Is the Grand California a success?

[SpuffingtonMe]

It's mainly subjective, right?

A KB is much better for you than a GC so you bought a KB. Sounds like it was a good decision because you're convinced you have a better van.

I much prefer the GC 680 particular from an aesthetic perspective. So I bought a GC. Good decision too because I love the thing.

You saw many hire company GCs and chose to believe VW must be doing incredible deals to persuade otherwise reluctant companies to buy their vans.
An alternative view would be that camper hire companies' purchasers really know what they're doing when it comes to buying vans - more so than the average private buyer - and they believe the quality and sell-on values will be higher for a GC.
Who knows which of these is true? Maybe neither. Maybe a bit of both.

Fair enough. I wasn’t posting to be controversial, more to point out the fact the thread started with the question as to whether they were a success. Certainly on the continent (and Germany in particular), they seem to be. Whether that’s down to VW support or not, the main thing is, I saw lots wherever I went which isn’t the case in the UK.

I’ve nothing against that whatsoever. I personally think the layout works very well for a family of four.

I also prefer the aesthetics of the 680 and would have it in both GC or KBD form if we didn’t need the extra berth(s).

I’m not concerned with the Knaus vs VW topic per se. I bought the Knaus version for particular reasons around the longer second double bed over the GC but trying to actually inform the fact there are a lot on the roads in Europe in contrast to the U.K. Whatever the reasons are for that, who knows. I guess what I’m more trying to say is I think there’s a lot of prejudice against this size/layout of van, for no good reason as I see it from my experience (and it sounds like yours also).