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Is this a good GC600 deal?

S

ShmBK

Messages
147
Location
Inverurie
Vehicle
Looking to buy
so I've spent the week looking at Hymers, Adrias and GC and keep coming back to the fugly-on-outside GC600. local VW garage, crafter v Ducato v sprinter, storing the 2x child seats, pop top v child bed, price, interior, etc, etc.

put a deposit on an ex demo GC 600 today. 900 miles, 2 tone, spec'd to £82k for £67k
£56k trade in for my 69 plate manual gearbox ocean - bought for £52k ;-)

thoughts? we love our Ocean and will miss it terribly, never thought I'd be excited for a giant camper like this. deposit is refundable under distance selling rules. Huge upgrade for us, think I just need convinced its not a terrible idea!

(edit: its a 600, d'oh)
 
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That link is for a 600?

Oh, you must want the 600 if you have kids, as you can't get the upstairs bed in the 680...
 
About as cheap as I've seen with the upstairs bed, looks like its got the solar panel on the front.

You need to find out what heating / hot water system its got.

Against the list of about 2 currently available that doesn't look bad.

I would just be wary as to whether it is really a demo or a customer reject - see who's name is on the V5.
 
ShmBK said:
so I've spent the week looking at Hymers, Adrias and GC and keep coming back to the fugly-on-outside GC680. local VW garage, crafter v Ducato v sprinter, storing the 2x child seats, pop top v child bed, price, interior, etc, etc.

put a deposit on an ex demo GC 680 today. 900 miles, 2 tone, spec'd to £82k for £67k
www.donnellygroup.co.uk

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£56k trade in for my 69 plate manual gearbox ocean - bought for £52k ;-)

thoughts? we love our Ocean and will miss it terribly, never thought I'd be excited for a giant camper like this. deposit is refundable under distance selling rules. Huge upgrade for us, think I just need convinced its not a terrible idea!
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You gotta do what you gotta do,

is this a good deal ?

do you think it’s a good deal?

IMO it looks like the deal of a life time
 
There is a blue & white one at Crawley for £5k more that has desiel / electric heating & water & supposedly the upstairs bed but the photos look wrong.

Alternatively an all grey one at Leicester, but no details for £70,500

Or there's Breeze with an optimistic one at £10k more. So not a lot of choice out there.

If you can get over the high forehead on the outside! the inside is refreshingly free of naff carpet and chipboard.

At only 1m longer than an ocean, where you live thats probably a reasonable size van for using more than just for holidays. To me it looks like a much better use of space than a 680.

For us - now down to 2 adults + 11 year old + dog we could see a 600 working as a fully self contained set up thats half decent to drive long distances.
 
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andyinluton said:
About as cheap as I've seen with the upstairs bed, looks like its got the solar panel on the front.

You need to find out what heating / hot water system its got.

Against the list of about 2 currently available that doesn't look bad.

I would just be wary as to whether it is really a demo or a customer reject - see who's name is on the V5.
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excellent point, I shall chase that tomorrow.

I see it was advertised on Facebook 22 weeks ago.... "manager desperate to get rid of it" "loosing money every day on it". but he somehow had someone else kicking about on the exact week I was enquiring; who was also on verge of deposit the same day I was enquiring!!

andyinluton said:
There is a blue & white one at Crawley for £5k more that has desiel / electric heating & water & supposedly the upstairs bed but the photos look wrong.

Alternatively an all grey one at Leicester, but no details for £70,500

Or there's Breeze with an optimistic one at £10k more. So not a lot of choice out there.

If you can get over the high forehead on the outside! the inside is refreshingly free of naff carpet and chipboard.
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heating and water is running off gas. we will be looking to be 'off grid' for a few days at a time. hoping solar will help. never liked the diesel smell with the parking heater in t6.

I would chose the diesel heating if it was available. hmmm.

do you think 3-4 days off grid with heating in highland autumns will be difficult?
 
Put the deposit on it, to hold it, go see it and decide from there
 
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Our old MH used to have enough juice in one 75ah battery to run the trauma gas heater fan for about a week on & off. It used a lot less battery than the Ocean heater as it was only used for pushing air around rather than igniting the diesel at the start.

I would try it first & shove another battery in if needed. The GC also has the fast charge system to give the batteries a quick boost that the T6.1 has.

My only reservation would be are you short enough for the downstairs bed? Its a bit short as its across the van.

Having camped with our youngest since 14 days old (Ireland in January!) I can totally understand the attraction of onboard facilities with small children.
 
Perfectos said:
Put the deposit on it, to hold it, go see it and decide from their
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kinda the plan, except its in NI and I'm in Aberdeen. managed to deal including transport there and back. I've been in one before in Aberdeen and apparently they have one when they reopen next week

andyinluton said:
Our old MH used to have enough juice in one 75ah battery to run the trauma gas heater fan for about a week on & off. It used a lot less battery than the Ocean heater as it was only used for pushing air around rather than igniting the diesel at the start.

I would try it first & shove another battery in if needed. The GC also has the fast charge system to give the batteries a quick boost that the T6.1 has.
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old MH - non cali, right? the Truma thing will definitely give heat off grid burning up the gas, right?
I'd love a giant battery, saw the German fb group singing praises about giant lithium power packs.


yeah, me and wife are both just under 1.7m and 1st kiddo is small. 2nd kiddo better be small too when it comes.
 
Looks good to me but you could certainly get more for your Cali privately.
 
Karlos said:
Looks good to me but you could certainly get more for your Cali privately.
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Really? £56k for a 69 plate 150 manual is pretty good IMHO. It would have to be specc’d to the eyeballs to beat that, and even then I doubt any extra achieved would be worth the effort.
 
ShmBK said:
heating and water is running off gas. we will be looking to be 'off grid' for a few days at a time. hoping solar will help. never liked the diesel smell with the parking heater in t6.
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I'm also ex motor home. Heating and hot water was via a Truma 4kW gas powered heater which worked well.
If you intend to be off grid, refillable gas is a good option. It sounds as if this van already has solar, so battery use shouldn't be a problem. If it is, adopt @andyinluton's suggestion and just add another battery.
To me it looks like you have got a very good deal, if it were me, I'd just go for it, purchase and sale wrapped up in one convenient deal, no hassle. (except it's in Ireland!). Is it worth the extra hassle for maybe an extra £1-2k?
 
LOL, just had the manager on the phone unhappy that
1. I suggested it may a return. he assures me it isn't.
2. "deals off" if I sell my van privately! but if I sold for 60k, I could then buy his sticker price for 8k difference, compared to 11k difference on current deal! he's clearly banking on making a lot of profit on my van!
 
Get a reverse camera fitted in price...pretty tricky to reverse without
 
leeb said:
Get a reverse camera fitted in price...pretty tricky to reverse without
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they said it can't be fitted there. I was going to get the solar wireless on amazon unless you suggest otherwise.
wife won't drive/park it unless I find a solution...
 
I really wanted a G C when replacing our California, however with two growing kids use to the California's giant roof bed thought the small bed in the Grand was just to small and feared they would out grow it within a couple of years.
Pop top roof bed provided much better daytime space for the kids, the GC 600 was just to small for us.
In the end purchased a Hymer Grand Canyon S with poptop which has been faultless.
 
Wondering Star said:
I really wanted a G C when replacing our California, however with two growing kids use to the California's giant roof bed thought the small bed in the Grand was just to small and feared they would out grow it within a couple of years.
Pop top roof bed provided much better daytime space for the kids, the GC 600 was just to small for us.
In the end purchased a Hymer Grand Canyon S with poptop which has been faultless.
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Totally agree about pop top. GC with pop top would have been the winner. Would have got a Hymer free S but the garage in Sussex advised against due to the antiquated local garage BS. Called Roseisle in Edinburgh who ‘refuse to do any work on (hymer) vans that aren’t theirs’.
Adria are in Aberdeen but the one with the bunk beds couldn’t fit the baby seats under it. And other one is over 3.5T and both too long and fiat-based.
Westfalia James cook is perfect but over 100k speccd.
The Knaus in other thread is beautiful but I need a proper 2nd bed.

wife loves the interior of GC600. Having VW after sales network appeals to me. we agree we don’t want a fiat-based. And it needs to look modern in and out. And I think resale will be better on GC?

if anyone can recommend a modern van with GC interior, pop top, under 3.5T, 6m max then please let me know!! I’d happily pay a reward to end the search!

edit - and avoid the beluga!
 
I know what you mean about dealers, although I purchased a Hymer I'm a three hour drive from the dealer. Buying a VW has it's advantages with its network.
However I took the view that as I'd purchased a campervan I could always work around this with a stop over. More importantly I do have a Mercedes commercial dealer close by.
I must say I've been impressed with the build quality of the Hymer and love the Mercedes base vehicle, superb quality all round.
Would of seriously considered the 'Free' but wasn't available when I purchased mine, although the RWD of the 'S' has it's advantages and by the time you've added a few desirable extras you soon get close to the 'S' model price.
As far a depreciation is concerned, I plan to keep the vehicle for a long time ( hence decision to buy Mercedes and not Fiat) and live for today and worry about depreciation tomorrow.
It's a big outlay, and later this month I'm having lithium batteries fitted at over 3k but I don't regret it for a moment.
All the best.
 
ShmBK said:
That looks really nice and surprisingly modern on outside. (see arrival electric vans)
Is it still being made? Can’t see it on their website and google just has articles from 2012/14
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Scrap that, it looks like they stopped making them although
the ones that i've seen lately look mint, like new. Probably why they
stopped making them. They were too good :)
 
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