Introduction

[Stu@rt]

Evening one and all,

I've been lurking unregistered, for over a year now, as I research & research & research some more, my potential purchase.
Can I firstly say that you have a great community on here. Never ceases to amaze how quickly someone will impart their knowledge on a problem. I've even seen posts where someone has driven past a Cali at an overseas garage and asked if it was someone from here in need of help - Amazing.

We hired a T6 conversion summer 19 and I have been hooked on the idea of a Cali ever since.
Obviously this year's events have pushed prices through the roof and every check of the classifieds on here and my daily check of Autotrader makes my heart sink. Telling myself that the prices will start to fall once the kids return to school, but that doesn't seem to have materialised yet.
Surely some of this years impulse buys must come to market soon eh?

Then, as others before me, I start to wonder if you could get better/cheaper options new (And the peace of mind by extending the warranty). Looking at AutoeBid I see the discounts on the Coast and wonder if I/we should make the stretch.

So previously looking for a good value used T6 Ocean, now maybe looking at a 6.1 Coast with only a few cheaper options.

Not wanting to pull the hasty trigger with AutoeBid, I completed the VW site Test Drive form, madly assuming that it would just find me my nearest dealer with a Coast as a demonstrator. Oh no! As many will probably know, you have to pick a dealer and then wait for them to email, telling you that they have no demonstrators at the moment. So you fill the form out a 2nd time and pick a dealer a little further away and the same happens and then a 3rd. Wow what a system! Really frustrating when you consider the cost.
So I reach out to VW via social media and asking them to find me one. Another frustrating few days waiting for the twitter account handler to conveniently miss the point again and again and then ask me if there is anything else they could help me with. Grrrr!

So I guess the reason for breaking my silence this evening and registering for your fabulous community is partly to vent with my frustration at the hands of the VW website and the people who run their social media platforms, but more importantly to ask for a sensible approach on the next steps.

I have only ever driven the one manual T6 conversion that we hired last year, so have no experience of the DSG box of either the T6 or 6.1. I have seen plenty on here that have pulled the trigger without a test drive, but I could never be that brave. We really need to see the inside of a Coast and test drive one before committing. We live in SE Kent and the 3 nearest dealers have no demonstrators at all at the moment. I am quite happy to travel a reasonable distance for a test drive, but we don't seem to be blessed with the plethora of helpful dealerships that I read about in Liverpool / Poole / Birmingham etc. None of the dealers that I have reached out to thus far have offered an option and VW themselves even told me today, that C19 meant that many dealerships were still not offering test drives? Made me feel a little reality detached for not even realising that could still be an issue. How bad do I feel now?

Is anyone aware of Coast demonstrators within a few hours of SE Kent?
Anyone had test drives recently?
I did see a post recently with a dealer listing some stock Ocean's but the budget will not stretch that far. I haven't seen any dealer on here list stock Coasts recently.
I am familiar with the VW used commercial website (& check it with the same regularity as Autotrader) I assume that there is no central site that lists dealers new stock?

Thanks for taking the time to read guys. Any words of wisdom gratefully received.

Stuart

 

[AlisonF]

I can’t help with dealers / Coasts - but appreciate the clarity of your introductory post and hope someone can advise of where you can test drive a Coast pretty soon.