New Beach

[rupertpoon]

Options for our Cali Beach which has apparantly been built and is being shipped over, so hope to get it by the end of May, fingers crossed.

We got parking sensors and folding mirrors as we live in a busy suburb, so wanted to be able to use it with confidence and not dent it! We got the power latching for sliding door and tailgate so we wouldn't have to remember to manually lock them. What else.. the extra two removable seats, as we have 3 kids and when they want to take friends along on day trips it would be dead useful. We've had a seven seat VW Touran and Toyota Verso before and found it very handy with extra seats. Also useful for the in-laws when they are visiting!

Finally, got the fog-lights for a bit of bling, and the metallic beige paint. We had a metallic grey T4 Westfalia in 2010 and it was great because it only needed washing twice a year! Since we bike quite a lot, we also went for the VW bike rack. Had a Fiamma rack on the T4 and whilst OK, it is not that strong when loaded with 4 bikes. We didn't go for roll-away awning, as we weren't sure how much use we would get out of it in the UK. We spent the money on an Outwell Country Road awning instead, which would give us an extra 1 or 2 rooms when camping, useful on a rainy day.

And that's it, we didn't upgrade the stereo or add a satnav because they seemed pretty steep for what they are, since TomTom's are only about 100 quid, or you can buy an iPad2 3G for £400 and use it at home. Just my opinion; as long as the stereo plays MP3 CD's and has an aux-in for our iPod, that is good enough for us.

 

[Kimmhu]

Wow - sounds awesome! Bet you can't wait!!!

Didn't realise you have to manually lock the sliding door & tailgate - nobody has mentioned that! Oh well, not a problem!

With regards to the seats mentioned above. I spoke to the company who make the covers. If you phone them they will just supply the front ones for £40. They are trying to make the rear 3 seat bench covers & hope to have them avail soon.

 

[James]

Wow - sounds awesome! Bet you can't wait!!!

Didn't realise you have to manually lock the sliding door & tailgate - nobody has mentioned that! Oh well, not a problem!

With regards to the seats mentioned above. I spoke to the company who make the covers. If you phone them they will just supply the front ones for £40. They are trying to make the rear 3 seat bench covers & hope to have them avail soon.

That is very exciting and good choice of colour!

The doors on the version I road tested locked with the central locking (remote) - as I would have expected them to - If I have misunderstood I am sorry.

Hoping to pick mine up in a few weeks - I had some unexpected but good news over the weekend.

Want to see pictures as people get their Beaches

Jamrs

 

[Linda]

Saw a couple of Beaches at Wicksteed meet,
Love the manual pop top and there looks to be acre's of room.
It will be great to see your photos

 

[syrup1971]

We got the power latching for sliding door and tailgate so we wouldn't have to remember to manually lock them.

Not too sure what you mean by this, as all doors are locked with the central locking.

We spent the money on an Outwell Country Road awning instead, which would give us an extra 1 or 2 rooms when camping, useful on a rainy day.

That one does look intereesting. At the moment, I am swaying towards a Khyam for the quick erect feature, but ....

Have you put it up yet? How hard is it? can you do it single handidly? How does it connect to the beach?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[coordinated]

We got the power latching for sliding door and tailgate so we wouldn't have to remember to manually lock them.

Not too sure what you mean by this, as all doors are locked with the central locking.

As I understand it, the power latching just helps ensure that the side door and tailgate close properly (if you get it "nearly closed" - if you under-do it, it just leaves the side door slightly ajar!). It's neat, and comes as standard on the Cali, but I'm not sure how critical it is - and it's slightly noisy at night, and not perfect (ours got confused once and wouldn't kick in until we manually re-locked and un-locked the side door; using the central locking didn't correct it).

If I understand correctly, it's independent of the actual central locking.

Maybe it's one of those features you need to try with (on a Cali, say) and without (on a T5 van, say) and work out whether it's worth it...?

Steve

 

[James]

We got the power latching for sliding door and tailgate so we wouldn't have to remember to manually lock them.

Not too sure what you mean by this, as all doors are locked with the central locking.

As I understand it, the power latching just helps ensure that the side door and tailgate close properly (if you get it "nearly closed" - if you under-do it, it just leaves the side door slightly ajar!). It's neat, and comes as standard on the Cali, but I'm not sure how critical it is - and it's slightly noisy at night, and not perfect (ours got confused once and wouldn't kick in until we manually re-locked and un-locked the side door; using the central locking didn't correct it).

If I understand correctly, it's independent of the actual central locking.

Maybe it's one of those features you need to try with (on a Cali, say) and without (on a T5 van, say) and work out whether it's worth it...?

Steve

Thanks Steve

I kind of thought that would be it.

I think it's quite useful - I tried a couple of Velle Executives with the feature and it is nice and seemingly very hard to retro fit. But I am buying a dealer version and that is unlikely to be a feature they would order. Was I ordering one from the factory it would be tempting. That said, the side doors seem very easy to close, they have a really nice operation compared with my Vanagon which are heavy and solid and require a push.

James

 

[James]

[/quote]

That one does look intereesting. At the moment, I am swaying towards a Khyam for the quick erect feature, but ....

Have you put it up yet? How hard is it? can you do it single handidly?
[/quote]


snigger...

 

[Stewart MCG]

Hi and welcome, looks like you have the perfect vehicle for your needs, I know it's academic but how much is the road tax for the beach ? we are experiencing 32 to 42 mpg (on the combined cycle on our 140ps California) what do you expect with the blue motion technology.

Stewart

 

[James]

Hi and welcome, looks like you have the perfect vehicle for your needs, I know it's academic but how much is the road tax for the beach ? we are experiencing 32 to 42 mpg (on the combined cycle on our 140ps California) what do you expect with the blue motion technology.

Stewart

I would be interested to know if the start/stop is actually going to make much of a difference. As I understand it - and please correct me if i am wrong, you come to a stop - put it in neutral - engine cuts out - put it back in gear and the engine starts. How often are you stuck dead in traffic - it's that slow crawl that normally saps the diesel/petrol. But i will be intrigued to see - i love to do the whole economy game lol

I am hoping to do better than my Volvo C30 - which around town averages about 37/38 and on a long run will nudge just over 50, probably more given the chance. It's got a powerful, if somewhat slightly unrefined 2.0 ford diesel. The Beach felt much more refined and I would expect around town to get a few more mpg out of it.

James

 

[syrup1971]

I would be interested to know if the start/stop is actually going to make much of a difference. As I understand it - and please correct me if i am wrong, you come to a stop - put it in neutral - engine cuts out - put it back in gear and the engine starts.

Yep, That's how it works. Only Caveats are that the engine needs to be warmed up enough, the battery charged enough, and you have moved since the last start/stop.

I am hoping to do better than my Volvo C30 - which around town averages about 37/38 and on a long run will nudge just over 50, probably more given the chance. It's got a powerful, if somewhat slightly unrefined 2.0 ford diesel. The Beach felt much more refined and I would expect around town to get a few more mpg out of it.

I'm not convinced you'll match your C30, The Beach is a much heavier, and more "brick" like car. I'm hoping to achieve 45mpg on my normal commute, 90% mway at 60MPH.

 

[Andy]

I am hoping to do better than my Volvo C30 - which around town averages about 37/38 and on a long run will nudge just over 50, probably more given the chance. It's got a powerful, if somewhat slightly unrefined 2.0 ford diesel. The Beach felt much more refined and I would expect around town to get a few more mpg out of it.

Be interesting to see what you get as in my Cali I get about 25 around Milton Keynes & averaged 35 on 3500 miles to Portugal & back in March. I would expect you to get better than the cali as the beach is lighter. But of course this all depends how much one's right boot weighs !!

 

[James]

I would be interested to know if the start/stop is actually going to make much of a difference. As I understand it - and please correct me if i am wrong, you come to a stop - put it in neutral - engine cuts out - put it back in gear and the engine starts.

Yep, That's how it works. Only Caveats are that the engine needs to be warmed up enough, the battery charged enough, and you have moved since the last start/stop.

I am hoping to do better than my Volvo C30 - which around town averages about 37/38 and on a long run will nudge just over 50, probably more given the chance. It's got a powerful, if somewhat slightly unrefined 2.0 ford diesel. The Beach felt much more refined and I would expect around town to get a few more mpg out of it.

I'm not convinced you'll match your C30, The Beach is a much heavier, and more "brick" like car. I'm hoping to achieve 45mpg on my normal commute, 90% mway at 60MPH.

No I don't expect the Beach to be much better - because it is heavier - but the gearing in the C30 is completely set up for a long run, I guess that is true in those sorts of cars and it is easy to see MPG drop to 33/34 on a short run. I wouldn't expect any worse from the Beach. Looking at the figures the Beach it will be slightly more expensive to run per mile than the C30 - but I won't have the expensive Volvo servicing, no MOT for three years, insurance is over the half the price for me and the Beach is yellow and looks cool (this is something that cannot be priced accurately but has to be taken into consideration).

I know this is not a Volvo forum - so forgive me, but their 1.6 DRiVE Diesel would have been my preferred choice - this has start stop tech.

When i pick Betty Custard up from Peterborough - having done the run in My C30 (I live in Southend Essex) I will be intrigued to see what MPG she does, obviously I am aware she's a new car.

Thanks for the figures on the Cali - we'll have to put up some stats as we run them in.

James

 

[James]

I am hoping to do better than my Volvo C30 - which around town averages about 37/38 and on a long run will nudge just over 50, probably more given the chance. It's got a powerful, if somewhat slightly unrefined 2.0 ford diesel. The Beach felt much more refined and I would expect around town to get a few more mpg out of it.

Be interesting to see what you get as in my Cali I get about 25 around Milton Keynes & averaged 35 on 3500 miles to Portugal & back in March. I would expect you to get better than the cali as the beach is lighter. But of course this all depends how much one's right boot weighs !!

That's not bad really for big camper with a kitchen in the back.

James

 

[James]

and....

I wander if the low resistance rolling resistance tyres will make much difference? It's the only thing I'd change, I'd have the 17inch thunder alloys in a heartbeat. But I understand the bluemotion has the wheels and tyres it does to help with the fuel economy.

That would be interesting

James

 

[BerndRos]

Custard, I have a set of 17in Thunder Alloys I would like to sell if your interested.