Loz
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Lifetime VIP Member
Basically the thread descended into another brexit slanging match until the mods stepped in and deleted all the off topic stuff, my yawn was left behind..
rippers
VIP Member
My Cali History was a 140 Beach, then 180 SE and whilst my house move is going on I'm temporarily without but will be in the market for a T6 Beach.. However I hired a 150 Ocean for two weeks so believe I can give an opinion of what I liked/didn't like compared to the T5.
Firstly aesthetically my opinion was the T6 front end looks plastic and cheap with too much grille and the T5 with a sportline spoiler looked the biz.. but I did like the new rear end, lights and side indicators on the T6. However my opinion on the T6 front oddly did improve towards the end of the fortnight and once I'd got used to it, somehow it started to make the T5 look dated.. so watch this space.
Inside the ocean we hired it had cloth.. no improvement there sadly as it was the same easily marked cloth from water droplets that our old Beach had.. disappointing! I Loved the extra lights in the roof and tailgate they where practical and a huge improvement over the bendy light. The darker wood units where nice too but then the old ones where pretty nice anyway. The higher cabinet buttons where a welcome edition. It amused me that the sliding door blind still catches on the b-post slot like our previous Cali's!
Roof material felt high quality and stronger but would be interested as to whether it would tear just as easy if caught in the scissor brackets?
The Dash.. well again I have to be honest I didn't like it.. ok its very much more car like, but much less camper. Dare I say it I even missed the snappy cup holders of old rather then the new shallow holders with no grip, the shiney surfaces looked nice but where a dust trap, I missed the top of the dash 12V socket our T5's had (now a option or gone completely?) and the little storage pockets under the vents are now sadly gone. I was pleased to see the more pratical dash is standard on the T6 Beach so won't be paying for the Comfort dash. I did however like the pull out blinds despite being very flimsy and very snappy and not rolling in straight without assistance they where great for parking the van up in hot locations for a bit of shade.
Steering wheel felt nice and chunky but wasn't keen on the multifunction controls, I felt they were not as intuitive as the old wheel and felt I had to look down everytime I pressed button to make sure I didn't press the wrong thing especially with the cruise control but I guess eventually you would get used to that.
Satnav.. no improvement there either, took me ages to find the tiny little button bottom left to add the postcode, its just as annoying as the old satnav and still not a patch on Google maps on the iphone. Screen was nice thou. The Apple play did not like my Iphone 6+ and was intermittent so ended up streaming through Bluetooth so that's another option I won't be forking out for in the future.
One new feature I did like was the high beam assist, very clever.
DSG This was the first time I've driven a Auto Cali and I loved it, very smooth and loved the way it changed gear with the cruise control on whether that's any improvement to the T5 I can't comment.
Engine.. this was the biggest surprise.. I absolutely adored this 150 Engine it was quiet/smooth and very torquey and in all honestly I had to check with the owner after that it was definitely a 150 as it felt faster and more capable then our old 180! The Adblue was a novelty and I'm glad I read before hand to never let it drop below the 1000km range before I ran it out and couldn't restart it! We averaged 37 MPG but bare in mind we where fully loaded with constant aircon on (35/40 degrees in spain/france) and gunning it at the French/Spanish Speed limits I was happy with that.
In summary If I had a nicely specced T5 would I trade in for T6.. absolutely not there is barely any difference other then an improved engine. If was new to the market T6 all the way.
My last point is when I returned from the hols and specced out the Ocean on the VW Configurator I was surprised how much more the T6 was and how little standard spec you had and it was the little things the made the SE that bit more luxurious that where either missing or now a paid option.. one thing that sprung to mind was the moulded colour coded bumper trim around the doors. The lack of value option packs is disappointing too!
Anyway I look forward to purchasing a T6 Beach once the house move has gone through.
Firstly aesthetically my opinion was the T6 front end looks plastic and cheap with too much grille and the T5 with a sportline spoiler looked the biz.. but I did like the new rear end, lights and side indicators on the T6. However my opinion on the T6 front oddly did improve towards the end of the fortnight and once I'd got used to it, somehow it started to make the T5 look dated.. so watch this space.
Inside the ocean we hired it had cloth.. no improvement there sadly as it was the same easily marked cloth from water droplets that our old Beach had.. disappointing! I Loved the extra lights in the roof and tailgate they where practical and a huge improvement over the bendy light. The darker wood units where nice too but then the old ones where pretty nice anyway. The higher cabinet buttons where a welcome edition. It amused me that the sliding door blind still catches on the b-post slot like our previous Cali's!
Roof material felt high quality and stronger but would be interested as to whether it would tear just as easy if caught in the scissor brackets?
The Dash.. well again I have to be honest I didn't like it.. ok its very much more car like, but much less camper. Dare I say it I even missed the snappy cup holders of old rather then the new shallow holders with no grip, the shiney surfaces looked nice but where a dust trap, I missed the top of the dash 12V socket our T5's had (now a option or gone completely?) and the little storage pockets under the vents are now sadly gone. I was pleased to see the more pratical dash is standard on the T6 Beach so won't be paying for the Comfort dash. I did however like the pull out blinds despite being very flimsy and very snappy and not rolling in straight without assistance they where great for parking the van up in hot locations for a bit of shade.
Steering wheel felt nice and chunky but wasn't keen on the multifunction controls, I felt they were not as intuitive as the old wheel and felt I had to look down everytime I pressed button to make sure I didn't press the wrong thing especially with the cruise control but I guess eventually you would get used to that.
Satnav.. no improvement there either, took me ages to find the tiny little button bottom left to add the postcode, its just as annoying as the old satnav and still not a patch on Google maps on the iphone. Screen was nice thou. The Apple play did not like my Iphone 6+ and was intermittent so ended up streaming through Bluetooth so that's another option I won't be forking out for in the future.
One new feature I did like was the high beam assist, very clever.
DSG This was the first time I've driven a Auto Cali and I loved it, very smooth and loved the way it changed gear with the cruise control on whether that's any improvement to the T5 I can't comment.
Engine.. this was the biggest surprise.. I absolutely adored this 150 Engine it was quiet/smooth and very torquey and in all honestly I had to check with the owner after that it was definitely a 150 as it felt faster and more capable then our old 180! The Adblue was a novelty and I'm glad I read before hand to never let it drop below the 1000km range before I ran it out and couldn't restart it! We averaged 37 MPG but bare in mind we where fully loaded with constant aircon on (35/40 degrees in spain/france) and gunning it at the French/Spanish Speed limits I was happy with that.
In summary If I had a nicely specced T5 would I trade in for T6.. absolutely not there is barely any difference other then an improved engine. If was new to the market T6 all the way.
My last point is when I returned from the hols and specced out the Ocean on the VW Configurator I was surprised how much more the T6 was and how little standard spec you had and it was the little things the made the SE that bit more luxurious that where either missing or now a paid option.. one thing that sprung to mind was the moulded colour coded bumper trim around the doors. The lack of value option packs is disappointing too!
Anyway I look forward to purchasing a T6 Beach once the house move has gone through.
Last edited:
rippers
VIP Member
Thank you desperate to back into Cali ownership again 
sapto
Super Poster
Lifetime VIP Member
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