Is 130 bhp Cali under powered ?

[Brian S]

My 102 hp manual 5 speed coast has been driven in the Alps several times. It takes any steep hill with ease. It cruises at 140 km/hr on the motorways. I really enjoy taking it into the mountains and I have never found it to be underpowered. It cost 4500 euro less than the 150 hp version. I have never regretted choosing it. I also prefer the less complicated engine and gearbox as there are less things to go wrong. I am always amused reading the 150hp versus 204hp discussions.

 

[clarinetbcn]

I would say not to forget the importance of the 6 speed manual, which was only available on the larger two engines. I had a 5 speed T6 Caravel (Shuttle in the UK) loaner for a month while my roof was done. 3000rpm at 120kph in the 5 speed, vs 2000rpm at 120kph in my 6 speed, made a lot of difference.

 

[Jay20cali]

Our first cali was a 130 definitely not underpowered that 5cylindr was fantastic our next cali a 140 felt underpowered compared to it .
They have so much grunt .my favourite engine

 

[Azteccamper]

Our first cali was a 130 definitely not underpowered that 5cylindr was fantastic our next cali a 140 felt underpowered compared to it .
They have so much grunt .my favourite engine

Agree. My first camper was a converted 2.5 5 pot. Loved it. Pulled like a train all over France. Had a Pendle remap At 90k miles made it fly. God I loved that van - it was our first after the kids grew up and we got rid of the caravan. Toured all over Europe in it. 130 will be fine.

 

[ChrisandPenney52]

We have a 130 2008 and the power is never an embarrassment. Have cruised all day at 90-100 mph on German Autobahns and climbed the alps and Pyrenees with enthusiasm. Engine is a bit grunty in traffic but that’s a lack of sophistication rather than performance.


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[Spottydog]

Of the 2.5TD 5cyl generation I've heard several 174hp owners mention having to be careful about high consumption, but never heard a 130 owner complain about the lack of power.

I had a 180 which was brilliant and now have a 130 which I think is grossly underpowered. It’s very slow out of junctions and up hill. Also rubbish on overtaking.

 

[tim downes]

I've been asked by a single lady friend, whom I've encouraged to become a Cali owner, and maybe the next Granny Jen(!), is a 130 bhp Cali under powered? I quite honestly haven't got a clue. For me, yes, it would be, but maybe for others not. Feedback would be much appreciated.

In my opinion they are all underpowered - I have a 204 which I think is underpowered - I think it a great shame they don’t put a 3.0 engine in and then I think it would be perfect all round

 

[DJCWORCS]

I've been asked by a single lady friend, whom I've encouraged to become a Cali owner, and maybe the next Granny Jen(!), is a 130 bhp Cali under powered? I quite honestly haven't got a clue. For me, yes, it would be, but maybe for others not. Feedback would be much appreciated.

I have had my 2007 T5 2.5 130bhp 5 pot (Sophie) for 4 years. She's been fully loaded regularly with 4 bikes, teenage son plus his 2 mates, a large tent, roof box for a camping holidays in Snowdonia, the lake district, Yorkshire, Scotland etc and I have never found her underpowered cruising up 1 in 5 hills no problem and accelerating ok when required if overtaking. I also use her to stay away in when going horse racing to far away courses and she cruises easily on motorways at the same speeds as the flowing traffic. Never missed a beat. Tax is higher than newer models (about £250, tends to go up by a fiver each year!) and diesel costs are higher than new models but as not my daily driver this is not an issue. I bought here in a private sale with a FSH and she'd been well maintained, which i have continued. Now at 107k which I consider just run in .

 

[seasiders1]

We bought ours new in 2009. When we’re in it we’re on holiday so we are not in a hurry. It can easily keep up with traffic and you can enjoy the views. Try one and see what you think, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

 

[TripleBee]

It doesn't matter if you have 86hp or 204hp. It's the amount of torque that makes the difference.
The hp you need for speed, the torque you need to get from one speed to another.
Unfortunately (or not) both depend on each other.
For me, my 140hp is enough, but I lack torque. I could use 400Nm or more. I now only have 340Nm, which is doable here in Flanders, Belgium, but not for countries with hills or mountains. Even Wallonië (French part of Belgium) has some nice inclines that use more than 340Nm of torque to get 3000kg up the hill.

But on the other hand, I have gone everywhere I wanted up to now already, so I won't really complain.
An engine with more torque should be more favourable for me, but not at the price it cost me extra.
For me, over €5000 for 60Nm more and an automatic gearbox is way over the top.
You still have the same base engine, so what makes the extra cost?

 

[Deano]

Not under powered in my opinion, Had mine from new 2008, the only thing is the DPF I'm on 105K miles and my 3rd DPF at £2500 VW price, something to bear in mind.

 

[Perfectos]

Not under powered in my opinion, Had mine from new 2008, the only thing is the DPF I'm on 105K miles and my 3rd DPF at £2500 VW price, something to bear in mind.

Hi Deno ,

Three DPF’s ? That’s severe

Do you only use the van regularly for short journeys ?
I presume the change was due to blocked DPF ?

Care to share some info for the forum discussion and suggestions?

 

[ChrisandPenney52]

My 2008 DPF let go last summer after 65k miles. Maybe worth starting a new thread to discuss?


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[2into1]

My 2008 DPF let go last summer after 65k miles. Maybe worth starting a new thread to discuss?


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Please do. I’d like to know more.

 

[Deano]

Hi Deno ,

Three DPF’s ? That’s severe

Do you only use the van regularly for short journeys ?
I presume the change was due to blocked DPF ?

Care to share some info for the forum discussion and suggestions?

Its only ever been a tent on wheels to me, most of my mileage has been long journeys Europe/Scotland/Yorkshire/Devon etc. If I hadn't used the Van for about 4 weeks I'll take it to Waitrose and back around 30 miles, The first DPF went towards the end of warranty about 26K miles, VW found it hard to diagnosis for 4 months as no code would come up when plugged in, but the engine would go into Limp mode and reset every time I turned the engine off. The first time this happened was in France and I was only a couple of miles from a VW dealer, with lights on dash still lite, they plugged it in but couldn't find fault and it reset. 2 months later when it went it for its end of warranty & MOT I told VW what had happened, no fault found. a month later going along the motorway the van went into limp mode, next day took it to VW and they said it was the N75 valve. and replaced it. used the van again a month later and you guested it Limp mode, took it in and no fault found. 2 weeks later again, so I went to a different VW garage but same dealership, and straight away the service guy said sounds like the DPF were put it on the ramp and have a look, the DPF had crumbled and broke up.So new DPF and VW paid 25% towards it. If it had been dealt with under warranty when I first took it in it wouldn't have cost me anything .
The next one was replaced at about 96K miles. Apparently VW say I was just unlucky, not quite how Ive ever seen it, when I to and throwed for 4 months to the garage. Ha Ho, Still have no desire to replace my van though for a few years, I think its only just run in.

 

[Deano]

BTW I was chatting to a guy who had same engine a while back, it had over 450k on the clock.

Some where on the forum a while ago, a guy has the 130 as his work van and has done 800K, which is a lot of miles.

 

[sapto]

We do have a 2004, 131 hp 2.5 TDI (with chain not belt) and it is okay (2+1 kid), however sometimes we just pull over to let others overtake us. We are often in no hurry, got about 13 weeks school holidays

 

[TripleBee]

We do have a 2004, 131 hp 2.5 TDI (with chain not belt)

What do you mean by that?
If you mean cambelt, you don't even have a chain.
The crank shaft and camshaft are connected through gears.



mine should be like this:

 

[sapto]

What do you mean by that?
If you mean cambelt, you don't even have a chain.
The crank shaft and camshaft are connected through gears.

View attachment 61792

mine should be like this:
View attachment 61793

Thanks for that

 

[TripleBee]

And for the TSI drivers:

 

[caligraphy]

I've been asked by a single lady friend, whom I've encouraged to become a Cali owner, and maybe the next Granny Jen(!), is a 130 bhp Cali under powered? I quite honestly haven't got a clue. For me, yes, it would be, but maybe for others not. Feedback would be much appreciated.

It depends where one is driving. For somewhere hilly like Corsica, bigger is absolutely better. Safer for over-taking too. The T5 174hp I owned was mapped to about 215hp & 500NM. The fuel economy was much better than the 104hp T4 I used to own and it had some genuine get up and go. A far better drive, even though it was heavier. I constantly averaged >40mpg, keeping the revs down, using the massive torque and avoiding unnecessary braking.

 

[caligraphy]

Of the 2.5TD 5cyl generation I've heard several 174hp owners mention having to be careful about high consumption, but never heard a 130 owner complain about the lack of power.

I think it depends on driving style very much. Use all the low down torque and the larger engine can be very economical. I easily got >600mile/tank.

 

[AndyWT]

Ask the next white van man who screams past you, of course 130 hp is enough, hp is arbitrary anyway unless you are going full tilt you don’t get to use the hp. 99% of the time you are using the engine torque which will drag a fully loaded Cali wherever you want to go.

Get in and drive the dam thing.

 

[John Slater]

We had a T5 130bhp conversion, pulled really well, with plenty of torque low down. Always happy overtaking and holding a comfy 80mph on the motorway. Quite a commercial feel in comparison to our T6 150bhp Cali.

 

[SusiBus]

Ask the next white van man who screams past you, of course 130 hp is enough, hp is arbitrary anyway unless you are going full tilt you don’t get to use the hp. 99% of the time you are using the engine torque which will drag a fully loaded Cali wherever you want to go.

Get in and drive the dam thing.

Not a very nice posting, and not the sort of comment l think we want to read on this friendly forum.
My original posting was for 130bhp owner feedback. You can't really tell what a vehicle is like from a short test drive.