New Cali owner from Portugal!

soundsk · Sep 29, 2014

Hi everyone!

My name is José F., I'm from Portugal and after a long time searching, I've finally pulled the trigger on a 2007 T5 California

.

For the longest time, the missus and I toyed with the idea of a campervan, as we both love the outdoors and camping. Well, we finally decided to take the idea a bit more seriously, and we started looking. Started looking at the T3's, then the T4's, and ended up falling in love with the T5's - we wanted something not very old and not many miles on it, something that would be reliable and good for long drives across Europe. I love cycling, and I want to travel through France and Italy, doing some of the cycling stages from the Tour/Giro.

As for the van we bought - after searching in Portugal for a very long time, we realized they were quite rare over here, and started looking at importing from Germany or Spain.
But last week one popped up in a national classifieds site, it ticked all the right boxes and I drove out to see it this Saturday.

It belonged to a couple that bought it new here in Portugal, back in 2007, but shortly after they started a business and they simply don't have time to use it.
It's the 2.5l with 130bhp, 11800miles, and never used for camping, all the cushions are still wrapped in plastic and everything. Silver metallic, alloy wheels, AC, stationary heating, sat nav, awning, etc. etc. Only equipment it doesn't have that I'd like, is the tinted windows and bike rack.

I'm picking it up this Wednesday, then it's off to VW for a check-up, then tinting the windows with film and getting that road legal, and I've already ordered a GPS tracker/immobilizer alarm.
I've also located an original VW bike rack for sale, hoping to pick that up in the weekend.

So we're pretty happy right now, can't wait to get it home!

I'll post some pictures as soon as I have it all ready and shiny!...

Hope to be an active member of this cool community! Cheers!

Maud · Sep 29, 2014

Welcome to the forum, José. It sounds like you have found a really good Cali.

Maud

calikev · Sep 29, 2014

Hi there as Maud says the Cali sounds great a very lucky find .enjoy :thumb

Gasgas · Sep 29, 2014

Hey Jose well done with your purchase hope all goes well ,what part of Portugal are you from as it's our favourite country outside of the uk ?

soundsk · Sep 30, 2014

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!

I've already ordered a few items from the shop here, and my eBay account has been on fire, ordered some stickers, a dashcam, the GPS tracker alarm, ELM327 BT OBDII interface.

As I'm having the windows tinted and the bike rack fitted, I was looking at installing a rear-view camera, I saw a kit that connects to the MFD2 satnav (I'm guessing that's the one I have), and the camera itself is a part that replaces the license plate light.
It's a bit expensive, but at least it turns on as soon as I engage reverse, and I wouldn't need any more screens or add-ons to the dash/windshield.

Cheers!

soundsk · Sep 30, 2014

Gasgas said:
Hey Jose well done with your purchase hope all goes well ,what part of Portugal are you from as it's our favourite country outside of the uk ?

Really? Your favorite?

I'm from the north, born&raised in a seaside city called Viana do Castelo.
Here's a short video with some of our lovely sights, in case you're curious:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iKgs3NJ2ZU[/youtube]

Cheers!

Gasgas · Sep 30, 2014

Thanks ,very nice film ,it's a small world as the Minho is where we spent 2weeks of our month long Honeymoon travelling around Portugal , There is a great retreat call yavanna in Fontoura valenca Do Minho ,your very lucky to live in such a great area :thumb

soundsk · Oct 1, 2014

Thanks Gasgas!
It's beautiful, I agree. Not without it's faults, but beautiful nonetheless. :lol:

Picked up the Cali today!!

Big sigh of relief when I couldn't find any corrosion bubbles on the roof or front panel. :upsidedown

The trip home went well, no issues, drives well and responds well.
The AC however isn't working, set it to cold, but nothing but ambient-temperature air blowing. Hope it isn't a big issue, maybe it just needs charging.
Tomorrow morning it's off to VW for a check-up, oil change and checking the AC.

More than anything, it really needs a deep and thorough clean and wash.
Maybe tomorrow after work if I can, if not then on the weekend.

Here are a few pictures I took with the phone, as it sits right now, unaltered and dirty as hell! When it's all washed up, shiny, and windows tinted I'll post some more photos!

BTW, can anyone confirm if this SatNav unit is the MFD2? It takes DVD's and has a 6cd disc changer under the passenger seat. I'd like to confirm because I'm looking at adding a rear-view reverse camera and using the AUX to feed the video. eBay lists kits for this, that even activate the screen when engaging reverse.

Cheers!

BerndRos · Oct 2, 2014

Hi Jose and hope you enjoy the forum.

Portugal is a great place.....and I come here often, weather down here in eastern Algarve on the border is still just over 30c

truhje · Oct 4, 2014

Hi José! Very nice car. I'm from Norway, and I bought a 2007 California in 2011. It had a very similar story to your's, had only run 29700 km. We have travelled 13 countries in Europe, including Portugal. We stayed for a couple of days with Portuguese friends in Évoramonte, and a couple of days in Lisboa listening to fado. But due to bad weather we drove on directly to Santiago de Compostela. Hope to come back to Portugal.

Regarding the navigator, I found that upgrading the maps is so expensive that I bought a Garmin instead. I got it new for less than €90 and it came with lifetime update included. So I keep my maps updated all the time.

I hope you will enjoy your California as much as we do. :cool

Truls

soundsk · Oct 4, 2014

Hi!

I see many of you enjoy Portugal, maybe we can meet up sometime, whenever someone's around my parts!

Thanks Truls, you must have driven very near where I live if you went from Lisbon to Santiago.
As for the SatNav, in the last couple of days I devoted some time to research - mine is a RNS2 DVD.
A GPS forum on the Internets provided me with a firmware upgrade and a firmware patch so it can read copied navigation DVD's. Not exactly *cough*cough* legal, but better than rendering the satnav useless. Right now it's running the 2014 maps and I must say it works pretty well!

Meanwhile, the Cali got a clean bill of health from VW, the AC just needed a sensor replaced, which they didn't even charge me for. The mechanic said the van caused quite a stir at the dealership, for two reasons: the condition it's in - all the mechanics were quite astonished at just how completely new it is, and because, like I said, these vans are quite rare here, this dealership in particular has never even sold one.

Today I got the rear windows tinted, and I also cleaned it, even had time to take a couple of photos!

Next step: rear-view camera, GPS tracker alarm, original VW bike rack and STICKERS!

calikev · Oct 4, 2014

Looking very smart. Best colour btw :thumb

Maud · Oct 4, 2014

She looks great

I'm looking forward to seeing what stickers you put on her!

Maud

Paulro · Oct 9, 2014

Looks fantastic enjoy.

Gasgas · Oct 9, 2014

Yep tidy !

stewie · Oct 11, 2014

hi,jose
welcome to the forum,nice motor nice colour, you have guessed same as mine.
stayed near guimaraes back end of august this year beautiful area nice people cheers stewie

2006 reflex silver auto 2.5 tdi

larrylamb · Oct 12, 2014

Hi, wannabee Cali owner here. Looks a great van, good find. Enjoy. :clap

soundsk · Oct 13, 2014

Thank you everyone!
I see many of you have been over here! :thumb

We're already planning a big trip next year - Northern France to visit family, then Belgium and Netherlands. I'd like to squeeze in a couple of days in the UK, let's see if we can.
Would love to catch one of your meetups!

And all the electronics parts have arrived - the tracker, the aux/mp3 interface for the radio, and the video interface and rear-view camera - hope to get them assembled quickly.

Also filling it with the camping supplies - camping double bed, lights, trash bags, wipes, pots pans and cutlery, etc etc - basically the essentials for camping, and some stuff in a plastic box so if we decide to go somewhere on a friday, just pick up and go!

I'll post some more pictures soon!

Cheers!

Martin · Oct 13, 2014

Hi José, maybe try and make it to Cali's on the Farm next year in July.

soundsk · Oct 27, 2014

Hi there!

Just had my first weekend trip with the Cali. Unfortunately it wasn't with the missus', she had to work, but one of my photography mates invited me to go and shoot a few cool places with him, and we made a weekend out of it.

Drove from Viana to Aveiro, picked him up at the train station (he's from Lisbon), we headed to Águeda to shoot a model and some urbex style photos. After lunch we did some more shooting near Ovar, and after dinner we stumbled on the perfect place to stay for the night.
Right up to the beach, just a few feet away. Only one other camper there - a german James Cook Mercedes caravan, already closed up for the night.
We parked next to it, spent a few more hours enjoying the nice cool night doing some long exposures (one of which was with the van) and talking photography.

Here are the GPS coordinates for the spot, in case anyone is interested:
40º 55' 13.8" N
8º 39' 40.9" W

The van performed brilliantly, batteries last for ages, everything just works. The Sat Nav, despite being the RNS2, behaved flawlessly, taking us everywhere we needed without a hitch.
Nest morning the weather was great, sunny and hot, we relaxed a bit, enjoyed breakfast looking at the beautiful landscape, and shot some drone footage - video at the bottom.

Summing it up, I'm in love... It's perfect, love to drive it, love to be in it, and the miles just disappear when you're at the wheel... And I have a feeling they're going to start racking up quite fast...

Here's some more pictures I've been taking. Added some stickers and black stripes near the bottom to protect the bottom portion of the paint.