New member - North Wiltshire. Hi all, ordered a California Ocean back in February...still no build date

[Richgoldfinch]

Hi all, we decided to cash in the savings and order a California Ocean back in February, like many others! I’ve been looking at this forum and its been super helpful - thank you all.

The dealer has been a nightmare delaying our order over weight and emissions problems (apparently the 204ps engine and 4motion means you can’t have loads of the options on the configurator) and giving me no information, I was about to escalate but reading all the posts seems that is par for the course and its a waste of my time and energy to do anything other than periodically chase them.

I did hear from one dealer this week that there is a meeting at VW where they may be looking to add more build slots for UK vans and they should know in the next week or two, so fingers crossed.

In the meantime the children and I watch YouTube videos on Californias to keep the faith!!

 

[NessL]

Hi all, we decided to cash in the savings and order a California Ocean back in February, like many others! I’ve been looking at this forum and its been super helpful - thank you all.

The dealer has been a nightmare delaying our order over weight and emissions problems (apparently the 204ps engine and 4motion means you can’t have loads of the options on the configurator) and giving me no information, I was about to escalate but reading all the posts seems that is par for the course and its a waste of my time and energy to do anything other than periodically chase them.

I did hear from one dealer this week that there is a meeting at VW where they may be looking to add more build slots for UK vans and they should know in the next week or two, so fingers crossed.

In the meantime the children and I watch YouTube videos on Californias to keep the faith!!

Welcome.
Build dates are currently approx six months, so a bit of a wait yet.

 

[Sad]

 

[IainB]

to the club.

What options have you ordered?

 

[Graham T]

 

[66tim99]

Welcome.
Build dates are currently approx six months, so a bit of a wait yet.

Well...I ordered in October and still no build week (just a June build month) ... so I’d say more like 10 months for an Ocean order to delivery... but it’s a dark art predicting it

 

[NessL]

Well...I ordered in October and still no build week (just a June build month) ... so I’d say more like 10 months for an Ocean order to delivery... but it’s a dark art predicting it

....but do you have a tow bar as part of your order? That seems to be causing the main delays at the moment.
There have been a lot of Oct/Nov orders delivered recently. We ordered Nov and picked up ours yesterday.

 

[Rikmac]

Hi all, we decided to cash in the savings and order a California Ocean back in February, like many others! I’ve been looking at this forum and its been super helpful - thank you all.

The dealer has been a nightmare delaying our order over weight and emissions problems (apparently the 204ps engine and 4motion means you can’t have loads of the options on the configurator) and giving me no information, I was about to escalate but reading all the posts seems that is par for the course and its a waste of my time and energy to do anything other than periodically chase them.

I did hear from one dealer this week that there is a meeting at VW where they may be looking to add more build slots for UK vans and they should know in the next week or two, so fingers crossed.

In the meantime the children and I watch YouTube videos on Californias to keep the faith!!

We ordered our Ocean on 29th March and was initially told to expect a 6-8 month wait.
I've contacted VW via chat on several occasions asking if a build date has been allocated but it hasn't ...spoke to the dealer yesterday and was told its likely to be February, March 2022.

 

[66tim99]

....but do you have a tow bar as part of your order? That seems to be causing the main delays at the moment.
There have been a lot of Oct/Nov orders delivered recently. We ordered Nov and picked up ours yesterday.

Yes I do have a towbar, no mention that was causing delay until 3 weeks ago, and omitting it “might see it delivered in June rather than July” I was told. Yours was very quick going by this forum. Great news! Makes you wonder how build slots are allocated though

 

[bob_summers]

We ordered our Ocean on 29th March and was initially told to expect a 6-8 month wait.
I've contacted VW via chat on several occasions asking if a build date has been allocated but it hasn't ...spoke to the dealer yesterday and was told its likely to be February, March 2022.

Exactly the same here. Ordered mid March, originally told not to expect much before October.
Watching the big thread here, I began to doubt October so called the dealer a couple of weeks back and he said it would likely be February'22 now. None of the "problem" options.

It is what it is. I wasn't expecting to have it this summer anyway, so as long as it's here in time to give it some use at Easter, I'm ok with it.

A van ordered today would be a 12 month delivery I'm guessing.

 

[Richgoldfinch]

thanks all, it’s good to know we are at least not alone and slightly longer than the 12-14 weeks the dealer originally quoted! Options we chose were the two tone paint, different seat trim, wooden floor and the TPMS. We were told it was the TPMS which was causing the delay but I was also told that as I didn’t have a build date with or without I might as well keep it on for now.

Apparently because it’s the 4motion, they have a weight/emissions issue, which means I wanted but couldn’t have things like the bigger fuel tank, 18” wheels or electric side door as it would take the van over the weight limit it was allowed. It certainly seemed to confuse the dealer.

 

[bob_summers]

thanks all, it’s good to know we are at least not alone and slightly longer than the 12-14 weeks the dealer originally quoted! Options we chose were the two tone paint, different seat trim, wooden floor and the TPMS. We were told it was the TPMS which was causing the delay but I was also told that as I didn’t have a build date with or without I might as well keep it on for now.

Apparently because it’s the 4motion, they have a weight/emissions issue, which means I wanted but couldn’t have things like the bigger fuel tank, 18” wheels or electric side door as it would take the van over the weight limit it was allowed. It certainly seemed to confuse the dealer.

I can believe that. I wanted the tank upgrade but it's not available on any model in Spain, 4M or not.

Dealer sounds way out of touch - quoting a three to four month delivery wasnt realistic even pre pandemic! Good luck with the wait, let's hope it passed swiftly!

 

[The Merle]

I can see cali will end up being built on 3.2t chassis soon, westfalia use that for there vans now.
Hope you get a build date soon.

 

[BigJohn]

We ordered our 4 mo last month - no issue adding the long range tank, didn't try the elec door or 18" wheels, but the dealer didn't mention any restrictions!

Dealer originally said October - no further estimate from the factory yet, we're not holding our breath though!

 

[bob_summers]

Dealer originally said October - no further estimate from the factory yet, we're not holding our breath though!

Heh. I remember in March my dealer saying, "I don't want to get your hopes up - you won't get it for summer, it'll be more like October." Which, at the moment means February XD