New and looking at Cali beach or coast

[frazered]

Hi there,
Been lurking for approx a week.

Zoning in on a beach with 3 seat config we think due to the extra space, flexibility and going to be our day trip van is the plan for 2 growing kids, the wife and I.

Read lots already about
- no t6.1 beach for the UK (boo vw), even looked at importing from Eire
- 3 seat mattress options and some of the big threads
- must have specs and the range of prices in this mad market which feels like it will be here for a while

Looking forwards to learning more

F

 

[Wogga]

Hi there,
Been lurking for approx a week.

Zoning in on a beach with 3 seat config we think due to the extra space, flexibility and going to be our day trip van is the plan for 2 growing kids, the wife and I.

Read lots already about
- no t6.1 beach for the UK (boo vw), even looked at importing from Eire
- 3 seat mattress options and some of the big threads
- must have specs and the range of prices in this mad market which feels like it will be here for a while

Looking forwards to learning more

F

I originally started by calculating my monthly budget i.e. what is affordable with retirement. Spent lots of time reading the reviews and forums and was looking at the Coast. By the time I had specced it I was approaching Ocean territory? With a chat with the dealer I went with the Ocean which is right at the top of my budgeted spend, £2 less Sat infront of the dealer they can make the numbers work for you. Yes I ended spending more but I also thought about the depreciation Coast is an unknown, but I expect it will retain its value in the future and maybe become a quicker seller?

 

[Maclighter]

Went for the Beach and love it. Day van most of the time for the 4 of us and really good at that. We kitted the rest out as portable (stove, fridge,etc) so we can camp and use everything outside. We chose space over a full kitchen plus it’s safer with young kids.
Haven’t sorted mattresses etc yet but there's time. Prices mid 2020 were 40k upwards for auto with around 6k on the clock. But I’m guessing a Beach will be hard to find as the dealers were complaining already 3 months ago. Good luck with your search.

 

[Karlos]

Elmo3 & Borris like so many others have had both and will be a wealth of information.

 

[frazered]

Much appreciated views and thoughts.
Off to look at a beach today hopefully. But there are so few out there some long travels needed, made more complex by 2 young kids and differing lockdown and cv19 restrictions or complications for viewing as all the dealer stock is low and v expensive, not much better in the private selling market.

 

[Tarquers]

Hi there,
Been lurking for approx a week.

Zoning in on a beach with 3 seat config we think due to the extra space, flexibility and going to be our day trip van is the plan for 2 growing kids, the wife and I.

Read lots already about
- no t6.1 beach for the UK (boo vw), even looked at importing from Eire
- 3 seat mattress options and some of the big threads
- must have specs and the range of prices in this mad market which feels like it will be here for a while

Looking forwards to learning more

F

Had the same dilemma, find it crazy the beach is not offered and Ireland only offer the 2 seat version. Decided to buy a LHD beach as it was mostly for continental use, and driving on the “wrong” side of the road in the UK is not much of an issue in a second/weekend car.

Ended up ordering a beach in the spec we wanted (DSG, 4Motion, 150) with the 3 seat bench and the new kitchen unit. What I find bizarre is the lack of choice the UK market has both in terms of models and options. A quick look at any European configurator will show how much VW have standardised and removed the choices for the UK market.

 

[frazered]

Had the same dilemma, find it crazy the beach is not offered and Ireland only offer the 2 seat version. Decided to buy a LHD beach as it was mostly for continental use, and driving on the “wrong” side of the road in the UK is not much of an issue in a second/weekend car.

Ended up ordering a beach in the spec we wanted (DSG, 4Motion, 150) with the 3 seat bench and the new kitchen unit. What I find bizarre is the lack of choice the UK market has both in terms of models and options. A quick look at any European configurator will show how much VW have standardised and removed the choices for the UK market.

Interesting to read. Who did you order? Vw Ireland? Like you I am not bothered by driving LHD or RHD.

Is the LHD Cali treated as an import then?

 

[frazered]

Sorry meant with who did you order. Thanks

 

[Tarquers]

Interesting to read. Who did you order? Vw Ireland? Like you I am not bothered by driving LHD or RHD.

Is the LHD Cali treated as an import then?

Originally went through the route of autoscout24 and looked for second hand, primarily in Germany, but also at a number of dealers who were willing to supply new for export.

Rather confused things by deciding to relocate to Europe and having bought a house, we found a dealer a couple of hours away that had a build slot and was willing to offer a good price compared to second hand and other dealers.

I did have a good experience with mycalifornia.eu who offer VAT free new vehicles for sale and would have imported from them to UK if we had decided to stay in UK. Import to the UK (pre-Brexit) is pretty straight forward, just need a certificate of conformity from VW which the dealer supplies and you register with DVLA after paying VAT to HMRC. Can introduce a company that offer the service if its something you want to look at.

hope this helps

 

[Elmo3]

Pros and cons to both. If you can live with 2 rear seats, I’d have nothing to do with current T6 Beach pricing and order a new Coast at about £50K with a nice discount. Much better value IMHO. Keep the spec simple, there really isn’t much you need to put on it. Best of all worlds.