FlyingFred
VIP Member
- Messages
- 51
- Vehicle
- T5 SE 180 4Motion
Hi all,
I collected my new Cali from SMG Tonbridge on Tuesday and thought I would share a few first impressions with you to help those thinking of ordering one or waiting for one to be delivered
I am new to camping and campervans apart from some Scout camps as a helper, so some of this will be obvious to those experienced campers but I hope it’s worth saying anyway.
The vehicle is a new 2013 SE 180 DSG 4Motion Blue Motion.
The driving experience
The vehicle drives very nicely, is nice & quiet with plenty of power. The DSG box is lovely with 7 speeds. It rolls on corners a bit but no more than expected – it is a van after all. I’m going to see what it is like fully loaded before deciding whether to go for the lowered springs. The 4motion is very good – I have quite a steep sloping gravel drive that it has no trouble with. One slightly disconcerting thing is that 3 times now I have managed to knock the DSG selector out of DRIVE into NEUTRAL as I have moved my left hand up onto the steering wheel. The first time caused the engine to rev hard as I was accelerating and gave me a bit of a fright. I am used to it now but I surprising you don’t have to press the lock button to move to NEUTRAL.
The stop start feature on the DSG box works really well. If you pull up in DRIVE and stay with your foot on the brake, the engine stops. As soon as you take your foot off the brake, it restarts. There is no appreciable lag in pulling away .
I particularly like the size of the vehicle. I also have a Land Rover Freelander 2 and it is only 4cm wider than that, so narrow lanes are not much of a problem. I took it to Staples in Horsham yesterday to get some storage crates (more of that later) and it easily fitted into a regular parking bay. Forward visibility is excellent but I find I’m having to duck down a bit to check for traffic from the left at a T-junction as the driving position is very high (I’m 6ft).
According to the trip computer, I am getting just over 30 miles to the gallon and can be up to 35 if careful.
The inside
The interior is very comfortable and well thought out. Grey is a lovely to look at colour but a bu**er to keep clean. My floors are already a bit muddy from getting in and out. The floor behind the drivers area is a non-slip plastic which looks like it should be easy to wipe down but dirt seems to get ingrained in it due to slight texturing on the surface. With that in mind, I’ve ordered a set of anthracite mats to fully cover it all. Until the carpet arrives, I’ve put an old towel down. A top tip I picked up from EdWatters at COTF was to buy some slot-together foam mats from a camping shop (they look like giant black jigsaw pieces about 50cm square). Join two of those together and place outside the sliding door and you can slip your shoes off on those before entering the van.
Make sure the bench seat is fully back before trying to pull the sliding table out. I have already pulled off a small felt buffer on the table by forgetting to do that.
The cutley draw tray does not take normal size knives and forks as the compartments are too short. Diddy camping cutley required.
I found that the 64L Really Useful Box from Staples (also available at other stores) is a perfect fit for under the bed rack at the back. I think two can be fitted in side by side if you want. Likewise the 9L version fits very neatly in the under bench draw. You can fit the front blinds plus all the straps/pegs/adapters that come with it in one 9L box.
The leisure battery plug socket for low power items has a two round-pin continental socket but it is not the usual round type. I can best describe it as rectangular with a triangle at either short end. Staples had a USB charger with that shape plug but it’s a whopping £25.
To turn the swivel chairs at the front you have to open the corresponding door, plus for the drivers side drop the handbrake (that’s when PARK on the DSG is handy) and move the steering wheel in and up.
As others have mentioned, the latest model has a 12V socket under a spring loaded cover on top of the dash to the left of the rubber coin tray. Ideal for a portable satnav.
The camping experience
To try the camping experience, I spent Wed night out on my drive on electric hookup on what was a wet and windy night. It was pretty cold to start off with but the parking heater is BRILLIANT! I was toasty warm within minutes. I just used it to warm the vehicle up then switched off. I slept in PJs with a duvet & pillow. First I tried upstairs which was noticeably cooler than downstairs. I found the mattress supplied too firm so a thin topper is on my wish list. As with any tent, you can hear everything up there. One surprising benefit of the raised roof is the tent sides are tensioned so they don’t flap about in the wind. I was woken by early morning traffic and aircraft at 6 (I live near Gatwick) so moved downstairs where it was much quieter and warmer. Pulling the upstairs shutter across made it even quieter. I ordered the VW over-mattress with it and found this very comfortable. I slept off and on for another couple of hours and then had a cereal breakfast and a cuppa, using the gas cooker and a collapsible kettle from Outwell. This is where remembering to turn the gas on at the bottle saves having to step outside in the cold in the morning! The collapsible kettle was very good, much better than I expected. I also have their collapsible washing up bowl and bucket which are equally good. Other things I found I needed were a drainer rack for the washing-up, a waste bin and a line to hang a tea towel – between the front grab handles looks like a good spot.
Err….. that’s it. I hope you newbies find it useful and to the veterans, please excuse my ramblings.
FF
I collected my new Cali from SMG Tonbridge on Tuesday and thought I would share a few first impressions with you to help those thinking of ordering one or waiting for one to be delivered
I am new to camping and campervans apart from some Scout camps as a helper, so some of this will be obvious to those experienced campers but I hope it’s worth saying anyway.
The vehicle is a new 2013 SE 180 DSG 4Motion Blue Motion.
The driving experience
The vehicle drives very nicely, is nice & quiet with plenty of power. The DSG box is lovely with 7 speeds. It rolls on corners a bit but no more than expected – it is a van after all. I’m going to see what it is like fully loaded before deciding whether to go for the lowered springs. The 4motion is very good – I have quite a steep sloping gravel drive that it has no trouble with. One slightly disconcerting thing is that 3 times now I have managed to knock the DSG selector out of DRIVE into NEUTRAL as I have moved my left hand up onto the steering wheel. The first time caused the engine to rev hard as I was accelerating and gave me a bit of a fright. I am used to it now but I surprising you don’t have to press the lock button to move to NEUTRAL.
The stop start feature on the DSG box works really well. If you pull up in DRIVE and stay with your foot on the brake, the engine stops. As soon as you take your foot off the brake, it restarts. There is no appreciable lag in pulling away .
I particularly like the size of the vehicle. I also have a Land Rover Freelander 2 and it is only 4cm wider than that, so narrow lanes are not much of a problem. I took it to Staples in Horsham yesterday to get some storage crates (more of that later) and it easily fitted into a regular parking bay. Forward visibility is excellent but I find I’m having to duck down a bit to check for traffic from the left at a T-junction as the driving position is very high (I’m 6ft).
According to the trip computer, I am getting just over 30 miles to the gallon and can be up to 35 if careful.
The inside
The interior is very comfortable and well thought out. Grey is a lovely to look at colour but a bu**er to keep clean. My floors are already a bit muddy from getting in and out. The floor behind the drivers area is a non-slip plastic which looks like it should be easy to wipe down but dirt seems to get ingrained in it due to slight texturing on the surface. With that in mind, I’ve ordered a set of anthracite mats to fully cover it all. Until the carpet arrives, I’ve put an old towel down. A top tip I picked up from EdWatters at COTF was to buy some slot-together foam mats from a camping shop (they look like giant black jigsaw pieces about 50cm square). Join two of those together and place outside the sliding door and you can slip your shoes off on those before entering the van.
Make sure the bench seat is fully back before trying to pull the sliding table out. I have already pulled off a small felt buffer on the table by forgetting to do that.
The cutley draw tray does not take normal size knives and forks as the compartments are too short. Diddy camping cutley required.
I found that the 64L Really Useful Box from Staples (also available at other stores) is a perfect fit for under the bed rack at the back. I think two can be fitted in side by side if you want. Likewise the 9L version fits very neatly in the under bench draw. You can fit the front blinds plus all the straps/pegs/adapters that come with it in one 9L box.
The leisure battery plug socket for low power items has a two round-pin continental socket but it is not the usual round type. I can best describe it as rectangular with a triangle at either short end. Staples had a USB charger with that shape plug but it’s a whopping £25.
To turn the swivel chairs at the front you have to open the corresponding door, plus for the drivers side drop the handbrake (that’s when PARK on the DSG is handy) and move the steering wheel in and up.
As others have mentioned, the latest model has a 12V socket under a spring loaded cover on top of the dash to the left of the rubber coin tray. Ideal for a portable satnav.
The camping experience
To try the camping experience, I spent Wed night out on my drive on electric hookup on what was a wet and windy night. It was pretty cold to start off with but the parking heater is BRILLIANT! I was toasty warm within minutes. I just used it to warm the vehicle up then switched off. I slept in PJs with a duvet & pillow. First I tried upstairs which was noticeably cooler than downstairs. I found the mattress supplied too firm so a thin topper is on my wish list. As with any tent, you can hear everything up there. One surprising benefit of the raised roof is the tent sides are tensioned so they don’t flap about in the wind. I was woken by early morning traffic and aircraft at 6 (I live near Gatwick) so moved downstairs where it was much quieter and warmer. Pulling the upstairs shutter across made it even quieter. I ordered the VW over-mattress with it and found this very comfortable. I slept off and on for another couple of hours and then had a cereal breakfast and a cuppa, using the gas cooker and a collapsible kettle from Outwell. This is where remembering to turn the gas on at the bottle saves having to step outside in the cold in the morning! The collapsible kettle was very good, much better than I expected. I also have their collapsible washing up bowl and bucket which are equally good. Other things I found I needed were a drainer rack for the washing-up, a waste bin and a line to hang a tea towel – between the front grab handles looks like a good spot.
Err….. that’s it. I hope you newbies find it useful and to the veterans, please excuse my ramblings.
FF
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