Hi, new GC600 owner checking in!

[maxtorque]

Hi All,

I'm about to be a Grand Cali 600 owner!
We are not new to VW campervans, also having a modified 4motionT6 LWB combi swamper for 4 years now , but the GC is our first proper "bigish" motorhome!

Having both given up our jobs, my other half and I are doing a European and Morocan adventure this year, hence the GC purchase.

Got some mods planned, including a fair few OffGrid mods (5kWh of 24v lithium, 3kW inverter, Ugraded solar & MPPT, exterior light mods, underguards and perhaps most suprisingly, the van is getting "4motion" installed! So stay tuned for some fun with the spanners and soldering iron ;-)


Happy vanlife days ahead hopefully,

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Jimmylondon07]

Welcome to the Grand club my friend! Just a question, how come you opted for the GC600? I think if I was going to be spending that much time in it and it was just the two of us I’d be seriously considering a 680. No judgement, both great vans, just curious!

 

[Jester]

Welcome Paul, like the adventure plans ahead, guessing you are also up-plating the van also as sure you will be well over even if it’s a 3880Kg with all you plans and as Jimmy says if you’re spending so much time in it the 680 would be your weapon of choice.
I’ve had both and the 680 has far more storage. Good luck anyway i’m sure you will make it work whatever you decide. Hopefully you have a C1 license already.

 

[maxtorque]

Welcome to the Grand club my friend! Just a question, how come you opted for the GC600? I think if I was going to be spending that much time in it and it was just the two of us I’d be seriously considering a 680. No judgement, both great vans, just curious!

yes, we um'd and er'd a fair bit, but three things swung it towards the 600!

1) a rather nice, virtually brand new 600 turned up just down the road from us (4k miles on the clock, 18mths old)

2) we are trading up from a T6, so honestly, even the inside of the 600 feels MASSIVE !

3) the BEST bit about our little t6 swamper is it is small, and can get off the beaten track, we didn't want to loose too much of that capability, so the slightly shorter wheelbase was the choice


The thing we did find odd was that the 600 has the 4berth option but the 680 i don't think does (in the uk at least) could wrong here. And we wanted at least a spare occasional bed for when people are coming out to visit us on our travels

 

[maxtorque]

Welcome Paul, like the adventure plans ahead, guessing you are also up-plating the van also as sure you will be well over even if it’s a 3880Kg with all you plans and as Jimmy says if you’re spending so much time in it the 680 would be your weapon of choice.
I’ve had both and the 680 has far more storage. Good luck anyway i’m sure you will make it work whatever you decide. Hopefully you have a C1 license already.

One advantage of being an old git is the C1 come for free on our ,er, "classic" licences!

I'm adding up weights now, to see where we will sit. Biggest gain is the rear axle where we will be swapping out the hollow non driven beam axle for the 4wd one with a diff and haldex unit (looking like around a 35kg increase) and the 4wd bevel box addition (roughly 15kg) and the inverter and batteries (another 35kg)

 

[mr pg]

Be interested to see your lithium setup. From factory I believe there's about 100kg difference between 2wd and 4motion.

 

[Razor Crest]

Not sure if it’s the same on the 600 as it is on the 680, but I am having SVTech uprate my 680 from 3.88 to 4.2 as it’s just a paperwork exercise.

 

[maxtorque]

Be interested to see your lithium setup. From factory I believe there's about 100kg difference between 2wd and 4motion.

That sounds about right mass wise, i suspect they plate up a bit for the 4motion as it is likely to see a heavier duty cycle and load profile.

Currently targetting 5kWh of 24v lithium, basically 2 x 24v 100Ah batteries in parallel. 24v is a no-brainer once you get above 2kW of power, i'd have gone to 48v ( 2 x 24v in series) honestly, but i already have the victron 24v 3kW inverter left over from another project.

Have a DC/DC between the vans 12v side and the 24v lithium, so can optimise engine based charging, and have 240VAC -> 24v charger so it will charge off shore power when connected (also will run an auto change over contactor, so plugging in shore power (ie caravan socket) will push the van 240 outlets over to that shore power automagically.

I need to do a bit of reseach and reverse engineering on the std fit Powertrain 12v battery and the 12v leisure battery fit out. It's my current understanding they both charge from the engine alternator (split charge relay driven from BCM i guess on an "engine run" signal) but they also both charge from shore power when that is connected, so there must be a rectifer charger unit somewhere i guess?

WIll also look to add some more solar charging via an MPPT controller, but i understand the roof area of these vans is really limited (lots of sky lights and vents etc up there) so we may just install a DC inlet connector and just use a static fold out panel array that we can set up next to van on sunny days. It might be possible to actually hang this down off the side of the van on some sort of quick release system i guess?

 

[maxtorque]

Not sure if it’s the same on the 600 as it is on the 680, but I am having SVTech uprate my 680 from 3.88 to 4.2 as it’s just a paperwork exercise.

interesting yes, i need to look into this, does the 600 start at a 3500kg rating?

 

[Jester]

interesting yes, i need to look into this, does the 600 start at a 3500kg rating?

Yes unless it’s an import from Europe, then they can start at 3200 kg