Second Cars...

[Volkywagen]

View attachment 36198 View attachment 36197 300 bhp daily driver, the Cali is used pretty much camping only.

Quality

 

[Volky]

Just run the Cali.

If you are only going to use a Cali for holidays and big days out, you might as well buy something bigger (ducato based for eg). As a camping vehicle the Cali is often really too small (see how soon most new owners ask about awnings), so it only makes sense if it gets used for other things too. Every decision is a compromise but the Cali is the best compromise.

Although short trips around town aren't great for any modern diesel, at least you are keeping it moving.... Preventung sticking brakes, dried out air con and a host of other problems that will arise if it sits idle.

Sorry can’t agree that the Cali is often too small . Family of 4 now near Venice, have learned to pack light - and in these temps who needs an awning when a Quechua tent will do! And we are near and away the coolest (and smallest) vehicle on the site! Perfect vehicle for the fantastic mountain passes en route, no worries visiting cities or supermarkets...but sad about the rust/pitting on the kitchen unit that appeared overnight. Oh and we got the kids bikes/Fiamma bag dilemma sorted (earlier post).

 

[Zebedee]

Four years of just having the Cali and I finally brought forward plans for a second car last November. My daughter won’t be able to learn to drive in the Cali, early onset arthritis in my thumb means carrying heavy shopping long distances isn’t great, and living within the Greater London daylight robbery emissions area meant a Smart ForFour was a good choice. If the Cali was petrol and dsg and parked in tiny spaces it might have been a more difficult choice. I’ve just driven 3000 mikes in 2 weeks in the Cali and enjoyed every moment! But I also enjoy Smartie.

 

[Whitehouse_03]

This has been a really interesting thread so thank you all for your replies

 

[Gasgas]

We Mostly use the Cali for the spring/summer months .I use a land rover defender 300 tdi for the winter which is great for muddy dog walks etc ,my wife has a convertible which she uses if I am in the LR or the Cali ,we also both have a motorbike...

 

[Bobthebus]

We got our Cali in Dec 2016, and a few months later my aged Honda CRV was going to cost £2000 to see it through its next MOT. It was at that point we went electric for the general day to day commute/school drop off/supermarket run which made so much more sense than another diesel to tax and fuel. We went for a 3 year old Nissan leaf + £10k which has no tax and costs about £1 a day for the electricity to do the 40-50 miles a day, and I'm not adding a further 10k miles a year to the Cali... The leaf is great to drive, and if I get range anxiety about a longer trip I just take the Cali instead.

 

[soulstyledevon]

View attachment 36198 View attachment 36197 300 bhp daily driver, the Cali is used pretty much camping only.

Nice Pete.
Reminds me of my mums old Mk 1 Polo

 

[Andy]

I used to only have cali used for everything. Cold winter a few years ago engine & oil was not up to running temp when I got to work. I bought 09 smart for two. Great little car. Not the cheapest to run. £20 tax. Around 35 mpg in milton keynes. But is fun to watch people face as I fly past them !!

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[andyinluton]

I wouldn't use the cali by choice for any journey where it didn't get fully up to temperature. At the moment I'm going to work by train most of the time so use one of our other cars for the 2 miles each way to the station.

Previously when driving into central london for work I've tended to have at least one other car just to keep the mileage sensible.

Having the cali as my "sensible" car with 4 seats & a roof means I can have a toy to drive around in the summer without having to worry about practicalities.

The cali is still doing 12000 miles per year so its not sitting there unused.

 

[2into1]

My T6 is being used almost exclusively for 50+ mile runs at the moment but still chooses to regenerate the dpf once a week.....usually just as I'm about 3 mins from home so it sits on the drive sounding like a harrier jump jet getting warmed up.
I think the 'long runs vs short runs' and the advice to 'drive it like you stole it' once a month are becoming outdated. I'm not at all convinced that pottering around town is creating any more soot than 70mph on the motorway.

 

[Victor]

I see a Cali being used on the school run every day, I think her journey is less than a mile each way !
I would not fancy being the next owner of that van

 

[Bellcrew]

My T6 is being used almost exclusively for 50+ mile runs at the moment but still chooses to regenerate the dpf once a week.....usually just as I'm about 3 mins from home so it sits on the drive sounding like a harrier jump jet getting warmed up.
I think the 'long runs vs short runs' and the advice to 'drive it like you stole it' once a month are becoming outdated. I'm not at all convinced that pottering around town is creating any more soot than 70mph on the motorway.

I find that if I keep the DSG in sport mode on shorter/town driving trips it does not regenerate anywhere as often. Sport stops the coast function and obviously stays in lower gears/higher revs, probably uses another 4 mpg on average, works for me.

 

[Whitehouse_03]

Excuse the potential stupid question but can someone explain the regenerate thing so I know what to look out for? I’m on a steep learning curve! Thanks.

 

[westfalia]

Excuse the potential stupid question but can someone explain the regenerate thing so I know what to look out for? I’m on a steep learning curve! Thanks.

In short.
Your exhaust has a DPF ( diesel particle filter ) inside of it.
Whilst driving, the filter collects lots of particles ( soot ), every now
and then an injection of diesel is fired into the DPF and the black
soot is then burned out. This is called the regeneration, it´s usually
done whilst maintaining a certain speed like on a long run on the
motorway.

 

[Whitehouse_03]

In short.
Your exhaust has a DPF ( diesel particle filter ) inside of it.
Whilst driving, the filter collects lots of particles ( soot ), every now
and then an injection of diesel is fired into the DPF and the black
soot is then burned out. This is called the regeneration, it´s usually
done whilst maintaining a certain speed like on a long run on the
motorway.

Ah, yes. My old car had a problem with the filter so I have since made sure I give the Diesel engines a blast once a week over 50 miles an hour. Thanks. I didn’t know it was called that.

 

[2into1]

it´s usually
done whilst maintaining a certain speed like on a long run on the
motorway.

Yes, it used to be done by 'driving it like you stole it' but the T6 seems to prefer a 'little and often' approach to dpf regeneration, so mine does it once a week, usually just as you arriving home and goes into Harrier jump jet mode on the drive.
'little and often' might turn out to be a good thing. Only time will tell!

 

[Paulro]

These are my 2. The blue one in Bristol and the other in Portugal.

 

[daveyboydanger]

We need two cars (happy to use the beach as a run around everyday vehicle though) so we have a little 4x4 panda. Two quite rare, very practical and fun beasts!

 

[Elmo3]

These are my 2. The blue one in Bristol and the other in Portugal.

View attachment 36345

View attachment 36346

Lovely looking Z3!

 

[kurienp]

Whitehouse, the engine rpm is what matters and not the speed. 50 mph may not cut it unless you have the Cali in sports mode where it upshifts at 3000+rpm

Better still, if dsg, put into manual and hold at 50 in third gear for a mile it so. If manual, easy to do the same anyways. Do both once engine is at operating temperature.

Ah, yes. My old car had a problem with the filter so I have since made sure I give the Diesel engines a blast once a week over 50 miles an hour. Thanks. I didn’t know it was called that.

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[2into1]

Whitehouse, the engine rpm is what matters and not the speed. 50 mph may not cut it unless you have the Cali in sports mode where it upshifts at 3000+rpm

Better still, if dsg, put into manual and hold at 50 in third gear for a mile it so. If manual, easy to do the same anyways. Do both once engine is at operating temperature.



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Again I'm on my mobile phone so can't see which vans you own.... But on a T6, dpf regeneration seems now to be a separate process that the computer determines when it will start. It is as likely to start on the idle waiting to get into Tesco as it is flying down the motorway at 3000rpm.
Although it feels a pain as it often picks a bad time, I'm hoping that it may end up being more reliable (may be wishful thinking).

I'm assuming all t6s behave like this? It just mine!

 

[Mike Frost]

Not apposite, but all this talk of regeneration - we have a T5 manual, so not so applicable, besides, I use a fuel additive that increases the percentage of diesel consumed and cuts down on soot buildup - takes me back to a little second hand east german motorbike I had several decades ago - an MZ. Very frugal little bike, dead reliable; a two stroke, with a 'tuned exhaust' - it's a two stroke thing - to maximise it's meagre performance, which was very long, with plenty of space for deposits of two stroke oil (read upper cylinder lubricant) to accumulate. I well recall first time I took it out on a dual carriageway, the engine was audibly straining to get above 50-55 for a while, but as the speed increased, I was laying down a smokescreen that a WW2 battle cruiser would have been proud of!

 

[B J G]

Again I'm on my mobile phone so can't see which vans you own.... But on a T6, dpf regeneration seems now to be a separate process that the computer determines when it will start. It is as likely to start on the idle waiting to get into Tesco as it is flying down the motorway at 3000rpm.
Although it feels a pain as it often picks a bad time, I'm hoping that it may end up being more reliable (may be wishful thinking).

I'm assuming all t6s behave like this? It just mine!

Yes mine does it also, can drive for a couple of hundred miles and then find it decides to do it when parking up. Often wonder how much pollution the anti pollution system creates.

 

[briwy]

Get a "classic" car. Over 40 years old, no road tax and now even no MOT so my MGB GT costs me £100 for insurance a year to run. Easy to mend and parts are cheap and easuly obtainable.

 

[Whitehouse_03]

Whitehouse, the engine rpm is what matters and not the speed. 50 mph may not cut it unless you have the Cali in sports mode where it upshifts at 3000+rpm

Better still, if dsg, put into manual and hold at 50 in third gear for a mile it so. If manual, easy to do the same anyways. Do both once engine is at operating temperature.

Thanks, that’s helpful. We have a T5 SE (2015) DSG so sounds like the manual route should work. How frequently should I do this?

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