the screen, because that will create streakes which are terrible at night. This means a proper clean of the entire front screen - which I hate to do.

Because of this I would recommend the heated windscreen. Will it be better? I don't know I never had a heated windscreen, but I would hope so. This option is not that expensive.

Also I would recommend the bigger diesel tank I will get at least 900 km comfortably with my 70l tank and I can't see a strech of road that won't give me an option to re-fuel. But it is the extra peasce of mind.

Happy California,
Eberhard
 
When I spec’d mine I asked a dealer if the bigger diesel tank was deeper, meaning does it extend further towards the ground than the standard tank. I didn’t want to reduce ground clearance. The sales guy asked a mechanic who said it did, so I opted for the standard tank. I’ve subsequently read that this may be wrong, and the larger capacity is just a different sensor arrangement. I don’t know which is correct.
 
Good afternoon,

In colder weather it easaly can happen that the front screen will fog up. Doesn't matter if it is in the morning or in the evening after work.

The front screen can get really wet and it takes ages to let the aircon and blower try the front screen. I normally never wipe the screen, because that will create streakes which are terrible at night. This means a proper clean of the entire front screen - which I hate to do.

Because of this I would recommend the heated windscreen. Will it be better? I don't know I never had a heated windscreen, but I would hope so. This option is not that expensive.

Also I would recommend the bigger diesel tank I will get at least 900 km comfortably with my 70l tank and I can't see a strech of road that won't give me an option to re-fuel. But it is the extra peasce of mind.

Happy California,
Eberhard
Thanks Eberhard
 
When I spec’d mine I asked a dealer if the bigger diesel tank was deeper, meaning does it extend further towards the ground than the standard tank. I didn’t want to reduce ground clearance. The sales guy asked a mechanic who said it did, so I opted for the standard tank. I’ve subsequently read that this may be wrong, and the larger capacity is just a different sensor arrangement. I don’t know which is correct.
Thanks Johna
 
Hi Newbie,
When we hired a 6.1 for a couple of days in the Summer from VW Leicester we nearly didn't go ahead with an order, mainly because the ride was quite harsh.We later found out from this brilliant forum that it was because the van had 215 tyres fitted. The 235's are meant to be much better, which makes sense as they run at a much lower pressure. I hope that's right anyway as we've ordered one now, with All Weather 235's!!!

We didn't bother with the Pro Nav - we have similar on our Passat GTE and it's ok at best. I don't like touchscreens, especially the lack of a physical volume button, that's why I stuck with the normal Nav - that is now updated to show the Nav screen on the driver dash too, so £678 for a 1" bigger screen and a few features I don't need (or have better ones on my iPhone) wasn't worth it, imho.

We debated the wood effect floor but decided it would still scratch quite easily, plus it just looked dirty all the time, so we're just going to get Brandrup fitted carpets instead.

We opted for 4 keys, 80l fuel tank, shower, bed extension mat, all weather tyres, 4MO, Diff lock, HDC, and extended (5 year) warranty.

We are also adding (dealer fitted) lowering springs, angled side bars, front and rear spoilers.

Finally we are going for leather upholstery as the seat material is absolutely rubbish for a campervan. It marks just by looking at it!!!

Birmingham are my local dealer and I'm guessing it's them that refused you any discount? They offered me 2%. I ended up ordering from Preston who have been very good so far..

Hope that helps,
Phil
 
All - Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread - All the comments were greatly appreciated.

I think its fair to say there are often no right or wrong answers on some of these choices and while i didn't change too many of my selections this really did provide me some peace of mind before placing my order.

I have now placed my order and while I won't go through my final spec - i would like to give a special thanks to Susibus - as i would have missed the all weather tyres from my selection.

Also a big thank you to Tom from the VW Breeze in Poole who was very professional and helpful today.
 
All - Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread - All the comments were greatly appreciated.

I think its fair to say there are often no right or wrong answers on some of these choices and while i didn't change too many of my selections this really did provide me some peace of mind before placing my order.

I have now placed my order and while I won't go through my final spec - i would like to give a special thanks to Susibus - as i would have missed the all weather tyres from my selection.

Also a big thank you to Tom from the VW Breeze in Poole who was very professional and helpful today.
No Problem at all and thank you very much for your time today. Glad I could help and sort this for you.

Tom
 
For the sake of openness, I ordered with Breeze and my DTD offer wasn't beaten either.

However it was pretty close and that was sufficient for me to chose the forum sponsored dealer.
 

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