Morning all, new to the gang (hopefully)

[The4ofus]

Hello Everyone,

I’m posting this on behalf of my wife and I who are just about ready to take the leap to buying a new Ocean for ourselves and 2 dogs (pic is of the one we hired in to go September to check it out and persuaded us to take the plunge). Kids are grown up but can’t get rid of them so this is our home from home!

We’ve ummed and ahhed for the last couple of years but decided to take the plunged with a California rather than new conversion (why settle for settle best!?) but looking to for inspiration from those in the know for the rest, so here goes with the need for opinions -

AutoEbid or not

4 Motion or 150 (appreciate they’re the extremes)

Wood effect floor, or standard covering with a carpet.

Velour seats?

18 or 17 inch wheels - I like the Palmerston but are they worth the additional wedge!?

Assistance pack or good old fashioned road awareness?

Any add on particularly worth it or not? (i.e 4 keys!)

Looking forward to all your opinions.

 

[CC44853]

Hello and welcome!

AutoEbid or not

Get all the discount you can! If you can afford to travel to an accepting dealer, and the possible longer wait(?)

4 Motion or 150 (appreciate they’re the extremes)

150 on the T6.1 is very nippy!
I've never had a 4 wheel drive vehicle (or 4 motion) to compare to, but for my needs 150 is more than plenty, also costs less in fuel and weight and things to go wrong.

Wood effect floor, or standard covering with a carpet.

Option 3) a washable mat, so I can just sling it in the washing machine every few trips.

Velour seats?

Seats will get dirty with camping/dogs/children/life so this one is personal choice I feel.

18 or 17 inch wheels - I like the Palmerston but are they worth the additional wedge!?

Personal choice

Assistance pack or good old fashioned road awareness?

Also personal choice, depends how able a driver you are?

Any add on particularly worth it or not? (i.e 4 keys!)

The best optional add-on is the colour choice, after all how it looks is the most important thing!

 

[CamperFam]

Personally:

Use AutoeBid, then go straight to the dealer to battle them direct. Cuts out any middleman struggles.

4Motion or 199. I've had wheelspin a number of times in my 199 (think its now 204 again?), but you do burn more diesel and lose the middle rail if you ever wanted a 5th seat (unlikely for your setup i'm assuming).

We have a standard floor with carpet. Does the job for us, and also makes the cabin significantly quieter in our opinion. If we had the wooden floor, i'd still be tempted to cover it for insulation and sound deadening. But damn it does look nice with the wood effect.

Palmerstons are nice - but depends on your use case and preference. The smaller the alloy, the cheaper the tyre generally. Likewise, the simpler the alloy, the easier to maintain. Diamond cut for example are a sod for damaging in frost, even without use.

Road awareness is fine - adaptive cruise is a must in my books nowadays, but I believe that's stanard now.

Four keys would be beneficial, but we cope with just two. The reare bike rack we find pretty invaluable, even without bikes - it's great for throwing a bag or two on, and clearing the interior.

I'd also recommend the comfort maturess - you lose a bit of boot space (upper portion) with it folded up, but it makes the downstairs far comfier.

Truth is, the current 6.1 contains the majority of the must-haves (awning, LEDs, cruise control, decent infotainment etc).

Good luck!

 

[Jandy61]

Hello Everyone,

I’m posting this on behalf of my wife and I who are just about ready to take the leap to buying a new Ocean for ourselves and 2 dogs (pic is of the one we hired in to go September to check it out and persuaded us to take the plunge). Kids are grown up but can’t get rid of them so this is our home from home!

We’ve ummed and ahhed for the last couple of years but decided to take the plunged with a California rather than new conversion (why settle for settle best!?) but looking to for inspiration from those in the know for the rest, so here goes with the need for opinions -

AutoEbid or not

4 Motion or 150 (appreciate they’re the extremes)

Wood effect floor, or standard covering with a carpet.

Velour seats?

18 or 17 inch wheels - I like the Palmerston but are they worth the additional wedge!?

Assistance pack or good old fashioned road awareness?

Any add on particularly worth it or not? (i.e 4 keys!)

Looking forward to all your opinions.

View attachment 71466

Hello from a newbie who has just ordered our first campervan, we jumped straight in without hiring, but we are coming from a car camping set up, so we have no real concerns, it’s got to be better!
We used this forum for advice, read a lot of posts and asked for advice,
We were looking at the Coast mainly, with a fair few options, but in the end jumped to the Ocean, and as we were buying an ocean decided to go ‘large’ and get a 4 motion, we do live, work and play in the mountains. Added about 10 options too..
I added the wood effect floor the other day, I haven’t told her yet, I’ll leave that as a surprise for 6 months time, not sure of her reaction...kiss or a smack
We got a Autobid quote but went directly to dealer.
If buying a 4 motion, I don’t think Autobid have updated the base price yet, it is priced differently at the dealership now ( new engine cost)
Enjoy the journey.

 

[VWCoastbusters]

AutoEbid or not

Try them and Drive the Deal. Our experience with dealers has been very poor so go with the biggest saving you can. We opted for local dealer with a reassurance of good service and it's been a total shitshow so far. We both regret not going through one of those companies instead.

Also, just note that delivery times are looking like 6-9 months at the moment for those of us already ordered.

4 Motion or 150 (appreciate they’re the extremes)

We're going 150 (Coast) as our old T5 was that and found it powerful enough for our use. 4motion - if you can afford it and you think you'll use it, it's great to have. We're opting for winter tyres instead and don't plan to go off road sufficiently to need them. Others will disagree, but we couldn't justify the cost.

Wood effect floor, or standard covering with a carpet.

Personal choice here but in my view you'll end up covering the floor anyway for warmth or cleanliness so why bother paying more for something you won't see. Personally, I really, really dislike it and find it clinical but others love it. We have a dog so going for washable mats instead. Also has been talk of the floor scratching which would annoy me for the cost.

Velour seats?

Again, personally I'm not a fan and all the seats will mark in time. I'd have a look at after market covers too before deciding. Not worth the cost to us.

18 or 17 inch wheels - I like the Palmerston but are they worth the additional wedge!?

Up to you. If you can afford them and want them, go for it. They weren't an essential for us and we chose to save money on options for stuff for the van and our trips. If you're keeping the van forever, might be worth it, but options don't always add to resale value- many won't pay for others' choices.

Assistance pack or good old fashioned road awareness?

For us, not worth the money.

Any add on particularly worth it or not? (i.e 4 keys!)

4 keys gets hotly debated. If you have a big family and need 4 keys great. If your keys were lost/stolen, would you change the locks? We probably would for insurance purposes so wouldn't bother with 4 keys for us (only me and him indoors)

Can't remember all the Ocean options, but I think the 80L fuel tank is worth the spec.


Best of luck with it.

 

[VWCoastbusters]

Forgot to say, if you're thinking of a tow bar (for bike rack, storage box or towing etc), would definitely spec that now or at the very least add the tow bar prep as after market adding is complicated (I believe they have to take apart the kitchen for the electrics). From our research, we're going for a tow bar for the bike rack.

 

[The4ofus]

Been there. Got the T-Shirt