Replacing a T6 California for around £15-£20k ?

reserves

reserves

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Location
Brighton
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T6 Ocean 150
We're not using our California as much as we used to for camping, we love it and end up using it a lot on general motorway journeys as our 'main' car isn't great (2010 VW Golf)

So, we're considering selling the Cali as it has a lot of money in it and buying a better car, however we still want a (cheaper) camper for the occasions we do go camping.

So, for around £15-20k I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions.

- Needs to travel comfortably at 70mph on the motorway (most journeys will be 2-4 hours)
- Be reliable
- Suitable for family of 3, 2 adults one 5 year old.
- If possible not overly 'Motorhome' ish, we love how subtle the Cali is (saying that we do love the Hymers!), again not essential.
- Possibly a toilet / shower on board, but not essential.

Obviously we know we will be downgrading, and nothing competes with a Cali, I wished we'd grabbed the £22k Cali that appeared the other day, but missed out.

T4 California comes to mind but seems to be a minefield.

Would appreciate any ideas :)
 
That‘s what we did last year. Replaced an Ocean with a 2009 LHD T5 Cali Beach. It’s brilliant and I’m no longer stressed about parking / leaving it anywhere! Don’t see it as a downgrade, just different priorities.
 
Hmm, seems the market has moved. Just renewed the insurance and they’ve agreed a value of £25K on Elmo3. Yours will have gone up as well so it’s all relative! Alternatively, sell now and see what happens over winter.
 
I’d be happy to sell now, but we have a few camping trips booked!
 
I’m finding myself more and more interested in Hymers (realise this is off topic on a Cali forum!)
 
reserves said:
I’m finding myself more and more interested in Hymers (realise this is off topic on a Cali forum!)
Click to expand...

We like them too. If we change, it will be for a Free 540 with the huge pop top.
 
4x4 joker said:
I would go for a Mazda bongo if they are still cheap.
Click to expand...
You can buy a Japanese import Bongo V6 camper converted to run on LPG well inside a £20k budget.
High spec and relatively inexpensive to run.
 
reserves said:
We're not using our California as much as we used to for camping, we love it and end up using it a lot on general motorway journeys as our 'main' car isn't great (2010 VW Golf)

So, we're considering selling the Cali as it has a lot of money in it and buying a better car, however we still want a (cheaper) camper for the occasions we do go camping.

So, for around £15-20k I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions.

- Needs to travel comfortably at 70mph on the motorway (most journeys will be 2-4 hours)
- Be reliable
- Suitable for family of 3, 2 adults one 5 year old.
- If possible not overly 'Motorhome' ish, we love how subtle the Cali is (saying that we do love the Hymers!), again not essential.
- Possibly a toilet / shower on board, but not essential.

Obviously we know we will be downgrading, and nothing competes with a Cali, I wished we'd grabbed the £22k Cali that appeared the other day, but missed out.

T4 California comes to mind but seems to be a minefield.

Would appreciate any ideas :)
Click to expand...
Selling your Cali to buy a better car doesn't make any financial sense at present. Your van's value is about as rock steady as anything else on four wheels. Looking purely at the cash angle, any car you buy will almost certainly depreciate at a much quicker rate thereby loosing you a lot of cash.

There are millions of excellent cheap cars for sale, many with a fsh, low miles and years of service left in them. In contrast, there are only a hand full of Calis for sale. Obviously I don't know for certain, but it's my guess that you will instantly regret selling. So my advice is: unless you are definitely looking for a different camping format, keep your Cali then raid your piggy bank and buy a cheap replacement for your car. :thumb
 
Borris said:
Selling your Cali to buy a better car doesn't make any financial sense at present. Your van's value is about as rock steady as anything else on four wheels. Looking purely at the cash angle, any car you buy will almost certainly depreciate at a much quicker rate thereby loosing you a lot of cash.

There are millions of excellent cheap cars for sale, many with a fsh, low miles and years of service left in them. In contrast, there are only a hand full of Calis for sale. Obviously I don't know for certain, but it's my guess that you will instantly regret selling. So my advice is: unless you are definitely looking for a different camping format, keep your Cali then raid your piggy bank and buy a cheap replacement for your car. :thumb
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly
 
Algor said:
This is the problem with campers. You set a budget, then double it, then treble it and then spend 5K to make it your own.
Click to expand...

Very true. Thing is, that‘s one hell of a machine. When I look at recent classifieds, some of the prices are frankly laughable. They make the Hymer look good value,
 
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